Search code examples
macosterminalfish

How can I set my default shell on a Mac, e.g. to Fish?

I do not like to retype fish every time I start terminal. I want Fish on by default. How can I set the Fish shell as my default shell on a Mac?

Solution

  • These are applicable to macOS v10.12.5 (Sierra) (16F73) and probably some other recent and upcoming versions of macOS.

    1. chsh is not enough to change the default shell. Make sure you press Command + , while your terminal is open and change the 'Shells open with' option to 'Default login shell.'

    2. In case of Bash, make sure that you execute echo $BASH_VERSION to confirm you are running the intended version of Bash. bash --version does not give you correct information.