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Installation

Starship can be installed on virtually any platform through multiple methods. This guide covers installation and shell configuration for all major environments.

Prerequisites

Starship uses symbols that require a patched font for proper display. Install a Nerd Font for the best experience:

Popular choices:

  • FiraCode Nerd Font
  • JetBrainsMono Nerd Font
  • Hack Nerd Font
  • MesloLGS Nerd Font

Installation:

brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install --cask font-fira-code-nerd-font

Download from nerdfonts.com and install to ~/.local/share/fonts/:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cd ~/.local/share/fonts
curl -fLo "FiraCode Nerd Font Regular.ttf" \
  https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/raw/HEAD/patched-fonts/FiraCode/Regular/FiraCodeNerdFont-Regular.ttf
fc-cache -fv

After installation, configure your terminal emulator to use the Nerd Font.

No Nerd Font?

Starship works without Nerd Fonts, but some symbols won't display correctly. You can configure text-only symbols in your configuration. See the Styling guide for alternatives.

Installation Methods

Package Managers

brew install starship

sudo port install starship

brew install starship

pacman -S starship

dnf install starship

Starship is not in the default repositories. Use the install script or Cargo:

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

apk add starship

scoop install starship

choco install starship

winget install --id Starship.Starship

Install Script

The official install script works on Linux and macOS:

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

With options:

# Install to custom location
curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh -s -- --bin-dir /usr/local/bin

# Install specific version
curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh -s -- --version v1.16.0

# Force reinstall
curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh -s -- --force

Cargo (Rust)

If you have Rust installed:

cargo install starship --locked

Update existing installation:

cargo install starship --locked --force

Binary Download

Download precompiled binaries from the GitHub releases page:

# Example for Linux x86_64
curl -LO https://github.com/starship/starship/releases/latest/download/starship-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
tar xzf starship-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
sudo mv starship /usr/local/bin/

Shell Configuration

After installing the binary, configure your shell to use Starship.

Bash

Add to the end of ~/.bashrc:

eval "$(starship init bash)"

Login vs Non-Login Shells

On some systems, you may need to add this to ~/.bash_profile as well for login shells.

Zsh

Add to the end of ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(starship init zsh)"

Fish

Add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

starship init fish | source

PowerShell

Add to your PowerShell profile (find location with $PROFILE):

Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell)

Nushell

Add to your Nushell config:

mkdir ~/.cache/starship
starship init nu | save -f ~/.cache/starship/init.nu

Then add to config.nu:

use ~/.cache/starship/init.nu

Cmd (Windows)

Requires Clink. Add to the Clink startup script:

load(io.popen('starship init cmd'):read("*a"))()

Configuration File

Create the configuration directory and file:

mkdir -p ~/.config
touch ~/.config/starship.toml

Alternative locations:

Starship looks for configuration in this order:

  1. $STARSHIP_CONFIG environment variable
  2. ~/.config/starship.toml
  3. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/starship.toml

Use a custom location:

export STARSHIP_CONFIG=~/dotfiles/starship.toml

Verifying Installation

Check the installed version:

starship --version

Test the initialization:

starship init bash  # or zsh, fish, etc.

This should output initialization code. If it does, restart your shell or source your configuration:

source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Updating Starship

brew upgrade starship

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

cargo install starship --locked --force

Uninstalling

Remove the Binary

brew uninstall starship

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/starship

cargo uninstall starship

Clean Up Configuration

Remove the shell initialization line from your shell config file.

Optionally remove the configuration:

rm ~/.config/starship.toml

Platform-Specific Notes

macOS

  • Use iTerm2 or another terminal that supports true color
  • Configure the font in Terminal Preferences or iTerm2 Profiles
  • The default Terminal.app has limited color support

Linux

  • Most modern terminals support true color
  • If using a tiling window manager, ensure your terminal supports Nerd Fonts
  • On servers, consider using a minimal configuration without Nerd Font symbols

Windows

  • Windows Terminal is recommended for best results
  • Ensure you're using PowerShell 7+ for full feature support
  • WSL works well with Starship (configure your Linux shell inside WSL)

SSH Sessions

Starship works over SSH, but:

  • The remote server needs Starship installed
  • Your local terminal needs the Nerd Font configured
  • Consider a minimal configuration for slow connections

Next Steps