Shell Integration

Display your current wit branch directly in your terminal prompt, just like you would with Git. This helps you always know which branch you’re working on.

How It Works

wit provides plumbing commands that output the current branch name, which can be used in your shell prompt:

# Get the current branch name (returns "HEAD" if detached)
wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

# Alternative: Get the symbolic ref (fails silently if detached)
wit symbolic-ref --short HEAD 2>/dev/null

Bash Integration

Add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

# wit branch in prompt
__wit_branch() {
  local branch
  # Try to get the current branch name
  branch=$(wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [ -n "$branch" ]; then
    echo " ($branch)"
  fi
}

# Customize your prompt - add the branch after the current directory
PS1='\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[33m\]$(__wit_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '

After adding this, reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc

Example Output

user@hostname:~/my-project (main)$ 
user@hostname:~/my-project (feature/new-login)$ 

Zsh Integration

Add the following to your ~/.zshrc:

# Enable command substitution in prompts
setopt PROMPT_SUBST

# wit branch function
__wit_branch() {
  local branch
  branch=$(wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [[ -n "$branch" ]]; then
    echo " ($branch)"
  fi
}

# Add to your prompt
PROMPT='%F{green}%n@%m%f:%F{blue}%~%f%F{yellow}$(__wit_branch)%f$ '

After adding this, reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc

With Oh My Zsh

If you use Oh My Zsh, you can create a custom plugin. Create the file ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/wit/wit.plugin.zsh:

# wit integration for Oh My Zsh

# Get current wit branch
wit_prompt_info() {
  local branch
  branch=$(wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [[ -n "$branch" ]]; then
    echo "%{$fg[yellow]%}($branch)%{$reset_color%}"
  fi
}

# Add to right prompt
RPROMPT='$(wit_prompt_info)'

Then add wit to your plugins in ~/.zshrc:

plugins=(git wit other-plugins)

Advanced: Detached HEAD State

When you checkout a specific commit (detached HEAD state), the branch name won’t be available. You can show the short commit hash instead:

Bash (with detached HEAD support)

__wit_branch() {
  local branch
  branch=$(wit symbolic-ref --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [ -n "$branch" ]; then
    echo " ($branch)"
  else
    # Detached HEAD - show short commit hash
    local commit
    commit=$(wit rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
    if [ -n "$commit" ]; then
      echo " (detached:$commit)"
    fi
  fi
}

Zsh (with detached HEAD support)

__wit_branch() {
  local branch
  branch=$(wit symbolic-ref --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [[ -n "$branch" ]]; then
    echo " ($branch)"
  else
    # Detached HEAD - show short commit hash
    local commit
    commit=$(wit rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null)
    if [[ -n "$commit" ]]; then
      echo " (detached:$commit)"
    fi
  fi
}

Advanced: Dirty State Indicator

Show an asterisk when you have uncommitted changes:

Bash

__wit_branch() {
  local branch dirty=""
  branch=$(wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [ -n "$branch" ]; then
    # Check for uncommitted changes
    if ! wit diff --quiet HEAD 2>/dev/null; then
      dirty="*"
    fi
    echo " ($branch$dirty)"
  fi
}

Zsh

__wit_branch() {
  local branch dirty=""
  branch=$(wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
  if [[ -n "$branch" ]]; then
    # Check for uncommitted changes
    if ! wit diff --quiet HEAD 2>/dev/null; then
      dirty="*"
    fi
    echo " ($branch$dirty)"
  fi
}

Performance Tips

The prompt function runs every time you press Enter, so it’s important to keep it fast.

Use 2>/dev/null to suppress error messages when not in a wit repository
Avoid multiple wit calls - each command spawns a new process
Consider caching for very large repositories:

# Cache the branch name for 1 second
__wit_branch_cached() {
  local cache_file="/tmp/.wit_branch_cache_$$"
  local cache_age=1
  
  if [ -f "$cache_file" ]; then
    local mod_time=$(stat -c %Y "$cache_file" 2>/dev/null || stat -f %m "$cache_file" 2>/dev/null)
    local now=$(date +%s)
    if [ $((now - mod_time)) -lt $cache_age ]; then
      cat "$cache_file"
      return
    fi
  fi
  
  local result=$(__wit_branch)
  echo "$result" > "$cache_file"
  echo "$result"
}

Fish Shell Integration

For Fish shell users, add this to ~/.config/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish:

function fish_prompt
    set -l branch (wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null)
    
    set_color green
    echo -n (whoami)"@"(hostname)
    set_color normal
    echo -n ":"
    set_color blue
    echo -n (prompt_pwd)
    
    if test -n "$branch"
        set_color yellow
        echo -n " ($branch)"
    end
    
    set_color normal
    echo -n '$ '
end

Starship Integration

If you use Starship, add a custom command to ~/.config/starship.toml:

[custom.wit]
command = "wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null"
when = "wit rev-parse --git-dir 2>/dev/null"
format = "on [$output]($style) "
style = "bold purple"

Troubleshooting

Branch not showing in prompt

Make sure you’re inside a wit repository (has a .wit directory)
Verify wit is installed and in your PATH: which wit
Test the command manually: wit rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

Slow prompt

If your prompt is slow:

Make sure you’re not running multiple wit commands in the function
Consider using the caching approach above
Check if your repository is very large

Prompt breaks outside wit repositories

Always use 2>/dev/null to suppress errors when not in a wit repository. The functions above handle this automatically.

Get Started

Commands

Visual Interfaces

AI & Intelligence

Workflows

GitHub & Team

Advanced

Configuration

Platform

Architecture

Database

Shell Integration

How It Works

Bash Integration

Example Output

Zsh Integration

With Oh My Zsh

Advanced: Detached HEAD State

Bash (with detached HEAD support)

Zsh (with detached HEAD support)

Advanced: Dirty State Indicator

Bash

Zsh

Performance Tips

Fish Shell Integration

Starship Integration

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Commands Reference

Configuration

​How It Works

​Bash Integration

​Example Output

​Zsh Integration

​With Oh My Zsh

​Advanced: Detached HEAD State

​Bash (with detached HEAD support)

​Zsh (with detached HEAD support)

​Advanced: Dirty State Indicator

​Bash

​Zsh

​Performance Tips

​Fish Shell Integration

​Starship Integration

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

Commands Reference

Configuration

How It Works

Bash Integration

Example Output

Zsh Integration

With Oh My Zsh

Advanced: Detached HEAD State

Bash (with detached HEAD support)

Zsh (with detached HEAD support)

Advanced: Dirty State Indicator

Bash

Zsh

Performance Tips

Fish Shell Integration

Starship Integration

Troubleshooting

Next Steps