Fish Shell Scripting

Related skills:

• software-engineer - General scripting design principles
• python-programmer - When shell complexity exceeds ~100 lines, consider Python

<core_philosophy> Fish is a user-friendly shell that prioritizes correctness over POSIX compatibility. Its lists-not-strings semantics eliminates entire classes of bugs common in bash/zsh. The limitation is portability, not capability.

Key insight: Fish handles sophisticated automation well. Choose Fish when you control the environment; choose bash when you don't. </core_philosophy>

Platform Requirements

<platform_requirements> Compatibility: All Fish scripts MUST work on both macOS and Fedora Linux. Handle platform differences via uname detection.

Quote paths with spaces: Always quote file paths even though Fish has no word splitting. Fish doesn't need quotes technically (no word splitting), but quoting anyway: (1) makes intent explicit for readability, (2) builds consistent habits when switching between shells, (3) ensures compatibility when passing to external commands that may interpret spaces.

Shebang: Use #!/usr/bin/env fish for portability across installation locations. </platform_requirements>

When to Use Fish vs Other Tools

<fish_vs_alternatives> Use Fish for:

• Automation on systems where Fish is installed (dev environments, personal machines, containers you control)
• Scripts benefiting from lists-not-strings semantics and strong scoping
• Complex CLI tools requiring argument parsing (argparse + fish_opt)
• Docker/container orchestration, dotfiles, local tooling

Use bash for:

• POSIX compliance requirements or /bin/sh compatibility
• CI/CD pipelines in uncontrolled environments
• Distribution to users who may not have Fish

Use a programming language for:

• Heavy data structure manipulation or API processing
• When shell semantics aren't the primary concern
• Scripts exceeding ~100 lines with complex logic </fish_vs_alternatives>

Critical Differences from POSIX Shells

<posix_differences> No word splitting: Variables don't split on spaces. set name "foo bar"; echo $name is one argument. This eliminates a major source of bugs in bash/zsh.

All variables are lists: A "string" is a one-element list. Indexing is 1-based: $PATH[1], $PATH[-1].

No VAR=value syntax: Use set command. set -gx VAR value (global exported), set -lx VAR value (local exported).

Command substitution splits on newlines only: set lines (cat file) creates one element per line. For space-splitting: string split " ". </posix_differences>

Scoping

<scoping_decision> Choosing a scope:

Flag combinations:

• -l (local): Dies when block ends
• -g (global): Session-scoped, not inherited by child processes
• -x (exported): Available to child processes (combine with -g or -l)
• -U (universal): Persists across all sessions, survives reboots

Example: set -gx EDITOR vim (global + exported), set -lx DEBUG 1 (local + exported to children).

CRITICAL: Environment variables (PATH, EDITOR, etc.) should NEVER be universal. Universal scope is for Fish UI config only. </scoping_decision>

Universal Variable Anti-Pattern

<universal_variable_antipattern> NEVER use universal variables for PATH or environment variables. Universal scope is for Fish UI config only (colors, key bindings, prompt).

Why this matters: Universal variables persist to disk and are shared across all Fish sessions. If you append to PATH in config.fish using universal variables, it grows indefinitely on every shell start because:

1. config.fish runs on every session
2. Universal variable already contains previous value
3. Append adds duplicate entries
4. This compounds across reboots

# WRONG: Grows PATH indefinitely on every shell start
set -U fish_user_paths ~/bin $fish_user_paths

# RIGHT: Session-scoped (recalculated fresh each session)
set -gx PATH ~/bin $PATH

# RIGHT: Use fish_add_path once interactively (idempotent, uses universal internally)
fish_add_path ~/bin

Safe universal variable uses: fish_color_*, fish_key_bindings, fish_prompt, fish_greeting. </universal_variable_antipattern>

Cross-Platform Patterns

<cross_platform> OS detection: switch (uname); case Darwin; ...; case Linux; ...; end

Conditional PATH: test -d ~/.cargo/bin; and fish_add_path ~/.cargo/bin

Platform-specific utilities to watch for:

• GNU vs BSD commands: sed, find, date, stat, readlink behave differently
• Package managers: Homebrew (macOS) vs DNF (Fedora)
• Paths: /usr/local/bin (macOS Homebrew) vs /usr/bin (Fedora) </cross_platform>

Critical Idioms

<critical_idioms> Wrapper functions require --wraps and $argv:

function ls --wraps=ls --description "ls with color"
    command ls --color=auto $argv
end

• Without --wraps=ls: Completions break (Fish doesn't know what command to complete for)
• Without $argv: Arguments are swallowed (user's flags/paths ignored)

Argument parsing: Use argparse + fish_opt for complex CLI tools. Check flags with set -q _flag_name.

Guard interactive code: Non-interactive shells (SSH, rsync) execute config.fish. Guard output:

if status is-interactive
    echo "Welcome!"
end

Without this guard: SSH file transfers, rsync, and scp can fail because unexpected output corrupts the protocol.

Use string builtin: Prefer string match, string split over external grep/cut. Benefits: faster execution (no fork), consistent cross-platform behavior, proper exit codes.

and/or for control flow: Chain commands with and/or, not just &&/||. Both work, but and/or are Fish's native idiom. </critical_idioms>

Organization

<organization_decisions>

Minimal config.fish: Keep it to ~15 lines of orchestration. Put actual config in conf.d/ files.

Autoload advantage: Functions in functions/ are loaded only when first called, not at startup. This keeps shell startup fast even with many custom functions. </organization_decisions>

Common Mistakes

<common_mistakes>

From Bash Users

<from_bash>

• Using VAR=value syntax: Fish uses set VAR value. The VAR=value command pattern doesn't exist.
• Expecting word splitting: set x "foo bar"; echo $x is ONE argument in Fish. This is a feature, not a bug.
• Using export VAR=value: Fish uses set -gx VAR value (global exported).
• Using $(...): Fish uses (...) for command substitution, not $(...).
• Using &&/|| exclusively: Works in Fish, but and/or are the native idiom.
• Using [[...]] tests: Fish uses test or [...], not bash's [[...]]. </from_bash>

From Zsh Users

<from_zsh>

• Array indexing from 0: Fish arrays are 1-indexed like zsh, but syntax differs: $array[1] not $array[1] or ${array[1]}.
• Expecting setopt/unsetopt: Fish configuration works differently—use set -U for persistent settings.
• Using zsh-specific globbing: Fish globbing is simpler; complex patterns may need different approaches. </from_zsh>

From Any Shell Background

<from_any_shell>

• Appending to universal variables in config.fish: Creates infinite PATH growth. Use set -gx or one-time fish_add_path.
• Not guarding interactive code: Breaks SSH/rsync file transfers with protocol errors.
• Forgetting $argv in wrapper functions: Silently swallows all user arguments.
• Using (whoami) instead of $USER: Unnecessary subshell; environment variable is faster.
• Using (hostname) instead of $hostname: Same issue—use the variable.
• Using alias instead of abbr: Abbreviations expand visibly in history, making commands reproducible. Aliases hide what actually ran.
• Treating universal variables like environment variables: Universal is for Fish UI config only (colors, bindings, prompt). </from_any_shell> </common_mistakes>

Resources

Local Documentation:

Typical locations (check these paths directly):

• macOS (Homebrew Apple Silicon): /opt/homebrew/share/doc/fish/
• macOS (Homebrew Intel): /usr/local/share/doc/fish/
• Fedora/Linux: /usr/share/doc/fish/

Man pages:

• macOS (Homebrew Apple Silicon): /opt/homebrew/share/man/man1/fish*.1
• macOS (Homebrew Intel): /usr/local/share/man/man1/fish*.1
• Fedora/Linux: /usr/share/man/man1/fish*.1

To find dynamically (from Fish shell):

ls "$(dirname (realpath (command -s fish)))/../share/doc/fish"