PowerShell 7 · Windows Terminal
A fast, good-looking terminal: a clean git-aware prompt, history search that recalls past commands as you type, and ligatures with Nerd Font icons, all from one installer with the font already inside it.
Requires PowerShell 7: get it from Microsoft
Everything in one run: the Nerd Font is included, so there are no extra downloads. Installs per-user, no admin needed.
Download installerFull control over every step. Follow the guide to install the font, add the profile, and patch Windows Terminal by hand.
Open the guideSame clean, git-aware prompt, without the per-render cost.
Oh My Posh is a powerful, full-featured prompt engine. But it's a separate program your shell runs on every prompt, and that call isn't free. It shows up as a small pause before you can type, and it gets worse in large repositories or over SSH.
This setup keeps the good part and drops the overhead. The prompt is a tiny native PowerShell function that reads your git branch straight from .git/HEAD on disk. It never spawns a process, so it renders instantly, even in huge repos, with no extra binary to install or keep updated. Together with lazy-loaded conda and telemetry off, cold startup drops from about 2.3 s to 0.3 s.
Switch tabs in each demo to see the before-and-after difference.
Ligatures and Nerd Font icons that render.
Reverse history search that finds matching commands as you type.
Every change is per-user and backed up before it's written.
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Telemetry opt-out | Turns off PowerShell telemetry and the startup update-check banner (User scope). |
| LigaConsolas Nerd Font | Programming ligatures and Nerd Font icons. Bundled in the installer. |
| PowerShell profile | Installed to $PROFILE.CurrentUserAllHosts; merged idempotently, backed up first. |
| Conda lazy-init | Loads conda on first use instead of every launch, for fast startup. |
| Minimal git prompt | Path, conda env, and branch read straight from .git/HEAD, no git.exe. |
| PSReadLine config | Syntax highlighting, history predictions, prefix search, and word navigation. |
| Windows Terminal patch | Sets the font on profiles.defaults and frees Ctrl+←/→. |
Prefer to do it by hand? The manual setup guide covers every step, including the font download.