The best shell prompts, according to hackers
3 shell prompts were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended shell prompt with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Faster than Oh My Zsh
People recommend Starship as a fast, pleasant-to-use terminal prompt that works across development environments. Critics say it lacks some Oh My Zsh and powerlevel10k features, such as hiding empty segments.
All 3 shell prompts, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Starship prompt | 11 | 3 | 79% | 4 | — | Approved |
| 2 | oh-my-posh | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| 3 | Whetuu | 6 | 5 | 55% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same shell prompt in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to shell prompts that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.