Starship prompt
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 shell prompts
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.
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.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Faster than Oh My Zsh
“it's clearly faster than Oh My Zsh, but my issue was that I relied on some useful Oh My Zsh features that I didn't know how to replicate in Starship”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “Starship gives you the same "drop in and go" experience but without the 200ms+ prompt lag.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” Pleasant, improved user experience
“I've had a really pleasant experience using Starship across development environments.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “Using starship for the prompt provides many pretty UX improvements”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” Responsive, low prompt lag
“Starship gives you the same "drop in and go" experience but without the 200ms+ prompt lag.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “seems fine and responsive to me”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Life is too short for a slow terminal”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Missing Oh My Zsh features
“it's clearly faster than Oh My Zsh, but my issue was that I relied on some useful Oh My Zsh features that I didn't know how to replicate in Starship”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “I tried making my own and the config TOML syntax isn't expressive enough to support hiding empty segments.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh” “It's missing really basic powerlevel10k features like empty segments.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “You probably don't need Oh My Zsh”
Other shell prompts people recommend
The two most recommended other shell prompts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starship promptThis page | 11 | 3 | 79% | 4 | — | Approved |
| oh-my-posh | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Whetuu | 6 | 5 | 55% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“seems fine and responsive to me”
“Then I got mode indicators. Just with a little lag.”
“Using starship for the prompt provides many pretty UX improvements”
“I like the result, but the default was pretty weird.”
“I've had a really pleasant experience using Starship across development environments.”
“already gives me headaches.”
“I tried making my own and the config TOML syntax isn't expressive enough to support hiding empty segments.”
“it's clearly faster than Oh My Zsh, but my issue was that I relied on some useful Oh My Zsh features that I didn't know how to replicate in Starship”
“It's missing really basic powerlevel10k features like empty segments.”
“We'd celebrate it separating concerns well instead.”
“downloads 336 packages. So much for "minimal"”
“Starship gives you the same "drop in and go" experience but without the 200ms+ prompt lag.”
“I should probably start using it again honestly.”
“I'm a fan of https://starship.rs/guide/”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.