Ghostty ZSH integration changes ZSH options, breaks aliases

[lykahb]

I followed the documentation for running nested shells (e.g, with nix develop) and inserted the integration snippet into .zshrc. As a result, my aliases stopped working. I set debugging output and saw that it changes quite a few options.

echo Before ghostty init
setopt

if [ -n "${GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR}" ]; then
    builtin source "${GHOSTTY_RESOURCES_DIR}/shell-integration/zsh/ghostty-integration"
fi

echo After ghostty init
setopt

The output shows the options that changed

Before ghostty init
combiningchars
interactive
login
monitor
zle

After ghostty init
noaliases
combiningchars
interactive
localoptions
localpatterns
localtraps
login
monitor
zle

[mitchellh]

I've seen this before from the community and I believe there is some guideline to where the integration should be injected. I turned this to Q&A to get the answer. Once we figure it out, I'll update the docs to make it clearer.

If I'm mistaken and there is some other issue at play here, I can convert that into a more targeted issue, but some research is required by a zsh user to know more (I don't use or know zsh, unfortunately, and rely on the community to help maintain these shell integrations). 😄

[lykahb]

I believe that ghostty injects and executes the integration before the .zshrc is executed. This preserves the options. But when the integration is called from .zshrc, it updates the options. I moved the call around .zshrc and the problem persisted.

The explicit call is tested less. This looks like bug in the integration.

[lykahb]

The top-level call outside of a function defeats the purpose of the -L local scope on this line. The -L limits the scope of changes for a function but lets it spill outside of the script. I can open a PR to put everything in the integration inside of a function.

I used this script to explore how the options persist in the scope

_func() {
  builtin emulate -L zsh -o no_warn_create_global -o no_aliases
  echo "Inside _func after updating options"
  _print_setopt  # Prints updated options
}

_print_setopt() {
  # The setopt is inside of a function in case that affects the scope
  setopt
}

echo "Before _func"
_print_setopt  # Prints original options

_func

echo "After_func"
_print_setopt  # Prints original options again

[gldtn]

I just got invited yesterday and while setting up Ghostty I ran into this as well. Functions were working, but all my aliases were not. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. I'll report back if I discover anything that may be useful.

[shadow-absorber]

yeah have this problem too and had fun on the discord explaining it there.... should maybe have tried and find it here earlier

[shadow-absorber]

a workaround for tmux users is to launch tmux in another terminal emulator then detach and reattach in ghostty

why that works shadow is unsure of

[lykahb]

Opened a PR #2950