---
title: "Shell integration"
description: "What tty7 injects into your shell, and what it buys you."
---

A terminal that only sees bytes cannot tell a prompt from output, or a finished
command from a hung one. tty7's shell integration closes that gap: the shell
reports where prompts begin, what was submitted, what it exited with, and where
it is.

**You do not install it.** It is injected when the pane's shell starts, and
removes itself from the equation if you run the same shell elsewhere.

## Which shells

| Shell | How it is injected |
|---|---|
| **zsh** | A throwaway `ZDOTDIR` whose files source yours first, then tty7's. Your `TTY7_USER_ZDOTDIR` is preserved. |
| **bash** | An rcfile that sources your own first. |
| **fish** | A `-C` init command. |
| **PowerShell** | An encoded init command that wraps your existing `prompt` function and PSReadLine's line reader. |
| **WSL** *(Windows)* | The distro's shell is bootstrapped with the same scripts. |
| **Remote panes** | The same three POSIX shells, bootstrapped over the SSH connection. Toggle per profile with **Settings → SSH → Session → Shell integration**. |

`TTY7_SHELL_INTEGRATION` is set once it is active, and guards against a second
injection when shells nest.

<Note>
  A shell launched with arguments *you* wrote — `shell.args`, or a
  `custom_shells` entry — is left alone, because tty7's injection would
  conflict with the flags you chose. Arguments tty7's own detection supplied
  (Git Bash's `-i -l`, a WSL row's `--distribution`) do not count, so those
  rows are still integrated.
</Note>

## What it reports

| Signal | Sequence | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt begins / input begins | `OSC 133;A`, `133;B` | The [prompt layer](/terminal/prompt): suggestions, completion, multi-line editing |
| Command submitted | `OSC 133;C` | Knowing a command is running; agent detection on Windows, where ConPTY exposes no foreground process group |
| Command finished, with exit code | `OSC 133;D` | The "finished after 42s" notification, failure marks in [history](/terminal/history) |
| Working directory | `OSC 7` | New tabs and splits opening in the right place, the sidebar's repo grouping, the git branch readout |
| Editing mode (vi / emacs) | `OSC 133;V` | Matching tty7's key handling to your shell's mode |
| Window title | `OSC 0` | Tab labels. Only PowerShell is given this — zsh, bash, and fish already set a title of their own, and tty7 reads whatever they emit |

## What turns off without it

Run a shell tty7 does not integrate with, and everything below still works —
it just falls back to less precise sources:

- Ghost suggestions, the completion menu, and <kbd>⌃ R</kbd>'s fuzzy history
- "Command finished" notifications and the failure marks in history search
- Exact working-directory tracking (tty7 falls back to inspecting the process)

Panes, splits, scrollback, search, SSH, and the CLI are unaffected.

## Per-pane history

When `per_pane_history` is on, the integration is also what makes it work. It
runs *after* your own rc file — which is the only reason it can: `$HISTFILE` is
yours to set, wherever you like, and nothing outside the shell knew where it
pointed until then.

The sequence is: seed the pane's private file from your real history so it does
not start blank, record how much was seeded, repoint `$HISTFILE`, and merge
everything past that mark back when the pane closes.

[More about history →](/terminal/history#one-history-or-one-per-pane)

## Remote shells

For a remote workspace or an SSH pane, the same scripts are sent over the
connection at login, so a remote pane reports its cwd, exit codes, and prompt
marks exactly like a local one. Turn it off for a particular host under that
profile's **Advanced → Session**.