What Is Terminals Are Sexy?

Updated

Terminals Are Sexy is a curated GitHub list of terminal frameworks, plugins, and resources for people who work in the command line. It is a reference and discovery page, not a downloadable tool or a hosted service—you use it to find projects worth installing, then follow the links to each project's own repository or site. It is most useful if you already spend time in a shell and want a single starting point for shells, terminal emulators, package managers, editors, and related utilities.

What the list covers

The page is organized as a table of contents that jumps to themed sections. The visible sections are:

  • Shells — split into base shells and ZSH-specific frameworks, plugin managers, prompts, and themes
  • Terminal Emulation Applications
  • Package Managers — with subsections for Universal, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and Windows
  • Text Editors
  • Tools and Plugins
  • Communication
  • Other
  • Community
  • Other Sexy Lists
  • Contributing

Each entry is a short link with a one-line description, so the page works as a scannable index rather than a tutorial.

How to use it

  1. Pick your category. If you want a new shell experience, start under Shells; if you want a better terminal window, go to Terminal Emulation Applications.
  2. Read the one-line descriptions to shortlist candidates. For example, the ZSH section lists frameworks such as oh-my-zsh, prezto, and zim, plugin managers such as zinit, zplug, and antigen, and prompts such as pure and powerlevel9k.
  3. Follow the outbound link to the project's own repository for install instructions, requirements, and current status.
  4. Check the Package Managers subsections by operating system before assuming a tool is available for your platform—the list separates Universal, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and Windows entries.

A typical use case: you have decided to move from Bash to Zsh and want a plugin manager plus a prompt. The list gives you several plugin managers (antibody, antigen, zgen, zinit, zplug, zpm) and several prompts in one place, and you compare them by visiting their repositories.

What it is not

  • Not a package or installer. Nothing on the page is downloaded from the site itself; every item points elsewhere.
  • Not a comparison review. Descriptions are brief and promotional in tone ("blazing speed," "out of this world super fast"), so treat them as labels, not evaluations.
  • Not a maintained compatibility matrix. Version support, licensing, and activity level live on each linked project, not here.
  • No pricing information is given on the page. The listed projects are open-source repositories, but confirm each project's own terms rather than assuming.

Who it suits

It fits CLI users who already know roughly what category of tool they want and need a curated shortlist instead of search-engine noise. It is less useful if you need step-by-step setup guides, since the page stops at the link. If you are brand new to the terminal, start with a base shell entry and a terminal emulator, then return for plugins once you are comfortable.

The "Other Sexy Lists" and "Community" sections point to further curated lists and community resources, which is where to go once you have worked through the main categories.