A field guide for Maya Ortiz · about 20 minutes · Ghostty 1.3.1 on a Mac

Your first Ghostty settings, explained one note at a time

You wrote six notes after your first ten minutes. This guide changes only two things, because Ghostty already handles the rest. Every change is tied to the words you wrote.

1. Get Ghostty and say hello (3 minutes)

  1. In your web browser, go to ghostty.org and choose the download for macOS. This is something you do yourself; nothing on this page downloads anything.
  2. Open the downloaded file and drag Ghostty into your Applications folder, then open it from Applications.
  3. In the Ghostty window, type pwd and press Return. It prints the folder you are in, the same as it did for you before. That means everything works.

2. Your two lines and why (4 minutes)

This is the whole settings file. Lines starting with # are comments that Ghostty ignores; they hold your own words.

# Ghostty settings for Maya, based only on observations.txt.
# Everything not listed here stays at Ghostty's built-in default.

# "I pressed Command and the plus key three times, which made it 16 points, and ten lines were comfortable on my desk monitor"
font-size = 16

# "My Mac switches between Light and Dark appearance on its own, but the terminal stays dark all day, and in the morning glare the dark window is hard to read"
theme = light:Builtin Light,dark:Ghostty Default Style Dark

font-size = 16 Change

Starts every window at 16 points instead of 13, so you do not have to press Command + three times each time.

"Ghostty started at 13 points and I was squinting within a minute."

You have only tried 16 on your desk monitor, so see the open question about your laptop.

theme = light:Builtin Light,dark:Ghostty Default Style Dark Change

When your Mac is in Light appearance, the terminal shows dark text on a white background. When it switches to Dark, the terminal looks just as it does today. Both themes come built into Ghostty.

"in the morning glare the dark window is hard to read"

3. What already works, no setting needed (4 minutes)

These are Ghostty's built-in behaviors. Try each one now.

Claude Code on one side, a second terminal on the other

Press Command D. The window splits into a left and a right side. Start Claude Code on one side and use the other freely. Press Command ] or Command [ to move between them, or just click a side. Command W closes the side you are in.

Not closing the window by accident

Ghostty already asks before closing a terminal where a program, such as Claude Code, is still running. You can click Cancel. If you close something by mistake anyway, press Command Z right away to bring it back.

Changing the text size for a moment

Command + makes text bigger, Command - smaller, and Command 0 goes back to your 16.

A solid window and plain colors

The window stays solid, not see-through, and the colors stay readable. You were not sure a blurred window would help you read, and glare already makes reading hard, so nothing changes here. No new shortcuts to learn either.

That is the full list of keys this guide uses: Command D, Command + or -, and Command , for settings.

4. Put the lines in place (5 minutes)

  1. Click the Ghostty window and press Command , (Command and comma). Ghostty opens its settings file in a text editor.
  2. Back up first. If the file already has text in it, select all of it (Command A), copy it (Command C), and paste it into a new note somewhere safe.
  3. Copy the lines from the dark box in section 2 and paste them at the end of the settings file.
  4. Save with Command S.
  5. Back in Ghostty, press Command Shift , (Command, Shift, and comma) to reload. New windows open at 16 points. A window where you already pressed Command + keeps the size you picked there until you open a new one.
  6. To see the light theme, switch your Mac to Light appearance in System Settings, Appearance.

Checked before you got it

This file was checked with Ghostty's own validator:

/Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/MacOS/ghostty +validate-config --config-file=config.ghostty

Exit status: 0 (0 means Ghostty found no problems).

5. How to undo a line (1 minute)

Open settings with Command ,, delete the line you do not want (and its comment above it), save, and reload with Command Shift ,. Ghostty goes back to its default for that setting: 13 points for font-size, always dark for theme. To undo everything, delete both lines, or paste back your backup.

6. Note map: each note, Ghostty's default, and the decision (3 minutes)

Every note is quoted exactly from observations.txt. The commands used to read each default are listed in decisions.md.

Note ledger (always shown, also without JavaScript)
Your noteGhostty defaultDecisionConfig line or built-in shortcut
1. The text is too small. Ghostty started at 13 points and I was squinting within a minute. I pressed Command and the plus key three times, which made it 16 points, and ten lines were comfortable on my desk monitor. I use the laptop every day too, and its screen is smaller and sits farther from my eyes, but I have not tried 16 on it yet.observations.txt, note 1 font-size = 13 Change Evidence: 16 was comfortable. Laptop size is still an open question. font-size = 16
2. I work by a sunny window in the morning and late at night. My Mac switches between Light and Dark appearance on its own, but the terminal stays dark all day, and in the morning glare the dark window is hard to read.observations.txt, note 2 theme empty, always dark Change Evidence: the dark window is hard to read in glare. Follow the Mac's appearance. theme = light:Builtin Light,dark:Ghostty Default Style Dark
3. I want Claude Code on one side of the window and a second terminal on the other side.observations.txt, note 3 Split right is built in Keep default No setting needed. Command D splits; Command ] moves
4. I am afraid of closing the window by accident while the agent is still working.observations.txt, note 4 confirm-close-surface = true Keep default Ghostty already asks first while a program runs. Confirmation is built in; Command Z undoes a close
5. A friend's terminal has a see-through, blurred window. It looked cool, but I do not know whether it would help me read.observations.txt, note 5 background-opacity = 1, solid Keep default No evidence it would help reading. None; the window stays solid
6. I do not care about colors beyond being able to read them, and I do not want to learn a list of keyboard shortcuts.observations.txt, note 6 Built-in colors and shortcuts Keep default No new shortcuts added. None

7. One open question, not yet decided

Not decided Is 16 comfortable on your laptop screen too?

You wrote that the laptop screen "is smaller and sits farther from my eyes, but I have not tried 16 on it yet." Until you try it, the file keeps font-size = 16. If 16 feels small there, press Command + until it is comfortable and note the size; that number would replace 16. Nothing on this page has made that choice for you.