winget install --id=S42yt.FreSH.Portable -e The same shell as S42yt.FreSH, delivered as one executable. Nothing is written to the registry, no Explorer entries are added and no administrator rights are needed. Settings still live in ~/.freshrc.
Runs bash scripts on Windows, unchanged. No WSL, no MSYS2, no Git Bash. One executable, written in C, starts in 9.5 ms. The same shell runs on macOS and Linux, and on ARM as well as x64.
scoop bucket add fresh https://github.com/S42yt/FreSH
scoop install fresh/fresh # or: scoop install fresh/fresh-portable
Or download FreSH.exe from the releases
and put it on your PATH. Nothing else is needed. On a Mac or a Linux
box:
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S42yt/FreSH/master/install.sh)"
Windows on ARM gets FreSH-Setup-arm64.exe. Every way to install it is in
installing, and verifying the download
takes one command.
A shell for Windows that runs the bash scripts you already have. What "unchanged" means is written down honestly in bash compatibility: what works, what does not, and why. Every line under Works has a test, and on every push CI runs the same scripts through real bash on Linux and through FreSH on Windows and fails the build on any difference.
It does not shell out for the parts a unix script leans on. awk, sed,
grep, sort and the rest are built in, so a pipeline does not spawn a
process per stage, and a script behaves the same on a machine with nothing else
installed. A line that starts with a PowerShell cmdlet or a cmd builtin is
handed to the right shell whole, so you never have to leave.
It starts quicker than cmd, about 25× quicker than Git Bash, and it stays
quick with a theme, plugins and a git prompt loaded:
| Shell | start, run nothing, exit |
|---|---|
FreSH -c exit | 11.8 ms |
cmd /c exit | 12.9 ms |
bash -c exit (Git Bash) | 236 ms |
pwsh -c exit | 570 ms |
Every number here has a method and a script behind it in benchmarks, and the story of how each one was won is in the blog.
Using it: shortcuts · configuration · themes · plugins
Writing scripts: scripting · bash compatibility · awk · command reference · how it fails
Getting and trusting it: installing · verifying a download · code signing
Working on it: building · benchmarks · tests · fuzzing · blog
FreSH updates itself:
fresh update # install the newest release
fresh update --check # only say whether there is one
fresh update --pre # take prereleases too
fresh update --selector # browse every release, arrows move, enter installs
Behind a proxy, set FRESH_PROXY to its address, with the login in it if the
proxy wants one; configuration has the shape.
GNU General Public License v3.0, see LICENSE.
Issues and pull requests welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md has the
branch naming, the commit style, what a change needs to bring with it, and how
releases are cut. The short version: branch as feat/, fix/, perf/,
docs/, test/, ci/, refactor/ or chore/ followed by kebab case, open a
pull request, keep CI green.