I prefer zsh over bash as my everyday shell. Unfortunately, zsh is not the default shell on macOS.

Here’s a quick guide on how to make it as a default shell for your machine:

1. Install zsh#

Make sure zsh is available on your system. If not, install it with brew.

$~ brew install zsh

$~ which zsh
/usr/local/bin/zsh #output

2. Set zsh as default shell#

To set is as default shell, run the following in your terminal:

$~ sudo sh -c "echo $(which zsh) >> /etc/shells"
$~ chsh -s $(which zsh)

Then, simply reopen your shell again and it should used zsh as the default shell. That’s it.

To check which shell you’re using#

If you are still unsure whether your shell is running zsh or bash, run the following in your terminal:

$~ echo $0
-zsh  #output