Install and set up Nushell

Install Nushell on every development machine. Prefer the same shell across OSes so scripts, docs, and agent instructions stay consistent.

For why we recommend it, see Why We Recommend Nushell.

Install

Windows

Prefer winget:

winget install Nushell.Nushell

Or download an installer from the official installation guide.

macOS

brew install nushell

Linux

Use your distro package when it is current, or follow the official guide (cargo, AppImage, or package repo):

# Example — verify the package name for your distro first
# sudo apt install nushell
# sudo dnf install nushell

Always confirm with:

nu --version

Make Nushell easy to open

  1. Add a Windows Terminal (or other terminal) profile that launches nu as the shell.

  2. Optionally set that profile as the default for interactive work.

  3. Keep a classical shell profile only for OS-required tasks (for example, elevating with legacy PowerShell scripts). Day-to-day Dev-Centr work should run in nu.

First checks

In a Nushell session:

$env.NU_VERSION
ls | where type == dir

You should see structured table output from ls, not only a raw text dump.

Profiles and config

Nushell stores configuration under its config directory (platform-specific; see nu docs for $nu.config-path). Prefer checking config into your environment-as-code layout once DevCentr manages shells as first-class citizens.

Troubleshooting

Not found after install

Close and reopen the terminal, or refresh PATH, then run nu --version again.

Tool says it requires Nushell

Install Nushell (this page). Tools using nu-require will, once nu is on PATH, relaunch themselves inside Nushell even if you started them from bash/zsh/pwsh. If install is still missing, they may offer a one-shot install on supported platforms.

See also