The Ultimate Windows Terminal Setup: Starship, Autocomplete, and Pure Aesthetics

Step 3: Supercharging Autocompletion with Modules

A pretty terminal is nothing if it isn't smart. We are going to install modules that give us menu-based tabbing, Git aliases, and the Ultimate Completer (for dynamic JSON-based autocomplete). We’ll also add a plugin that mimics Ubuntu’s helpful "command not found" feature.

Run these commands one by one to install the modules:
[code]

Install-Module -Name git-aliases

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.Client

Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.CommandNotFound

Install-Module -Name UltimateCompleter

[/code]

Step 4: Tying It All Together in Your Profile

Now we need to tell PowerShell to load all these amazing tools every time it starts. Since we installed nano earlier, editing our profile is a breeze.

Run this in your terminal:
[code] nano $PROFILE [/code]

(If it asks to create the file, type Y for yes).

Paste the following master-configuration script into the editor:

[code]

# 1. Enable Menu-Style Autocompletion

Set-PSReadlineKeyHandler -Key Tab -Function MenuComplete

# 2. Custom Argument Completer for Winget

Register-ArgumentCompleter -Native -CommandName winget -ScriptBlock {

    param($wordToComplete, $commandAst, $cursorPosition)

        [Console]::InputEncoding = [Console]::OutputEncoding = $OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Utf8Encoding]::new()

        $Local:word = $wordToComplete.Replace('"', '""')

        $Local:ast = $commandAst.ToString().Replace('"', '""')

        winget complete --word="$Local:word" --commandline "$Local:ast" --position $cursorPosition | ForEach-Object {

            [System.Management.Automation.CompletionResult]::new($_, $_, 'ParameterValue', $_)

        }

}

# 3. The Welcome Screen

neofetch

# 4. Load the Smart Modules

Import-Module UltimateCompleter -DisableNameChecking

Import-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.CommandNotFound

Import-Module git-aliases -DisableNameChecking

# 5. Initialize Starship Prompt

Invoke-Expression (&starship init powershell)

[/code]

Press Ctrl+O to save, Enter to confirm, and Ctrl+X to exit nano.

What did we just do? Hitting Tab will now open a beautiful, navigable menu instead of just aggressively pasting the first match. You have native autocomplete for winget, deep tooltip support via Ultimate Completer, and an Ubuntu-style helper if you type a command that isn't installed. Plus, Neofetch and Starship will now launch automatically!

Step 5: The Final Touch (Custom Starship Theme)

Everything is functional, but let's make that Starship prompt truly yours. I use a custom Starship configuration that perfectly balances beautiful symbols with important Git context.

Let's open the Starship configuration file:

[code] nano ~\.config\starship.toml [/code]

(If the .config folder doesn't exist yet, you might need to run mkdir ~\.config first).

Paste your custom theme configuration here:
[code]

## FIRST LINE/ROW: Info & Status

# First param ─┌

[username]

format = " [╭─$user]($style)@"

show_always = true

style_root = "bold red"

style_user = "bold red"

# Second param

[hostname]

disabled = false

format = "[$hostname]($style) in "

ssh_only = false

style = "bold dimmed red"

trim_at = "-"

# Third param

[directory]

style = "purple"

truncate_to_repo = true

truncation_length = 0

truncation_symbol = "repo: "

# Fourth param

[sudo]

disabled = false

# Before all the version info (python, nodejs, php, etc.)

[git_status]

ahead = "⇡${count}"

behind = "⇣${count}"

deleted = "x"

diverged = "⇕⇡${ahead_count}⇣${behind_count}"

style = "white"

# Last param in the first line/row

[cmd_duration]

disabled = false

format = "took [$duration]($style)"

min_time = 1

## SECOND LINE/ROW: Prompt

# Somethere at the beginning

[battery]

charging_symbol = ""

disabled = true

discharging_symbol = ""

full_symbol = ""

[[battery.display]] # "bold red" style when capacity is between 0% and 15%

disabled = false

style = "bold red"

threshold = 15

[[battery.display]] # "bold yellow" style when capacity is between 15% and 50%

disabled = true

style = "bold yellow"

threshold = 50

[[battery.display]] # "bold green" style when capacity is between 50% and 80%

disabled = true

style = "bold green"

threshold = 80

# Prompt: optional param 1

[time]

disabled = true

format = " 🕙 $time($style)\n"

style = "bright-white"

time_format = "%T"

# Prompt: param 2

[character]

error_symbol = " [×](bold red)"

success_symbol = " [╰─λ](bold red)"

# SYMBOLS

[status]

disabled = false

format = '[\[$symbol$status_common_meaning$status_signal_name$status_maybe_int\]]($style)'

map_symbol = true

pipestatus = true

symbol = "🔴"

[aws]

symbol = " "

[conda]

symbol = " "

[dart]

symbol = " "

[docker_context]

symbol = " "

[elixir]

symbol = " "

[elm]

symbol = " "

[git_branch]

symbol = " "

[golang]

symbol = " "

[hg_branch]

symbol = " "

[java]

symbol = " "

[julia]

symbol = " "

[nim]

symbol = " "

[nix_shell]

symbol = " "

[nodejs]

symbol = " "

[package]

symbol = " "

[perl]

symbol = " "

[php]

symbol = " "

[python]

symbol = " "

[ruby]

symbol = " "

[rust]

symbol = " "

[swift]

symbol = "ﯣ "