What it does
fish is a command-line shell for interactive terminal work. Its tutorial highlights syntax coloring, autosuggestions, tab completions, and a scripting language with conventions that differ from Bash. The project publishes the shell in the fish-shell repository; its COPYING file says most of fish is under GNU GPL version 2 and identifies separate licenses for some included components.
The tutorial is a useful guided first session: open fish, try ordinary commands, and explore how variables, command substitutions, conditions, and completions behave. Syntax highlighting and autosuggestions are available without first building a prompt framework, which can make the shell useful for daily interactive work.
Before replacing Bash in project scripts, read the fish-for-Bash-users guide. fish has its own scripting syntax, so a Bash script should not be assumed to run unchanged under fish. At the time checked, the official release page listed fish 4.9.3. The repository’s COPYING file says most fish code is GPLv2 and notes separately licensed components; consult the full license information if bundling it with another product.
Strengths
- The tutorial documents syntax highlighting, autosuggestions, and tab completions.
- The official project publishes current documentation and releases.
- The repository identifies GPLv2 as the license for most of fish.
Watch out for
- fish scripting syntax differs from Bash, so existing shell scripts may need changes.
- The repository notes that some included components have separate licenses.
Best for
- Interactive terminal users who want built-in suggestions and completions
- Developers willing to use fish-specific shell syntax
Sources
- Tutorial | fish-shell documentation (Oct 25, 2026)
- fish-shell/COPYING at master | GitHub (Oct 25, 2026)
- Releases | fish-shell/fish-shell (Oct 25, 2026)