Frontier Config — Starship, Atuin, Optional Zellij

What This Is

Frontier config is the lightweight operator layer that still belongs inside the current framework surface:

starship for prompt context
atuin for searchable history
optional zellij config and dashboards for people who want a repo-owned session surface

The key constraint is non-invasive ownership: the repo can ship Zellij assets without bulldozing the user’s terminal setup. Frontier files resolve per asset, so an external companion config can override only the Zellij bits while the repo still provides the prompt and history defaults.

None of this is required. vibecrafted works without any of it.

Quick Setup

brew install starship atuin
make install
vc-frontier-paths

That gives you:

a prompt with repo/runtime context
searchable shell history tuned for project recall
optional Zellij dashboards that stay dormant until you launch them

If you already run your shell inside a zellij session, spawned agents still reuse panes automatically. If you want the repo-owned dashboards too, install the frontier presets and launch them explicitly with vibecrafted dashboard.

Starship

The helper layer auto-detects Starship and points it at config/starship.toml.

What it shows:

current directory
git branch and dirty state
Python / Node / Rust context
active agent and runtime when a spawn is running

Check the resolved path:

vc-frontier-paths

Atuin

The repo keeps an Atuin config at config/atuin/config.toml for:

fuzzy history
workspace-first filtering
home-scope fallback when the current repo/workspace is empty
preview-enabled recall
noise filtering for trivial commands

Install or refresh the sidecars with:

vc-frontier-install

If zellij is on your machine, the same command also stages the repo-owned config.kdl and dashboard layouts. Nothing gets forced on until you run a dashboard command or point your shell at those files. The installer places all three assets under $HOME/.config/vetcoders/frontier/, not into your global $HOME/.config/zellij or $HOME/.config/starship.toml.

Config Resolution

The helper layer resolves each artifact independently:

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vetcoders/frontier/
$VIBECRAFTED_HOME/tools/vibecrafted-current/config/
$VIBECRAFTED_ROOT/config/
<current vibecrafted repo>/config/

That means repo-owned starship / atuin presets can stay local to the core framework while a companion repo can provide only zellij/config.kdl or only a single layout without being shadowed by the checkout you are currently in.

Inspect the active paths with:

vc-frontier-paths

Shipped Surface

The core repo now ships:

repo-owned zellij layouts
repo-owned zellij config
repo-owned starship and atuin presets

What stays outside the core repo:

terminal-emulator presets such as Alacritty

If you prefer zellij, keep using it. The spawn runtime still detects an active session and opens panes there when possible. If a companion repo stages zellij/config.kdl under $HOME/.config/vetcoders/frontier/, the helper layer can pick it up without changing the core repo contract. The difference is simple: the framework owns an optional dashboard surface, not your whole terminal identity.