Terminal Settings

Atmos provides configurable terminal settings that allow you to customize the output appearance, including syntax highlighting for YAML and JSON outputs. These settings can be configured in your atmos.yaml configuration file.

You will learn

• Configure syntax highlighting for terminal output
• Customize color schemes and formatting options
• Control output pagination and line wrapping
• Set display preferences for different output formats

General Terminal Settings

Configure general terminal behavior. These are also the default settings if not specified in your atmos.yaml:

settings:
  terminal:
    max_width: 120        # Maximum width for terminal output
    pager: false          # Pager disabled by default (set to true, or pager name like 'less' to enable)
    color: true           # Enable colored output (default: true)
    unicode: true         # Use Unicode characters in output
    tab_width: 2          # Number of spaces for YAML indentation (default: 2)

Configuration Precedence

Atmos follows a clear precedence order for terminal settings, with command-line flags having the highest priority:

Pager Configuration Precedence

1. CLI Flags (highest priority): --pager=false, --pager=less
2. NO_PAGER Environment Variable: NO_PAGER=1 (standard CLI convention)
3. ATMOS_PAGER Environment Variable: ATMOS_PAGER=less
4. PAGER Environment Variable: PAGER=more (system default)
5. Configuration File (lowest priority): settings.terminal.pager: true

Color Configuration Precedence

1. CLI Flags (highest priority): --no-color
2. NO_COLOR Environment Variable: NO_COLOR=1 (standard CLI convention)
3. ATMOS_NO_COLOR Environment Variable: ATMOS_NO_COLOR=true
4. ATMOS_COLOR Environment Variable: ATMOS_COLOR=false
5. COLOR Environment Variable: COLOR=false
6. Configuration File (lowest priority): settings.terminal.color: false

Syntax Highlighting

You can customize the syntax highlighting behavior for terminal output using the following settings:

settings:
  terminal:
    # Main terminal settings
    pager: true                     # Enable pager for all terminal output
    max_width: 120                  # Maximum width for terminal output
    color: true                     # Enable colored output

    # Syntax highlighting specific settings
    syntax_highlighting:
      enabled: true                 # Enable/disable syntax highlighting
      formatter: terminal           # Output formatter
      theme: dracula                # Color scheme to use
      line_numbers: false           # Show line numbers
      wrap: false                   # Wrap long lines

Terminal Configuration Options

max_width

Maximum width for terminal output (default: 120)

pager

Configure pager behavior for output display.

• false or empty: Pager disabled (default)
• true or on: Enable pager with system default
• Pager command (e.g., less, more): Use specific pager program
• Environment variables: NO_PAGER (disable), ATMOS_PAGER, PAGER (system default)
• CLI control: --pager global flag

color

Enable colored terminal output (default: true).

• Environment variables: NO_COLOR (standard), ATMOS_NO_COLOR, ATMOS_COLOR, COLOR
• CLI control: --no-color global flag

unicode

Use Unicode characters in output (default: true)

tab_width

Number of spaces for YAML indentation (default: 2)

Syntax Highlighting Configuration Options

enabled

Enable or disable syntax highlighting (default: true)

formatter

Output formatter (default: terminal)

theme

Color scheme for syntax highlighting. Available options include:

• vim
• monokai
• github
• dracula
• ...and many other standard themes

You can find the full list of supported themes here.

line_numbers

Show line numbers in output (default: false)

wrap

Wrap long lines (default: false)

Example Usage

The syntax highlighting is automatically applied when using commands that output YAML or JSON, such as:

# Display config in YAML format with syntax highlighting
atmos describe config -f yaml
# Display config in JSON format with syntax highlighting
atmos describe config

NOTE:

When the output is piped to another command, syntax highlighting is automatically disabled to ensure compatibility:

# Syntax highlighting is disabled when piping
atmos describe config | grep base_path

Supported Themes

Atmos supports a wide range of themes for syntax highlighting. You can find the full list of supported themes here.