atuin

Magical shell history with encrypted sync across all your machines.

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Install skill "atuin" with this command: npx skills add julianobarbosa/claude-code-skills/julianobarbosa-claude-code-skills-atuin

Atuin Skill

Magical shell history with encrypted sync across all your machines.

Overview

Atuin replaces your shell history with a SQLite database and provides:

  • Full-screen history search UI (Ctrl+R / Up arrow)

  • End-to-end encrypted sync across machines

  • Context logging (exit code, cwd, hostname, duration)

  • Statistics and analytics

  • Filter modes (session, directory, global)

  • Quick navigation with Alt+number keys

Supported Shells

Shell Support Level

Zsh Full

Bash Full

Fish Full

Nushell Full

Xonsh Full

Quick Start

Installation

Official installer (recommended)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://setup.atuin.sh | sh

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install atuin

Cargo

cargo install atuin

Arch Linux

pacman -S atuin

Shell Integration

Zsh (~/.zshrc ):

eval "$(atuin init zsh)"

Bash (~/.bashrc ):

eval "$(atuin init bash)"

Fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish ):

atuin init fish | source

Nushell (config.nu ):

source ~/.local/share/atuin/init.nu

First-Time Setup

Import existing history

atuin import auto

Optional: Register for sync

atuin register -u <USERNAME> -e <EMAIL>

Verify setup

atuin doctor

Search Modes

Interactive Search (Ctrl+R)

Key Action

Ctrl+R

Open search UI

Up/Down

Navigate history

Tab

Select without executing

Enter

Execute command

Alt+1-9

Quick select item

Ctrl+R (in UI) Cycle filter modes

Filter Modes

Mode Description

global

All history across machines

host

Current machine only

session

Current terminal session

directory

Current working directory

workspace

Git repository root

Search Modes

Mode Description

prefix

Match from start of command

fulltext

Substring match anywhere

fuzzy

Fuzzy matching (default)

skim

Skim-style fuzzy finder

Command Line Search

Basic search

atuin search "git push"

Filter by exit code (successful only)

atuin search --exit 0 "make"

Time-based filtering

atuin search --after "yesterday 3pm" "docker" atuin search --before "2024-01-01" "npm"

Combine filters

atuin search --exit 0 --after "1 week ago" "kubectl"

Directory filter

atuin search --cwd /path/to/project "test"

Sync Setup

Cloud Sync (Atuin Server)

1. Register account

atuin register -u <USERNAME> -e <EMAIL>

2. Login (creates session)

atuin login -u <USERNAME>

3. Import existing history

atuin import auto

4. Sync

atuin sync

Check sync status

atuin status

Self-Hosted Server

Using Docker

docker run -d
-p 8888:8888
-v $HOME/.atuin-server:/data
ghcr.io/atuinsh/atuin:latest
server start

Configure client

atuin config set sync_address "http://localhost:8888"

Sync v2 (Faster)

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

[sync] records = true # Enable sync v2

Configuration

Config File Location

~/.config/atuin/config.toml # Main config ~/.local/share/atuin/history.db # History database ~/.local/share/atuin/key # Encryption key ~/.local/share/atuin/session # Server session

Essential Settings

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Search behavior

search_mode = "fuzzy" # prefix, fulltext, fuzzy, skim filter_mode = "global" # global, host, session, directory, workspace

Shell key binding defaults

filter_mode_shell_up_key_binding = "session" # Up arrow default

UI settings

style = "compact" # auto, full, compact inline_height = 40 # Max lines (0 = full screen) show_preview = true # Show command preview show_help = true # Show keybind help enter_accept = false # true = execute immediately

Sync settings

auto_sync = true # Sync automatically sync_frequency = "1h" # How often to sync sync_address = "https://api.atuin.sh" # Server URL

Privacy

secrets_filter = true # Auto-filter sensitive data store_failed = true # Store failed commands

Privacy Filters

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Regex patterns to exclude from history

history_filter = [ "^password", "^secret", "^export.API_KEY", ".--password.*" ]

Directories to exclude

cwd_filter = [ "^/tmp", "^/private" ]

Built-in secrets filter (AWS keys, tokens, etc.)

secrets_filter = true

Key Bindings

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Vim-style navigation

keymap_mode = "vim-normal" # emacs, vim-normal, vim-insert, auto

Cursor style per mode

[keymap_cursor] emacs = "blink-block" vim_insert = "blink-bar" vim_normal = "steady-block"

Commands Reference

Core Commands

History operations

atuin history list # List all history atuin history list --cmd-only # Commands only (no metadata) atuin history prune # Remove entries

Search

atuin search [query] # Interactive search atuin search --interactive # Force interactive mode

Sync

atuin sync # Manual sync atuin sync --force # Force full sync atuin status # Sync status

Statistics

atuin stats # Usage statistics atuin stats --count 20 # Top 20 commands

Account

atuin register # Create account atuin login # Login to sync server atuin logout # Logout atuin account delete # Delete account

Maintenance

atuin doctor # Diagnostic checks atuin info # System information atuin gen-completions # Generate shell completions

Import Commands

Auto-detect and import

atuin import auto

Specific shells

atuin import zsh atuin import bash atuin import fish atuin import resh

Import zsh_history file

atuin import zsh-hist-db

Daemon Mode

Start daemon (background sync)

atuin daemon

Check daemon status

atuin daemon status

Statistics

View Stats

Basic stats

atuin stats

Top N commands

atuin stats --count 25

Example output:

Total commands: 50,234

Unique commands: 12,456

Top 10:

1. git status (2,345)

2. cd (1,890)

3. ls (1,654)

4. git diff (1,234)

...

Configure Stats

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

[stats]

Commands where subcommands matter

common_subcommands = [ "cargo", "git", "kubectl", "docker", "npm" ]

Prefixes to strip from stats

common_prefix = [ "sudo" ]

Workflows

Daily Development Workflow

Morning: Sync history from other machines

atuin sync

During work: Search across all history

Press Ctrl+R, type query

Use Ctrl+R to cycle: session → directory → global

Find that command you ran last week

atuin search --after "1 week ago" "docker-compose"

Check your patterns

atuin stats

Multi-Machine Workflow

On Machine A: Register and setup

atuin register -u myuser -e me@example.com atuin import auto atuin sync

On Machine B: Login and sync

atuin login -u myuser atuin sync

History now shared between machines

Search finds commands from both

Troubleshooting Workflow

Check installation

atuin doctor

Verify shell integration

echo $ATUIN_SESSION # Should be set

Test search

atuin search "test"

Check sync status

atuin status

Force resync if needed

atuin sync --force

Performance Tips

Optimize Search Speed

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Use prefix mode for faster matching

search_mode = "prefix"

Limit to session by default

filter_mode = "session"

Reduce preview height

max_preview_height = 2

Reduce Sync Traffic

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Sync less frequently

sync_frequency = "4h"

Enable sync v2 (more efficient)

[sync] records = true

Daemon Mode (v18.3+)

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

[daemon] enabled = true sync_frequency = 300 # seconds

Migration

From fzf/history

1. Install atuin

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://setup.atuin.sh | sh

2. Import existing history

atuin import auto

3. Add shell integration (replaces fzf Ctrl+R)

echo 'eval "$(atuin init zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc

4. Remove fzf history binding (if any)

Remove: bindkey '^R' fzf-history-widget

From Other History Tools

mcfly: Export first, then import

mcfly export > history.txt

Manual import needed

hstr: Standard history import works

atuin import auto

Security

Encryption

  • All sync data is end-to-end encrypted

  • Server cannot read your history

  • Key stored locally (~/.local/share/atuin/key )

Key Backup

Backup your encryption key

cp ~/.local/share/atuin/key ~/atuin-key.backup

Restore on new machine

cp ~/atuin-key.backup ~/.local/share/atuin/key

Secrets Filtering

~/.config/atuin/config.toml

Enable automatic secrets filtering

secrets_filter = true # Blocks AWS keys, GitHub tokens, etc.

Add custom patterns

history_filter = [ ".password=.", ".secret=.", "^mysql.-p." ]

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue Solution

Ctrl+R not working Check shell integration in rc file

Sync failing Run atuin doctor , check network

Missing history Run atuin import auto

Slow search Switch to prefix search mode

Duplicate history Check if imported multiple times

Diagnostic Commands

Full diagnostics

atuin doctor

System info

atuin info

Check database

sqlite3 ~/.local/share/atuin/history.db "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM history"

Debug mode

ATUIN_LOG=debug atuin sync

Reset Everything

Logout and clear local data

atuin logout rm -rf ~/.local/share/atuin rm -rf ~/.config/atuin

Reinstall

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://setup.atuin.sh | sh

References

  • references/configuration.md - Complete configuration reference with intent-to-config mapping

  • references/commands.md - Full CLI command reference

  • references/search-reference.md - Search flags, TUI shortcuts, Vim mode, format variables

  • references/sync-setup.md - Detailed sync configuration

  • references/troubleshooting.md - Common issues and fixes

  • references/workflows.md - Advanced usage patterns

  • references/tips-and-tricks.md - Power user patterns, fzf coexistence, dotfiles sync, tmux

External Links

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