Syncing iTerm2, Alacritty, and Terminal Emulator Configs

A developer’s terminal environment is built from layers of tools that each store their own configuration. Your terminal emulator defines appearance and keybindings. Your multiplexer manages sessions and panes. Your keyboard remapper customizes input. Each tool has its own config file in a different location.

ConfigSync has dedicated modules for each layer of the terminal stack. Add the ones you use, push once, and all of them restore together on a new machine.

iTerm2 stores all preferences, profiles, color schemes, and keybindings in a single plist file. This includes everything: font choices, window arrangements, triggers, profile-specific settings, and custom keyboard shortcuts.

ConfigSync tracks the iTerm2 preferences plist, which captures every setting in the application. On a new Mac, pulling your ConfigSync snapshot and restarting iTerm2 gives you the exact same terminal you had before — same profiles, same colors, same hotkey window configuration.

Alacritty is a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator that works on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Its configuration lives in a single TOML file (or YAML in older versions):

Because Alacritty is cross-platform, the same config file works everywhere. Font names and sizes, color schemes, keybindings, and window opacity all carry over between macOS and Linux with no platform-specific adjustments needed.

tmux is the standard terminal multiplexer for managing sessions, windows, and panes. Its configuration can grow complex with custom keybindings, status bar theming, and plugin manager setup:

Like Neovim plugins, tmux plugins managed by TPM install on first use. ConfigSync syncs the config, and TPM handles downloading the actual plugins.

Karabiner-Elements remaps keys on macOS. If you use Caps Lock as Escape, remap modifier keys, or have complex key sequences, the config is essential:

This single JSON file contains all your key remappings, complex modifications, and device-specific rules. Losing it means reconfiguring every remap from memory. With ConfigSync, it restores instantly on any new Mac.

bat is a cat replacement with syntax highlighting and git integration. Its configuration file sets the default theme, pager behavior, and display options:

Here is how to sync every terminal tool in one setup:

One push captures your entire terminal stack. One pull on a new machine restores it all. Your terminal looks and works exactly the same on every machine, down to the keybindings, color scheme, and status bar layout.