Module 9 · Lesson 210 min

Config polish

Your config lives at ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl (macOS: under the Application Support path). You don’t write it from scratch: zellij setup --dump-config prints the full default config, which you redirect to a file and edit down. That dump is also the authoritative source for every default keybinding, the ground truth behind this whole course.

Start your config from the real defaults

mkdir -p ~/.config/zellij
zellij setup --dump-config > ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl
zellij setup --check   # sanity-check your setup and paths

Most options you’ll never touch. A handful are worth setting deliberately: which layout to boot, your theme, the shell new panes use, and whether the mouse is captured. Everything is a top-level line in config.kdl.

The options worth setting

default_layout "dev"      // load your layout by name on startup
theme "catppuccin-mocha"  // any built-in or custom theme
default_shell "fish"      // shell for new panes (defaults to $SHELL)
mouse_mode true            // capture the mouse (Shift bypasses)

Practice

Try it yourself

Create your config from the dump

Get a real config file in place and set one option.

Run zellij setup --dump-config > ~/.config/zellij/config.kdl (adjust path on macOS)
Open it and set default_layout to a layout name you made in Module 7
Run zellij setup --check to confirm the setup is valid
Start a fresh zellij and confirm your default layout loads

Done whenA new session started with your chosen default layout, sourced from your own config.kdl.

Recall

The one command to remember

This command is the source of truth for everything.

What command prints Zellij's complete current default config and keybindings?

Reveal answer

zellij setup --dump-config.