The theme styles every segment at once. The segment editor styles one. This lesson goes through every control in it, so a line of plain values turns into something you read at a glance.
Open the segment editor
Click a segment in the preview or in Layout. The editor opens under the layout, titled with the segment's name. It has three columns: the icon on the left, the label and format in the middle, and the colours on the right. Close hides it again.
Everything you change shows in the preview straight away.
Pick an icon
The Icon / emoji field has a switch in its heading. Turn it off and the segment shows its value only.
Under it, This segment in each style offers the segment's own icon three ways: a plain symbol, an emoji and a Nerd Font glyph. For more choice, the tabs open a full grid:
| Tab | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Text | Plain symbols, one column wide, that work in every terminal |
| Emoji | Colour emoji, two columns wide each |
| Nerd Font | Nerd Font glyphs; the preview always draws them, your terminal needs a Nerd Font |
| Mine | Icons you saved, kept in this browser for every segment |
The search box filters by name: try git, cost or folder. You can also type or paste any glyph into the icon field, or a code like U+F418, and save it to Mine.
Add a text label
Text label puts a short word before the value, like ctx 15% instead of 15%. Turn the switch on and type the label. Labels help most with numbers that look alike: a context percentage and a limit percentage are both just a number with %.
Choose the colour and background
Colour offers the roles of your palette: accent, good, warn, bad, info, special, muted, dim and the main text colour, plus two special ones:
- auto keeps the segment's own default colour
- heat colours the value by how high it is, from green through yellow to red
Heat is the right choice for anything that fills up: context used, the 5-hour and 7-day limits. You see trouble before you read the number.
Need a colour that is not in the palette? Any colour under the swatches opens a colour box, or takes a hex code like #ff8800. A colour picked this way stays fixed when you change the palette.
Background fills the segment as a coloured chip. The text colour flips automatically so it stays readable. Chips on every segment give the Filled Blocks look from the templates.
Because colours are roles, not fixed colours, changing the palette in Theme recolours everything and keeps it consistent.
Draw percentages as a bar
Segments that are a percentage (context used, context remaining, the plan limits) have a Progress bar switch. On, the value is drawn as a small bar next to the number, like ▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 30%.
The bar's look and width are set for all segments in Theme, Progress bar: shaded blocks, solid blocks, a thin line, dots, squares, plain ASCII, braille or rounded blocks, and how many characters wide.
A bar plus heat colour is the clearest way to show a limit.
Change the format
Many segments have a Format choice with an example for each option. A few useful ones:
| Segment | Formats |
|---|---|
| Model name | Short (Opus 5.5), full with the context size, or lowercase |
| Current directory | Folder name, parent/folder, ~/full/path or the absolute path |
| Session cost | $3.42, 342¢ or rounded to $3 |
| 5-hour reset | 2h14m left, 3:00pm, or both |
| Wall clock | 3:04pm, 15:04 or with seconds |
Shorter formats save width. On a narrow pane, Folder name and a rounded cost can free ten columns.
The next lesson moves up a level: the theme, which styles every segment at once.