Terminal chips
Context pills above the prompt: runtime versions, git state, and your directory.
Chips are the contextual pills above the prompt input: which runtimes this project uses, where you are, and what git says. They're detected in the background — on cd, after each command finishes, and on a short refresh cycle — so the prompt never blocks on detection. And they're not just labels: most chips are pickers.
Runtime chips
Chips appear only for the languages your project actually uses. Detection is nearest-directory-wins: walking up from the pane's cwd, the first directory containing a language marker decides the project type — a stray package.json in your home directory never contaminates a nested Rust project.
| Chip | Marker | Shows | Click |
|---|---|---|---|
| Node | package.json | Active Node version | "Installed" picker over ~/.nvm/versions/node; picking runs a visible nvm use vX block |
| Python | pyproject.toml, requirements.txt, setup.py, .python-version, Pipfile | python3 --version | Info card with interpreter path and virtualenv |
| Rust | Cargo.toml | rustc --version | "Toolchains" picker over ~/.rustup/toolchains; picking runs rustup default <toolchain> |
| Go | go.mod | go version | Info card |
Switching Node versions does the real thing twice over: the visible nvm use block matches what a shell would show, and Mel also prepends that version's bin to PATH for every subsequent command in the pane — so node, npm, and npx all agree from then on. See Environment.
Directory chip
A folder icon plus your shortened cwd. Its menu opens the directory in your system file manager, or Choose folder… moves the pane to another folder. It always reflects the tracked cwd — see Sessions.
Git chip
The git chip has two click zones:
- Branch zone — click opens a searchable branch picker (query auto-focused; enter or click runs
git checkout <branch>as a visible block). - ± N change zone — the number of changed files (every entry
git statuslists); click opens Mel's code review panel over the working diff. - Ahead / behind — when the branch has an upstream, the chip shows how many commits it is ahead of or behind it.
Ghost autocomplete
The chip engine also powers the inline command suggestions in the prompt — session, shell history, then filesystem — covered in Autocomplete.
Related
- Input and the prompt — the bar the chips sit on
- Environment — PATH overrides and env sets