Ghost suggestions
Use Zync's inline command and path suggestions, understand shell and context-menu behavior, and configure suggestion providers.
Ghost suggestions show a faint completion suffix at the cursor while you type in a Zync terminal. Suggestions come from command history and filesystem paths for the active scope. They work in local terminals, WSL shells, and SSH sessions without installing a shell plugin.
Accept or dismiss a suggestion
Section titled “Accept or dismiss a suggestion”When a ghost suffix is visible:
- Press Right Arrow to accept the full suffix.
- Press Alt+Right Arrow or Alt+F to accept the next word.
- Press Ctrl+Right Arrow to accept the next path component.
- Keep typing to replace the suggestion.
Tab always belongs to the shell. Zync forwards Tab so bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell, and other shells can run their own completion. The ghost is dismissed while the shell changes the line. Press Enter, Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+U to reset the line and allow new ghost suggestions.
Moving the cursor with Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Home, or End, or starting history search with Ctrl+R or Up, pauses suggestions until the line is synchronized again. Your typed text is not removed.
What Zync suggests
Section titled “What Zync suggests”Command history
Section titled “Command history”History suggestions are ranked from your previous commands. Local terminals use a local scope. SSH terminals use a separate scope for each host, so commands from one server do not appear on another server.
Pressing Enter records a completed command in its scope. Accepting a ghost suffix also improves its ranking for that scope.
Filesystem paths
Section titled “Filesystem paths”Zync can complete directories and files in path-oriented commands such as cd and ls. Path suggestions use the current working directory when it is available.
On Windows, WSL terminals search the Linux filesystem inside the selected distribution rather than the Windows user profile. SSH terminals search the remote host.
Pipelines and command segments
Section titled “Pipelines and command segments”Suggestions can target the command segment where you are typing after separators such as |, &&, and ;. Recent commands in the current session and the current directory can improve ranking.
Native shell coexistence
Section titled “Native shell coexistence”Zync can step aside when the shell already provides its own autosuggestions. In Settings > Terminal > Ghost suggestions, choose Native shell sessions:
| Policy | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Auto (recommended) | Suppresses Zync ghost text for fish, and for zsh when zsh-autosuggestions is detected. |
| Always on | Keeps Zync ghost text enabled for detected native shells. |
| Off for native shells | Suppresses ghost text for fish, zsh, bash, and sh. |
In Auto mode, Zync checks zsh startup files for zsh-autosuggestions. It does not inject shell configuration.
Configure ghost suggestions
Section titled “Configure ghost suggestions”Open Settings > Terminal > Ghost suggestions. The defaults are chosen to keep the shell in control of completion:
| Setting | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Inline ghost text | On | Shows the faded suffix while typing. |
| Context-menu suggestion actions | Off | Adds an action to accept the visible suffix from the terminal right-click menu. |
| History | On | Enables ranked command-history suggestions. |
| Filesystem paths | On | Enables local, WSL, and remote path suggestions. |
| Import remote shell history on connect | Off | Seeds one host’s suggestions from its shell history after an SSH connection. |
The remote history option reads the remote ~/.zsh_history and ~/.bash_history files once per host over SFTP. It is opt-in, scoped to that host, and raw history lines are not logged.
Privacy and hidden input
Section titled “Privacy and hidden input”Ghost suggestions are suppressed while a terminal is waiting for a password or passphrase. Hidden input is not shown as ghost text and is not committed to suggestion history.
Suggestion history remains scoped to the local terminal or its SSH host. Disable History if you do not want Zync to rank prior commands for a scope.
When no ghost appears
Section titled “When no ghost appears”Check that Inline ghost text and the desired provider are enabled. Also check Native shell sessions if you use fish or zsh. After Tab completion or cursor movement, finish or cancel the current shell line before expecting a new suggestion.
Ghost suggestions are not shown in a hidden terminal pane. Focus the terminal tab or pane to see its inline suffix.
Related guides
Section titled “Related guides”- Terminal for tabs, splits, search, renderers, and terminal settings.
- Session persistence for per-host terminal restore.