The latest Fish shell release, 4.5.0, includes fixes for regressions in Vi-mode and some behind-the-scenes tweaks that improve performance. This update should make Vi bindings feel more natural, especially on modern consoles where it starts up slightly faster. However, users with older hardware or specific terminals like the Data General Dasher D220 may experience issues with color handling after updating. Overall, this release is a worthwhile upgrade for anyone using Fish, especially those who rely on Vi mode in their daily workflow.

Fish shell 4.5.0: What the new patch actually fixes for everyday users

Fish 4.5.0 lands with a tidy set of regressions fixed in Vi‑mode and a few behind‑the‑scenes tweaks that most people will never notice—unless they’ve been tripping over the same bugs for weeks.

Why you might care about this release

If a terminal has ever felt like it was speaking a different language after enabling Vi bindings, the new version smooths out those rough edges. The change also removes a hidden dependency on terminfo, which means fish starts up a fraction faster on most modern consoles.

What “ignore‑terminfo” really means for you

Since fish 4.1 a feature flag silently disabled terminfo lookups; version 4.5.0 makes that permanent. The shell no longer reads the TERM variable to adjust its output, which cuts out an unnecessary ncurses call on every start‑up. For most people this is invisible, but on older hardware—think Data General Dasher D220 or Wyse WY‑350—the change could break color handling. If you ever run fish on a relic terminal, be prepared for a few missing colors.

How to upgrade without breaking your setup

First, grab the tarball named fish‑4.5.0.tar.xz from the release page. Verify the GPG signature with the provided asc file—skipping this step is a shortcut that can bite you later if the archive was tampered with. After extraction, run the usual configure‑make‑install sequence; the process completes in under a minute on a typical laptop. For users who prefer pre‑built binaries, the  fish-4.5.0-linux-x86_64.tar.xz for x86_64 or f ish-4.5.0-linux-aarch64.tar.xz for ARM packages drop straight into /usr/local/bin and are ready to go.

Should you bother with the new release?

If Vi mode is part of the daily workflow, the regression fixes alone justify the upgrade. Even users who stick to default emacs bindings will benefit from the lighter start‑up caused by dropping terminfo. The only reason to stay on 4.4.x would be if an obscure legacy terminal is still in use; otherwise there’s no downside.

That’s it. Grab the new tarball, give it a spin, and enjoy a fish that actually listens to your keystrokes again.