Setting Up a WSL Development Environment

A straightforward guide to using WSL. This post won’t cover what WSL is or how to install it — it simply shares how I use WSL for day-to-day development.

My current WSL configuration is as follows:

NAME            STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu-20.04    Running         2

I rely heavily on CLI tools to boost my productivity and improve my overall experience, so a great terminal and a set of efficient CLI tools are essential for me.

WSL Configuration

For file permission issues, refer to [Long-term Updates] WSL Usage Notes.

Configure git so that you don’t have to repeatedly enter your username and password when cloning repositories over HTTPS:

git config --global credential.helper store

The default git editor in WSL doesn’t suit me well — I prefer vim. You can change the default editor with the following command:

git config --global core.editor vim

CLI Tools

Terminal

On Windows, I recommend using Windows Terminal (download link). Reasons:

• Officially developed and maintained by Microsoft.
• Highly customizable to fit your workflow.
• Seamlessly switch between WSL, PowerShell, CMD, and Azure Cloud Shell.

Zsh

Ubuntu ships with Bash by default, which isn’t ideal for interactive daily use. Compared to Bash, Zsh is much better suited for interactive work, offering features such as:

• Directory navigation without cd — in Bash you’d type cd projects, but in Zsh just typing projects is enough.
• Path expansion — for example, typing /u/loc and pressing Tab expands it to /usr/local/.
• Plugin and theme support.

How to install Zsh:

sudo apt-get install zsh -y

To learn more about Zsh, read the official documentation.

Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh is an open-source framework for managing your Zsh configuration. There’s a great line in its GitHub README: Oh My Zsh will not make you a 10x developer…but you may feel like one.

How to install Oh My Zsh:

sudo apt-get install wget -y
sh -c "$(wget -O- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

I use the default Oh My Zsh theme. If you want to change the theme, refer to the Readme.

Oh My Zsh Plugins

Plugins are a highlight — they can significantly boost productivity.

autojump is a small utility that lets you quickly navigate to any directory using fuzzy matching. For example, if I remember a directory name contains hexo and I’ve visited it before, I can just run j hexo to jump to it. Highly recommended.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install autojump -y

After installing, edit ~/.zshrc:

plugins=(git autojump)

The git plugin is included by default in Oh My Zsh and provides many shorthand aliases. For instance, I frequently use gst, which is an alias for git status. For more aliases, see ohmyzsh/plugins/git.

Oh My Zsh supports many more plugins — see Plugins for the full list.

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager. It also provides many useful CLI tools. I use Homebrew in WSL primarily for consistency — my work machine is a MacBook, so using the same tool across both environments gives me a uniform experience. Homebrew also makes installing its own CLI tools easier compared to apt.

Installation:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

For more usage details, see The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux) — Homebrew.

tig

When working with git, viewing commit history locally or finding a starting point for a reset using git log can be painful. tig solves this problem elegantly — it also lets you quickly browse the contents of each commit.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install tig -y

or

brew install tig

Language Runtime Version Management

The following are version management tools I’ve personally used. For other languages, explore on your own.

Language	Tool	Installation	Documentation
Java	jenv	brew install jenv	jenv/jenv: Manage your Java environment
Node.js	nvm	wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash	nvm-sh/nvm: Node Version Manager - POSIX-compliant bash script to manage multiple active node.js versions
Ruby	rbenv	brew install rbenv	rbenv/rbenv: Manage your app’s Ruby environment
Python	pyenv	brew install pyenv	Simple Python version management (from pyenv)

Integration with JetBrains IDEs

Two things are needed to integrate WSL with JetBrains IDEs.

1. Switch the terminal — the default is CMD. For a better experience, switch it to WSL.

Go to Settings → Tools → Terminal, and under Application Settings change the Shell path to wsl.

2. Configure the SDK — using WebStorm as an example.

VS Code

1. Install the Remote Development extension in VS Code.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + P, type shell command, and run Install 'code' command in PATH command.
3. You can now use VS Code from within WSL — for example, run code . to open the current directory in VS Code.