Shell completion

gnaw uses dynamic completion: the binary itself produces candidates at request time, so there's no script file to install or keep in sync. See the how-to for setup; this page is the quick reference.

Install hooks

Add the matching line to your shell startup file, then start a new shell.

Shell	Startup file	Line
fish	`~/.config/fish/config.fish`	`COMPLETE=fish gnaw \| source`
zsh	`~/.zshrc`	`source <(COMPLETE=zsh gnaw)`
bash	`~/.bashrc`	`source <(COMPLETE=bash gnaw)`

The hook re-invokes gnaw per completion request, so it always matches the installed binary. Requirements: gnaw must be on PATH, completion fires for the bare command name gnaw, and you should re-source after upgrading.

What completes

Argument	Candidates
All flags	flag names
`--secret-scan`	`off`, `warn`, `redact`, `block`
`--compress`	`light`, `moderate`, `full`
`--output-format`, `-F`	`markdown`, `json`, `xml`
`--encoding`	`cl100k`, `p50k`, `p50k_edit`, `r50k`, `o200k`
`--token-format`	`raw`, `format`
`--sort`	`name_asc`, `name_desc`, `date_asc`, `date_desc`
`--diff-mode`	`staged`, `unstaged`, `all`
`--git-diff-shas-content`	`patch`, `after-patch`, `full`, `full-patch`
`-t`, `--template`	built-in template names (with descriptions) + file paths
`--compress-strip`	`tests`, `fn-bodies`, `doc-comments`, `private-bodies` and `no-` forms
path arg, `-O`	native file/path completion

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
Tab does nothing	Hook not sourced in this shell, or `gnaw` not on `PATH`
Files complete instead of values	No completer registered for `gnaw` — re-source the hook
Worked before an upgrade, now broken	Protocol changed between releases — re-source in a fresh shell

In fish, complete -c gnaw lists the registered completer; an empty result means the hook didn't load.