Gerrit-K / zinit

🌻 Flexible and fast ZSH plugin manager

Note: The original author of zinit deleted the zdharma organization randomly.

This is a reliable fork / place for the continuation of the project.

🚧 For migration instructions please refer to this wiki entry

• News
• Zinit
• Zinit Wiki
• Quick Start
  • Install
    • Automatic Installation (Recommended)
    • Manual Installation
  • Usage
    • Introduction
    • Plugins and snippets
    • Upgrade Zinit and plugins
    • Turbo and lucid
    • Migration
    • More Examples
• How to Use
  • Ice Modifiers
    • Cloning Options
    • Selection of Files (To Source, …)
    • Conditional Loading
    • Plugin Output
    • Completions
    • Command Execution After Cloning, Updating or Loading
    • Sticky-Emulation Of Other Shells
    • Others
    • Order of Execution
  • Zinit Commands
    • Help
    • Loading and Unloading
    • Completions
    • Tracking of the Active Session
    • Reports and Statistics
    • Compiling
    • Other
  • Updating Zinit and Plugins
• Completions
  • Calling compinit Without Turbo Mode
  • Calling compinit With Turbo Mode
  • Ignoring Compdefs
  • Disabling System-Wide compinit Call (Ubuntu)
• Zinit Module
• Hints and Tips
  • Customizing Paths
  • Non-GitHub (Local) Plugins
  • Extending Git
• Supporting
• Getting Help and Community

News

See the changelog.

Zinit

Zinit is a flexible and fast Zshell plugin manager that will allow you to install everything from GitHub and other sites. Its characteristics are:

1. Zinit is currently the only plugin manager out there that provides Turbo mode which yields 50-80% faster Zsh startup (i.e.: the shell will start up to 5 times faster!). Check out a speed comparison with other popular plugin managers here.

2. The plugin manager gives reports from plugin loadings describing what aliases, functions, bindkeys, Zle widgets, zstyles, completions, variables, PATH and FPATH elements a plugin has set up. This allows to quickly familiarize oneself with a new plugin and provides rich and easy to digest information which might be helpful on various occasions.

3. Supported is unloading of plugin and ability to list, (un)install and selectively disable, enable plugin's completions.

4. The plugin manager supports loading Oh My Zsh and Prezto plugins and libraries, however the implementation isn't framework specific and doesn't bloat the plugin manager with such code (more on this topic can be found on the Wiki, in the Introduction).

5. The system does not use $FPATH, loading multiple plugins doesn't clutter $FPATH with the same number of entries (e.g. 10, 15 or more). Code is immune to KSH_ARRAYS and other options typically causing compatibility problems.

6. Zinit supports special, dedicated packages that offload the user from providing long and complex commands. See the zinit-packages repository for a growing, complete list of Zinit packages and the Wiki page for an article about the feature.

7. Also, specialized Zinit extensions — called annexes — allow to extend the plugin manager with new commands, URL-preprocessors (used by e.g.: zinit-annex-readurl annex), post-install and post-update hooks and much more. See the zdharma-continuum organization for a growing, complete list of available Zinit extensions and refer to the Wiki article for an introduction on creating your own annex.

Zinit Wiki

The information in this README is complemented by the Zinit Wiki. The README is an introductory overview of Zinit while the Wiki gives a complete information with examples. Make sure to read it to get the most out of Zinit.

Quick Start

Install

Automatic Installation (Recommended)

The easiest way to install Zinit is to execute:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://git.io/zinit-install)"

This will install Zinit in ~/.local/share/zinit/zinit.git. .zshrc will be updated with three lines of code that will be added to the bottom. The lines will be sourcing zinit.zsh and setting up completion for command zinit.

After installing and reloading the shell compile Zinit with zinit self-update.

Manual Installation

To manually install Zinit clone the repo to e.g. ~/.local/share/zinit/zinit.git:

ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share}/zinit/zinit.git"
mkdir -p "$(dirname $ZINIT_HOME)"
git clone https://github.com/zdharma-continuum/zinit.git "$ZINIT_HOME"

and source zinit.zsh from your .zshrc (above compinit):

ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share}/zinit/zinit.git"
source "${ZINIT_HOME}/zinit.zsh"

If you place the source below compinit, then add those two lines after the source:

autoload -Uz _zinit
(( ${+_comps} )) && _comps[zinit]=_zinit

Various paths can be customized, see section Customizing Paths.

After installing and reloading the shell compile Zinit with zinit self-update.

Usage

Introduction

Click here to read the introduction to Zinit. It explains basic usage and some of the more unique features of Zinit such as the Turbo mode. If you're new to Zinit we highly recommend you read it at least once.

Plugins and snippets

Plugins can be loaded using load or light.

zinit load  <repo/plugin> # Load with reporting/investigating.
zinit light <repo/plugin> # Load without reporting/investigating.

If you want to source local or remote files (using direct URL), you can do so with snippet.

zinit snippet <URL>

Such lines should be added to .zshrc. Snippets are cached locally, use -f option to download a fresh version of a snippet, or zinit update {URL}. Can also use zinit update --all to update all snippets (and plugins).

Example

# Plugin history-search-multi-word loaded with investigating.
zinit load zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-word

# Two regular plugins loaded without investigating.
zinit light zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions
zinit light zdharma-continuum/fast-syntax-highlighting

# Snippet
zinit snippet https://gist.githubusercontent.com/hightemp/5071909/raw/

Prompt(Theme) Example

This is powerlevel10k, pure, starship sample:

# Load powerlevel10k theme
zinit ice depth"1" # git clone depth
zinit light romkatv/powerlevel10k

# Load pure theme
zinit ice pick"async.zsh" src"pure.zsh" # with zsh-async library that's bundled with it.
zinit light sindresorhus/pure

# Load starship theme
zinit ice as"command" from"gh-r" \ # `starship` binary as command, from github release
          atclone"./starship init zsh > init.zsh; ./starship completions zsh > _starship" \ # starship setup at clone(create init.zsh, completion)
          atpull"%atclone" src"init.zsh" # pull behavior same as clone, source init.zsh
zinit light starship/starship

Upgrade Zinit and plugins

Zinit can be updated to self-update and plugins to update.

# Self update
zinit self-update

# Plugin update
zinit update

# Plugin parallel update
zinit update --parallel

# Increase the number of jobs in a concurrent-set to 40
zinit update --parallel 40

Turbo and lucid

Turbo and lucid are the most used options.

Turbo Mode

Turbo mode is the key to performance. It can be loaded asynchronously, which makes a huge difference when the amount of plugins increases.

Usually used as zinit ice wait"<SECONDS>", let's use the previous example:

zinit ice wait    # wait is same wait"0"
zinit load zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-word

zinit ice wait"2" # load after 2 seconds
zinit load zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-word

zinit ice wait    # also be used in `light` and `snippet`
zinit snippet https://gist.githubusercontent.com/hightemp/5071909/raw/

Lucid

Turbo mode is verbose, so you need an option for quiet.

You can use with lucid:

zinit ice wait lucid
zinit load zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-word

F&A: What is ice?

ice is zinit's option command. The option melts like ice and is used only once. (more: Ice Modifiers)

Migration

Migration from Oh-My-ZSH

Basic

zinit snippet <URL>        # Raw Syntax with URL
zinit snippet OMZ::<PATH>  # Shorthand OMZ/ (https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/raw/master/)
zinit snippet OMZL::<PATH> # Shorthand OMZ/lib/
zinit snippet OMZT::<PATH> # Shorthand OMZ/themes/
zinit snippet OMZP::<PATH> # Shorthand OMZ/plugins/

Library

Importing the clipboard and termsupport Oh-My-Zsh Library Sample:

# Raw Syntax
zinit snippet https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/master/lib/clipboard.zsh
zinit snippet https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/master/lib/termsupport.zsh

# OMZ Shorthand Syntax
zinit snippet OMZ::lib/clipboard.zsh
zinit snippet OMZ::lib/termsupport.zsh

# OMZL Shorthand Syntax
zinit snippet OMZL::clipboard.zsh
zinit snippet OMZL::termsupport.zsh

Theme

To use themes created for Oh My Zsh you might want to first source the git library there.

Then you can use the themes as snippets (zinit snippet <file path or GitHub URL>). Some themes require not only Oh My Zsh's Git library, but also Git plugin (error about current_branch may appear). Load this Git-plugin as single-file snippet directly from OMZ.

Most themes require promptsubst option (setopt promptsubst in zshrc), if it isn't set, then prompt will appear as something like: ... $(build_prompt) ....

You might want to suppress completions provided by the git plugin by issuing zinit cdclear -q (-q is for quiet) – see below Ignoring Compdefs.

To summarize:

## Oh My Zsh Setting
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"

## Zinit Setting
# Must Load OMZ Git library
zinit snippet OMZL::git.zsh

# Load Git plugin from OMZ
zinit snippet OMZP::git
zinit cdclear -q # <- forget completions provided up to this moment

setopt promptsubst

# Load Prompt
zinit snippet OMZT::robbyrussell

External Theme Sample: NicoSantangelo/Alpharized

## Oh My Zsh Setting
ZSH_THEME="alpharized"

## Zinit Setting
# Must Load OMZ Git library
zinit snippet OMZL::git.zsh

# Load Git plugin from OMZ
zinit snippet OMZP::git
zinit cdclear -q # <- forget completions provided up to this moment

setopt promptsubst

# Load Prompt
zinit light NicoSantangelo/Alpharized

F&A: Error occurs when loading OMZ's theme.

If the git library will not be loaded, then similar to following errors will be appearing:

........:1: command not found: git_prompt_status
........:1: command not found: git_prompt_short_sha

Plugin

If it consists of a single file, you can just load it.

## Oh-My-Zsh Setting
plugins=(
  git
  dotenv
  rake
  rbenv
  ruby
)

## Zinit Setting
zinit snippet OMZP::git
zinit snippet OMZP::dotenv
zinit snippet OMZP::rake
zinit snippet OMZP::rbenv
zinit snippet OMZP::ruby

Use zinit ice svn if multiple files require an entire subdirectory. Like gitfast, osx:

zinit ice svn
zinit snippet OMZP::gitfast

zinit ice svn
zinit snippet OMZP::osx

Use zinit ice as"completion" to directly add single file completion snippets. Like docker, fd:

zinit ice as"completion"
zinit snippet OMZP::docker/_docker

zinit ice as"completion"
zinit snippet OMZP::fd/_fd

You can see an extended explanation of Oh-My-Zsh setup in the Wiki

Migration from Prezto

Basic

zinit snippet <URL>        # Raw Syntax with URL
zinit snippet PZT::<PATH>  # Shorthand PZT/ (https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto/tree/master/)
zinit snippet PZTM::<PATH> # Shorthand PZT/modules/

Modules

Importing the environment and terminal Prezto Modules Sample:

## Prezto Setting
zstyle ':prezto:load' pmodule 'environment' 'terminal'

## Zinit Setting
# Raw Syntax
zinit snippet https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto/blob/master/modules/environment/init.zsh
zinit snippet https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto/blob/master/modules/terminal/init.zsh

# PZT Shorthand Syntax
zinit snippet PZT::modules/environment
zinit snippet PZT::modules/terminal

# PZTM Shorthand Syntax
zinit snippet PZTM::environment
zinit snippet PZTM::terminal

Use zinit ice svn if multiple files require an entire subdirectory. Like docker, git:

zinit ice svn
zinit snippet PZTM::docker

zinit ice svn
zinit snippet PZTM::git

Use zinit ice as"null" if don't exist *.plugin.zsh, init.zsh, *.zsh-theme* files in module. Like archive:

zinit ice svn as"null"
zinit snippet PZTM::archive

Use zinit ice atclone"git clone <repo> <location>" if module have external module. Like completion:

zplugin ice svn blockf \ # use blockf to prevent any unnecessary additions to fpath, as zinit manages fpath
            atclone"git clone --recursive https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions.git external"
zplugin snippet PZTM::completion

F&A: What is zstyle?

Read zstyle doc (more: What does zstyle do?).

Migration from Zgen

Oh My Zsh

More reference: check Migration from Oh-My-ZSH

# Load ohmyzsh base
zgen oh-my-zsh
zinit snippet OMZL::<ALL OF THEM>

# Load ohmyzsh plugins
zgen oh-my-zsh <PATH>
zinit snippet OMZ::<PATH>

Prezto

More reference: check Migration from Prezto

# Load Prezto
zgen prezto
zinit snippet PZTM::<COMMENT's List> # environment terminal editor history directory spectrum utility completion prompt

# Load prezto plugins
zgen prezto <modulename>
zinit snippet PZTM::<modulename>

# Load a repo as Prezto plugins
zgen pmodule <reponame> <branch>
zinit ice ver"<branch>"
zinit load <repo/plugin>

# Set prezto options
zgen prezto <modulename> <option> <value(s)>
zstyle ':prezto:<modulename>:' <option> <values(s)> # Set original prezto style

General

location: refer Selection of Files

zgen load <repo> [location] [branch]

zinit ice ver"[branch]"
zinit load <repo>

Migration from Zplug

Basic

zplug <repo/plugin>, tag1:<option1>, tag2:<option2>

zinit ice tag1"<option1>" tag2"<option2>"
zinit load <repo/plugin>

Tag comparison

• as => as
• use => pick, src, multisrc
• ignore => None
• from => from
• at => ver
• rename-to => mv, cp
• dir => Selection(pick, ...) with rename
• if => if
• hook-build => atclone, atpull
• hook-load => atload
• frozen => None
• on => None
• defer => wait
• lazy => autoload
• depth => depth

More Examples

After installing Zinit you can start adding some actions (load some plugins) to ~/.zshrc, at bottom. Some examples:

# Load the pure theme, with zsh-async library that's bundled with it.
zinit ice pick"async.zsh" src"pure.zsh"
zinit light sindresorhus/pure

# A glance at the new for-syntax – load all of the above
# plugins with a single command. For more information see:
# https://zdharma-continuum.github.io/zinit/wiki/For-Syntax/
zinit for \
    light-mode  zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions \
    light-mode  zdharma-continuum/fast-syntax-highlighting \
                zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-word \
    light-mode pick"async.zsh" src"pure.zsh" \
                sindresorhus/pure

# Binary release in archive, from GitHub-releases page.
# After automatic unpacking it provides program "fzf".
zinit ice from"gh-r" as"program"
zinit light junegunn/fzf

# One other binary release, it needs renaming from `docker-compose-Linux-x86_64`.
# This is done by ice-mod `mv'{from} -> {to}'. There are multiple packages per
# single version, for OS X, Linux and Windows – so ice-mod `bpick' is used to
# select Linux package – in this case this is actually not needed, Zinit will
# grep operating system name and architecture automatically when there's no `bpick'.
zinit ice from"gh-r" as"program" mv"docker* -> docker-compose" bpick"*linux*"
zinit load docker/compose

# Vim repository on GitHub – a typical source code that needs compilation – Zinit
# can manage it for you if you like, run `./configure` and other `make`, etc. stuff.
# Ice-mod `pick` selects a binary program to add to $PATH. You could also install the
# package under the path $ZPFX, see: https://zdharma-continuum.github.io/zinit/wiki/Compiling-programs
zinit ice as"program" atclone"rm -f src/auto/config.cache; ./configure" \
    atpull"%atclone" make pick"src/vim"
zinit light vim/vim

# Scripts that are built at install (there's single default make target, "install",
# and it constructs scripts by `cat'ing a few files). The make'' ice could also be:
# `make"install PREFIX=$ZPFX"`, if "install" wouldn't be the only, default target.
zinit ice as"program" pick"$ZPFX/bin/git-*" make"PREFIX=$ZPFX"
zinit light tj/git-extras

# Handle completions without loading any plugin, see "clist" command.
# This one is to be ran just once, in interactive session.
zinit creinstall %HOME/my_completions

# For GNU ls (the binaries can be gls, gdircolors, e.g. on OS X when installing the
# coreutils package from Homebrew; you can also use https://github.com/ogham/exa)
zinit ice atclone"dircolors -b LS_COLORS > c.zsh" atpull'%atclone' pick"c.zsh" nocompile'!'
zinit light trapd00r/LS_COLORS

You can see an extended explanation of LS_COLORS in the Wiki.

# make'!...' -> run make before atclone & atpull
zinit ice as"program" make'!' atclone'./direnv hook zsh > zhook.zsh' atpull'%atclone' src"zhook.zsh"
zinit light direnv/direnv

You can see an extended explanation of direnv in the Wiki.

If you're interested in more examples then check out the zinit-configs repository where users have uploaded their ~/.zshrc and Zinit configurations. Feel free to submit your ~/.zshrc there if it contains Zinit commands.

You can also check out the Gallery of Zinit Invocations for some additional examples.

Also, two articles on the Wiki present an example setup here and here.

How to Use

Ice Modifiers

Following ice modifiers are to be passed to zinit ice ... to obtain described effects. The word ice means something that's added (like ice to a drink) – and in Zinit it means adding modifier to a next zinit command, and also something that's temporary because it melts – and this means that the modification will last only for a single next zinit command.

Some Ice-modifiers are highlighted and clicking on them will take you to the appropriate Wiki page for an extended explanation.

You may safely assume a given ice works with both plugins and snippets unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Cloning Options

Modifier	Description
proto	Change protocol to git,ftp,ftps,ssh, rsync, etc. Default is https. Does not work with snippets.
from	Clone plugin from given site. Supported are from"github" (default), ..."github-rel", ..."gitlab", ..."bitbucket", ..."notabug" (short names: gh, gh-r, gl, bb, nb). Can also be a full domain name (e.g. for GitHub enterprise). Does not work with snippets.
ver	Used with from"gh-r" (i.e. downloading a binary release, e.g. for use with as"program") – selects which version to download. Default is latest, can also be explicitly ver"latest". Works also with regular plugins and packages (pack ice) checkouts e.g. ver"abranch", i.e. a specific version. Does not work with snippets.
bpick	Used to select which release from GitHub Releases to download, e.g. zini ice from"gh-r" as"program" bpick"*Darwin*"; zini load docker/compose. Does not work with snippets.
depth	Pass --depth to git, i.e. limit how much of history to download. Does not work with snippets.
cloneopts	Pass the contents of cloneopts to git clone. Defaults to --recursive. I.e.: change cloning options. Pass empty ice to disable recursive cloning. Does not work with snippets.
pullopts	Pass the contents of pullopts to git pull used when updating plugins. Does not work with snippets.
svn	Use Subversion for downloading snippet. GitHub supports SVN protocol, this allows to clone subdirectories as snippets, e.g. zinit ice svn; zinit snippet OMZP::git. Other ice pick can be used to select file to source (default are: *.plugin.zsh, init.zsh, *.zsh-theme). Does not work with plugins.

Selection of Files (To Source, …)

Modifier	Description
pick	Select the file to source, or the file to set as command (when using snippet --command or the ice as"program"); it is a pattern, alphabetically first matched file is being chosen; e.g. zinit ice pick"*.plugin.zsh"; zinit load ….
src	Specify additional file to source after sourcing main file or after setting up command (via as"program"). It is not a pattern but a plain file name.
multisrc	Allows to specify multiple files for sourcing, enumerated with spaces as the separators (e.g. multisrc'misc.zsh grep.zsh') and also using brace-expansion syntax (e.g. multisrc'{misc,grep}.zsh'). Supports patterns.

Conditional Loading

Modifier	Description
wait	Postpone loading a plugin or snippet. For wait'1', loading is done 1 second after prompt. For wait'[[ ... ]]', wait'(( ... ))', loading is done when given condition is meet. For wait'!...', prompt is reset after load. Zsh can start 80% (i.e.: 5x) faster thanks to postponed loading. Fact: when wait is used without value, it works as wait'0'.
load	A condition to check which should cause plugin to load. It will load once, the condition can be still true, but will not trigger second load (unless plugin is unloaded earlier, see unload below). E.g.: load'[[ $PWD = */github* ]]'.
unload	A condition to check causing plugin to unload. It will unload once, then only if loaded again. E.g.: unload'[[ $PWD != */github* ]]'.
cloneonly	Don't load the plugin / snippet, only download it
if	Load plugin or snippet only when given condition is fulfilled, for example: zinit ice if'[[ -n "$commands[otool]" ]]'; zinit load ....
has	Load plugin or snippet only when given command is available (in $PATH), e.g. zinit ice has'git' ...
subscribe / on-update-of	Postpone loading of a plugin or snippet until the given file(s) get updated, e.g. subscribe'{~/files-*,/tmp/files-*}'
trigger-load	Creates a function that loads the associated plugin/snippet, with an option (to use it, precede the ice content with !) to automatically forward the call afterwards, to a command of the same name as the function. Can obtain multiple functions to create – sparate with ;.

Plugin Output

Modifier	Description
silent	Mute plugin's or snippet's stderr & stdout. Also skip Loaded ... message under prompt for wait, etc. loaded plugins, and completion-installation messages.
lucid	Skip Loaded ... message under prompt for wait, etc. loaded plugins (a subset of silent).
notify	Output given message under-prompt after successfully loading a plugin/snippet. In case of problems with the loading, output a warning message and the return code. If starts with ! it will then always output the given message. Hint: if the message is empty, then it will just notify about problems.

Completions

Modifier	Description
blockf	Disallow plugin to modify fpath. Useful when a plugin wants to provide completions in traditional way. Zinit can manage completions and plugin can be blocked from exposing them.
nocompletions	Don't detect, install and manage completions for this plugin. Completions can be installed later with zinit creinstall {plugin-spec}.

Command Execution After Cloning, Updating or Loading

Modifier	Description
mv	Move file after cloning or after update (then, only if new commits were downloaded). Example: mv "fzf-* -> fzf". It uses -> as separator for old and new file names. Works also with snippets.
cp	Copy file after cloning or after update (then, only if new commits were downloaded). Example: cp "docker-c* -> dcompose". Ran after mv.
atclone	Run command after cloning, within plugin's directory, e.g. zinit ice atclone"echo Cloned". Ran also after downloading snippet.
atpull	Run command after updating (only if new commits are waiting for download), within plugin's directory. If starts with "!" then command will be ran before mv & cp ices and before git pull or svn update. Otherwise it is ran after them. Can be atpull'%atclone', to repeat atclone Ice-mod.
atinit	Run command after directory setup (cloning, checking it, etc.) of plugin/snippet but before loading.
atload	Run command after loading, within plugin's directory. Can be also used with snippets. Passed code can be preceded with !, it will then be investigated (if using load, not light).
run-atpull	Always run the atpull hook (when updating), not only when there are new commits to be downloaded.
nocd	Don't switch the current directory into the plugin's directory when evaluating the above ice-mods atinit'',atload'', etc.
make	Run make command after cloning/updating and executing mv, cp, atpull, atclone Ice mods. Can obtain argument, e.g. make"install PREFIX=/opt". If the value starts with ! then make is ran before atclone/atpull, e.g. make'!'.
countdown	Causes an interruptable (by Ctrl-C) countdown 5…4…3…2…1…0 to be displayed before executing atclone'',atpull'' and make ices
reset	Invokes git reset --hard HEAD for plugins or svn revert for SVN snippets before pulling any new changes. This way git or svn will not report conflicts if some changes were done in e.g.: atclone'' ice. For file snippets and gh-r plugins it invokes rm -rf *.

Sticky-Emulation Of Other Shells

Modifier	Description
sh, !sh	Source the plugin's (or snippet's) script with sh emulation so that also all functions declared within the file will get a sticky emulation assigned – when invoked they'll execute also with the sh emulation set-up. The !sh version switches additional options that are rather not important from the portability perspective.
bash, !bash	The same as sh, but with the SH_GLOB option disabled, so that Bash regular expressions work.
ksh, !ksh	The same as sh, but emulating ksh shell.
csh, !csh	The same as sh, but emulating csh shell.

Others

Modifier	Description
as	Can be as"program" (also the alias: as"command"), and will cause to add script/program to $PATH instead of sourcing (see pick). Can also be as"completion" – use with plugins or snippets in whose only underscore-starting _* files you are interested in. The third possible value is as"null" – a shorthand for pick"/dev/null" nocompletions – i.e.: it disables the default script-file sourcing and also the installation of completions.
id-as	Nickname a plugin or snippet, to e.g. create a short handler for long-url snippet.
compile	Pattern (+ possible {...} expansion, like {a/*,b*}) to select additional files to compile, e.g. compile"(pure|async).zsh" for sindresorhus/pure.
nocompile	Don't try to compile pick-pointed files. If passed the exclamation mark (i.e. nocompile'!'), then do compile, but after make'' and atclone'' (useful if Makefile installs some scripts, to point pick'' at the location of their installation).
service	Make following plugin or snippet a service, which will be ran in background, and only in single Zshell instance. See the zservice-* repositories.
reset-prompt	Reset the prompt after loading the plugin/snippet (by issuing zle .reset-prompt). Note: normally it's sufficient to precede the value of wait'' ice with !.
bindmap	To hold ;-separated strings like Key(s)A -> Key(s)B, e.g. ^R -> ^T; ^A -> ^B. In general, bindmap''changes bindings (done with the bindkey builtin) the plugin does. The example would cause the plugin to map Ctrl-T instead of Ctrl-R, and Ctrl-B instead of Ctrl-A. Does not work with snippets.
trackbinds	Shadow but only bindkey calls even with zinit light ..., i.e. even with investigating disabled (fast loading), to allow bindmap to remap the key-binds. The same effect has zinit light -b ..., i.e. additional -b option to the light-subcommand. Does not work with snippets.
wrap-track	Takes a ;-separated list of function names that are to be investigated (meaning gathering report and unload data) once during execution. It works by wrapping the functions with a investigating-enabling and disabling snippet of code. In summary, wrap-track allows to extend the investigating beyond the moment of loading of a plugin. Example use is to wrap-track a precmd function of a prompt (like _p9k_precmd() of powerlevel10k) or other plugin that postpones its initialization till the first prompt (like e.g.: zsh-autosuggestions). Does not work with snippets.
aliases	Load the plugin with the aliases mechanism enabled. Use with plugins that define and use aliases in their scripts.
light-mode	Load the plugin without the investigating, i.e.: as if it would be loaded with the light command. Useful for the for-syntax, where there is no load nor light subcommand
extract	Performs archive extraction supporting multiple formats like zip, tar.gz, etc. and also notably OS X dmg images. If it has no value, then it works in the auto mode – it automatically extracts all files of known archive extensions IF they aren't located deeper than in a sub-directory (this is to prevent extraction of some helper archive files, typically located somewhere deeper in the tree). If no such files will be found, then it extracts all found files of known type – the type is being read by the file Unix command. If not empty, then takes names of the files to extract. Refer to the Wiki page for further information.
subst	Substitute the given string into another string when sourcing the plugin script, e.g.: zinit subst'autoload → autoload -Uz' ….
autoload	Autoload the given functions (from their files). Equvalent to calling atinit'autoload the-function'. Supports renaming of the function – pass '… → new-name' or '… -> new-name', e.g.: zinit autoload'fun → my-fun; fun2 → my-fun2'.

Order of Execution

Order of execution of related Ice-mods: atinit -> atpull! -> make'!!' -> mv -> cp -> make! -> atclone/atpull -> make -> (plugin script loading) -> src -> multisrc -> atload.

Zinit Commands

Following commands are passed to zinit ... to obtain described effects.

Help

Command	Description
-h, --help, help	Usage information.
man	Manual.

Loading and Unloading

Command	Description
load {plg-spec}	Load plugin, can also receive absolute local path.
light [-b] {plg-spec}	Light plugin load, without reporting/investigating. -b – investigate bindkey-calls only. There's also light-mode ice which can be used to induce the no-investigating (i.e.: light) loading, regardless of the command used.
unload [-q] {plg-spec}	Unload plugin loaded with zinit load .... -q – quiet.
snippet [-f] {url}	Source local or remote file (by direct URL). -f – don't use cache (force redownload). The URL can use the following shorthands: PZT:: (Prezto), PZTM:: (Prezto module), OMZ:: (Oh My Zsh), OMZP:: (OMZ plugin), OMZL:: (OMZ library), OMZT:: (OMZ theme), e.g.: PZTM::environment, OMZP::git, etc.

Completions

Command	Description
clist [columns], completions [columns]	List completions in use, with columns completions per line. zpl clist 5 will for example print 5 completions per line. Default is 3.
cdisable {cname}	Disable completion cname.
cenable {cname}	Enable completion cname.
creinstall [-q] [-Q] {plg-spec}	Install completions for plugin, can also receive absolute local path. -q – quiet. -Q - quiet all.
cuninstall {plg-spec}	Uninstall completions for plugin.
csearch	Search for available completions from any plugin.
compinit	Refresh installed completions.
cclear	Clear stray and improper completions.
cdlist	Show compdef replay list.
cdreplay [-q]	Replay compdefs (to be done after compinit). -q – quiet.
cdclear [-q]	Clear compdef replay list. -q – quiet.

Tracking of the Active Session

Command	Description
dtrace, dstart	Start investigating what's going on in session.
dstop	Stop investigating what's going on in session.
dunload	Revert changes recorded between dstart and dstop.
dreport	Report what was going on in session.
dclear	Clear report of what was going on in session.

Reports and Statistics

Command	Description
times [-s] [-m]	Statistics on plugin load times, sorted in order of loading. -s – use seconds instead of milliseconds. -m – show plugin loading moments.
zstatus	Overall Zinit status.
report {plg-spec}|--all	Show plugin report. --all – do it for all plugins.
loaded [keyword], list [keyword]	Show what plugins are loaded (filter with 'keyword').
ls	List snippets in formatted and colorized manner. Requires tree program.
status {plg-spec}|URL|--all	Git status for plugin or svn status for snippet. --all – do it for all plugins and snippets.
recently [time-spec]	Show plugins that changed recently, argument is e.g. 1 month 2 days.
bindkeys	Lists bindkeys set up by each plugin.

Compiling

Command	Description
compile {plg-spec}|--all	Compile plugin. --all – compile all plugins.
uncompile {plg-spec}|--all	Remove compiled version of plugin. --all – do it for all plugins.
compiled	List plugins that are compiled.

Other

Command	Description
self-update	Updates and compiles Zinit.
update [-q] [-r] {plg-spec}|URL|--all	Git update plugin or snippet. --all – update all plugins and snippets. -q – quiet. -r | --reset – run git reset --hard / svn revert before pulling changes.
ice <ice specification>	Add ice to next command, argument is e.g. from"gitlab".
delete {plg-spec}|URL|--clean|--all	Remove plugin or snippet from disk (good to forget wrongly passed ice-mods). --all – purge. --clean – delete plugins and snippets that are not loaded.
cd {plg-spec}	Cd into plugin's directory. Also support snippets if fed with URL.
edit {plg-spec}	Edit plugin's file with $EDITOR.
glance {plg-spec}	Look at plugin's source (pygmentize, {,source-}highlight).
stress {plg-spec}	Test plugin for compatibility with set of options.
changes {plg-spec}	View plugin's git log.
create {plg-spec}	Create plugin (also together with GitHub repository).
srv {service-id} [cmd]	Control a service, command can be: stop,start,restart,next,quit; next moves the service to another Zshell.
recall {plg-spec}|URL	Fetch saved ice modifiers and construct zinit ice ... command.
env-whitelist [-v] [-h] {env..}	Allows to specify names (also patterns) of variables left unchanged during an unload. -v – verbose.
module	Manage binary Zsh module shipped with Zinit, see zinit module help.
add-fpath|fpath [-f|--front] {plg-spec} [subdirectory]	Adds given plugin (not yet snippet) directory to $fpath. If the second argument is given, it is appended to the directory path. If the option -f/--front is given, the directory path is prepended instead of appended to $fpath. The {plg-spec} can be absolute path, i.e.: it's possible to also add regular directories.
run [-l] [plugin] {command}	Runs the given command in the given plugin's directory. If the option -l will be given then the plugin should be skipped – the option will cause the previous plugin to be reused.

Updating Zinit and Plugins

To update Zinit issue zinit self-update in the command line.

To update all plugins and snippets, issue zinit update. If you wish to update only a single plugin/snippet instead issue zinit update NAME_OF_PLUGIN. A list of commits will be shown:

Some plugins require performing an action each time they're updated. One way you can do this is by using the atpull ice modifier. For example, writing zinit ice atpull'./configure' before loading a plugin will execute ./configure after a successful update. Refer to Ice Modifiers for more information.

The ice modifiers for any plugin or snippet are stored in their directory in a ._zinit subdirectory, hence the plugin doesn't have to be loaded to be correctly updated. There's one other file created there, .zinit_lstupd – it holds the log of the new commits pulled-in in the last update.

Completions

Calling compinit Without Turbo Mode

With no Turbo mode in use, compinit can be called normally, i.e.: as autoload compinit; compinit. This should be done after loading of all plugins and before possibly calling zinit cdreplay.

The cdreplay subcommand is provided to re-play all catched compdef calls. The compdef calls are used to define a completion for a command. For example, compdef _git git defines that the git command should be completed by a _git function.

The compdef function is provided by compinit call. As it should be called later, after loading all of the plugins, Zinit provides its own compdef function that catches (i.e.: records in an array) the arguments of the call, so that the loaded plugins can freely call compdef. Then, the cdreplay (compdef-replay) can be used, after compinit will be called (and the original compdef function will become available), to execute all detected compdef calls. To summarize:

ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share}/zinit/zinit.git"
source "${ZINIT_HOME}/zinit.zsh"

zinit load "some/plugin"
...
compdef _gnu_generic fd  # this will be intercepted by Zinit, because as the compinit
                         # isn't yet loaded, thus there's no such function `compdef'; yet
                         # Zinit provides its own `compdef' function which saves the
                         # completion-definition for later possible re-run with `zinit
                         # cdreplay' or `zicdreplay' (the second one can be used in hooks
                         # like atload'', atinit'', etc.)
...
zinit load "other/plugin"

autoload -Uz compinit
compinit

zinit cdreplay -q   # -q is for quiet; actually run all the `compdef's saved before
                    #`compinit` call (`compinit' declares the `compdef' function, so
                    # it cannot be used until `compinit' is ran; Zinit solves this
                    # via intercepting the `compdef'-calls and storing them for later
                    # use with `zinit cdreplay')

This allows to call compinit once. Performance gains are huge, example shell startup time with double compinit: 0.980 sec, with cdreplay and single compinit: 0.156 sec.

Calling compinit With Turbo Mode

If you load completions using wait'' Turbo mode then you can add atinit'zicompinit' to syntax-highlighting plugin (which should be the last one loaded, as their (2 projects, z-sy-h & f-sy-h) documentation state), or atload'zicompinit' to last completion-related plugin. zicompinit is a function that just runs autoload compinit; compinit, created for convenience. There's also zicdreplay which will replay any caught compdefs so you can also do: atinit'zicompinit; zicdreplay', etc. Basically, the whole topic is the same as normal compinit call, but it is done in atinit or atload hook of the last related plugin with use of the helper functions (zicompinit,zicdreplay & zicdclear – see below for explanation of the last one). To summarize:

ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share/zinit}"
source "${ZINIT_HOME}/zinit.zsh"

# Load using the for-syntax
zinit wait lucid for \
    "some/plugin"
zinit wait lucid for \
    "other/plugin"

zinit wait lucid atload"zicompinit; zicdreplay" blockf for \
    zsh-users/zsh-completions

Ignoring Compdefs

If you want to ignore compdefs provided by some plugins or snippets, place their load commands before commands loading other plugins or snippets, and issue zinit cdclear (or zicdclear, designed to be used in hooks like atload''):

ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share}/zinit/zinit.git"
source "${ZINIT_HOME}/zinit.zsh"

zinit snippet OMZP::git
zinit cdclear -q # <- forget completions provided by Git plugin

zinit load "some/plugin"
...
zinit load "other/plugin"

autoload -Uz compinit
compinit
zinit cdreplay -q # <- execute compdefs provided by rest of plugins
zinit cdlist # look at gathered compdefs

The cdreplay is important if you use plugins like OMZP::kubectl or asdf-vm/asdf, because these plugins call compdef.

Disabling System-Wide compinit Call (Ubuntu)

On Ubuntu users might get surprised that e.g. their completions work while they didn't call compinit in their .zshrc. That's because the function is being called in /etc/zshrc. To disable this call – what is needed to avoid the slowdown and if user loads any completion-equipped plugins, i.e. almost on 100% – add the following lines to ~/.zshenv:

# Skip the not really helping Ubuntu global compinit
skip_global_compinit=1

Zinit Module

The module is now hosted in its own repository

Hints and Tips

Customizing Paths

Following variables can be set to custom values, before sourcing Zinit. The previous global variables like $ZPLG_HOME have been removed to not pollute the namespace – there's single $ZINIT hash instead of 8 string variables. Please update your dotfiles.

declare -A ZINIT  # initial Zinit's hash definition, if configuring before loading Zinit, and then:

Hash Field	Description
ZINIT[BIN_DIR]	Where Zinit code resides, e.g.: "~/.local/share/zinit/zinit.git"
ZINIT[HOME_DIR]	Where Zinit should create all working directories, e.g.: "~/.local/share/zinit"
ZINIT[MAN_DIR]	Directory where plugins can store their manpages (atclone"cp -vf myplugin.1 $ZINIT[MAN_DIR]/man1"). If overridden, this directory will not necessarily be used by man (See #8). Default: $ZPFX/man
ZINIT[PLUGINS_DIR]	Override single working directory – for plugins, e.g. "/opt/zsh/zinit/plugins"
ZINIT[COMPLETIONS_DIR]	As above, but for completion files, e.g. "/opt/zsh/zinit/root_completions"
ZINIT[SNIPPETS_DIR]	As above, but for snippets
ZINIT[ZCOMPDUMP_PATH]	Path to .zcompdump file, with the file included (i.e. its name can be different)
ZINIT[COMPINIT_OPTS]	Options for compinit call (i.e. done by zicompinit), use to pass -C to speed up loading
ZINIT[MUTE_WARNINGS]	If set to 1, then mutes some of the Zinit warnings, specifically the plugin already registered warning
ZINIT[OPTIMIZE_OUT_DISK_ACCESSES]	If set to 1, then Zinit will skip checking if a Turbo-loaded object exists on the disk. By default Zinit skips Turbo for non-existing objects (plugins or snippets) to install them before the first prompt – without any delays, during the normal processing of zshrc. This option can give a performance gain of about 10 ms out of 150 ms (i.e.: Zsh will start up in 140 ms instead of 150 ms).

There is also $ZPFX, set by default to ~/.local/share/zinit/polaris – a directory where software with Makefile, etc. can be pointed to, by e.g. atclone'./configure --prefix=$ZPFX'.

Non-GitHub (Local) Plugins

Use create subcommand with user name _local (the default) to create plugin's skeleton in $ZINIT[PLUGINS_DIR]. It will be not connected with GitHub repository (because of user name being _local). To enter the plugin's directory use cd command with just plugin's name (without _local, it's optional).

If user name will not be _local, then Zinit will create repository also on GitHub and setup correct repository origin.

Extending Git

There are several projects that provide git extensions. Installing them with Zinit has many benefits:

• all files are under $HOME – no administrator rights needed,
• declarative setup (like Chef or Puppet) – copying .zshrc to different account brings also git-related setup,
• easy update by e.g. zinit update --all.

Below is a configuration that adds multiple git extensions, loaded in Turbo mode, 1 second after prompt, with use of the Bin-Gem-Node annex:

zinit as"null" wait"1" lucid for \
    sbin    Fakerr/git-recall \
    sbin    cloneopts paulirish/git-open \
    sbin    paulirish/git-recent \
    sbin    davidosomething/git-my \
    sbin atload"export _MENU_THEME=legacy" \
            arzzen/git-quick-stats \
    sbin    iwata/git-now \
    make"PREFIX=$ZPFX install" \
            tj/git-extras \
    sbin"git-url;git-guclone" make"GITURL_NO_CGITURL=1" \
            zdharma-continuum/git-url

Target directory for installed files is $ZPFX (~/.local/share/zinit/polaris by default).

Supporting

Zinit is a personal, free-time project with no funding and a huge feature request backlog. If you love it, consider supporting its development via GitHub Sponsors [pending]. Any help counts!

Getting Help and Community

Do you need help or wish to get in touch with other Zinit users?

• Open a discussion.

• Or via reach out via Gitter