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☑️ General Overview

This overview will cover basics for:

  1. Oh-My-Zsh & Prezto
  2. Completions
  3. Turbo mode
  4. Ice modifiers

Plugin and snippet loading​

zi load z-shell/H-S-MWzi light zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

The above commands show two ways of basic plugin loading. If you want to source local or remote files (using direct URL), you can do so with snippet.

zi snippet <URL>

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

Using load causes reporting to be enabled – you can track what plugin does, view the information with zi report {plugin-name} and then also unload the plugin with zi unload {plugin-name}.

Using light is a significantly faster loading without tracking and reporting, by using which user resigns of the ability to view the plugin report and to unload it.

Using load or light.

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

Plugin history-search-multi-word loaded with investigating:

zi load z-shell/H-S-MW

Two regular plugins loaded without investigating:

zi light zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestionszi light z-shell/F-Sy-H

Snippet:

zi snippet https://gist.githubusercontent.com/hightemp/5071909/raw/
note

In Turbo mode the slowdown caused by tracking is negligible...

Oh-My-Zsh, Prezto​

To load Oh-My-Zsh and Prezto plugins, use the snippet feature. Snippets are single files downloaded by curl, wget, etc., automatic detection of the download tool is being performed, directly from the URL:

zi snippet 'https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/raw/master/plugins/git/git.plugin.zsh'zi snippet 'https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto/blob/master/modules/helper/init.zsh'

Also, for Oh-My-Zsh and Prezto, you can use OMZ:: and PZT:: shorthands:

zi snippet OMZ::plugins/git/git.plugin.zshzi snippet PZT::modules/helper/init.zsh

Moreover, snippets support subversion protocol, supported also by Github. This allows loading snippets that are multi-file (for example, a Prezto module can consist of two or more files, e.g. init.zsh and alias.zsh).

Default files that will be sourced are: *.plugin.zsh, init.zsh, *.zsh-theme:

URL points to a directory:

zi ice svnzi snippet PZT::modules/docker

Snippets and Performance​

Using curl, wget, etc. along with Subversion allows to almost completely avoid code dedicated to Oh-My-Zsh and Prezto, and also to other frameworks. This gives profits in performance of ZI, it is really fast and also compact (causing low memory footprint and short loading time).

Ice Modifiers​

The command zi ice provides ice modifiers for the single next command.

The logic is that "ice" is something that’s added, e.g. to a drink or a coffee, and in the ZI sense this means that ice is a modifier added to the next ZI command, and also something that melts, so it doesn’t last long, – and in the ZI use it means that the modifier lasts for only single next ZI command.

Using one other ice modifier "pick" users can explicitly select the file to source:

zi ice svn pick"init.zsh"zi snippet PZT::modules/git

Content of ice-modifier is simply put into "…", '…', or $'…'. No need for ":" after the ice-mod name (although it's allowed, so as the equal sign =, so e.g. pick="init.zsh" or pick=init.zsh are being correctly recognized).

This way editors like vim and emacs and also zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting and z-shell/F-Sy-H will highlight contents of ice-modifiers.

About as"program"​

A plugin might not be a file for sourcing, but a command to be added to $PATH. To obtain this effect, use ice-modifier as with value program (or an alias value command).

zi ice as"program" cp"httpstat.sh -> httpstat" pick"httpstat"zi light b4b4r07/httpstat

The above command will add plugin directory to $PATH, copy file httpstat.sh into httpstat and add execution rights (+x) to the file selected with pick, i.e. to httpstat. Another ice-mod exists, mv, which works like cp but moves a file instead of copying it. mv is ran before cp.

tip

The cp and mv ices (and also as some other ones, like atclone) are being run when the plugin or snippet is being installed. To test them again first delete the plugin or snippet (example: zi delete PZT::modules/osx).

About - atpull"…"​

Copying file is safe for doing later updates – original files of the repository are unmodified and Git will report no conflicts. However, mv also can be used, if a proper atpull, an ice–modifier ran at update of the plugin, will be used:

zi ice as"program" mv"httpstat.sh -> httpstat" \  pick"httpstat" atpull'!git reset --hard'zi light b4b4r07/httpstat

If atpull starts with an exclamation mark, then it will be run before git pull, and before mv. Nevertheless, atpull, mv, cp are run only if new commits are to be fetched.

So in summary, when the user runs zi update b4b4r07/httpstat to update this plugin, and there are new commits, what happens first is that git reset --hard is run – and it restores original httpstat.sh, then git pull is ran and it downloads new commits (doing fast-forward), then mv is running again so that the command is httpstat not httpstat.sh.

This way the mv ice can be used to induce permanent changes into the plugin's contents without blocking the ability to update it with git (or with subversion in case of snippets, more on this below).

info

For exclamation marks to not be expanded by Zsh an interactive session, use '…' not "…" to enclose contents of atpull ice-modifier.

Snippets as'…' commands​

Commands can also be added to $PATH using snippets:

zi ice mv"httpstat.sh -> httpstat" \  pick"httpstat" as"program"zi snippet https://github.com/b4b4r07/httpstat/blob/master/httpstat.sh
tip

Snippets also support atpull, so it’s possible to do e.g. atpull'!svn revert'. There’s also an atinit ice-modifier, executed before each loading of plugin or snippet.

Snippets as'…' completions​

By using the as'' ice modifier with value completion you can point the snippet subcommand directly to a completion file:

zi ice as"completion"zi snippet https://github.com/docker/cli/blob/master/contrib/completion/zsh/_docker

The completion management​

ZI allows to disable and enable each completion in every plugin. Try installing a popular plugin that provides completions:

zi ice blockfzi light zsh-users/zsh-completions

The first command, the blockf ice, will block the traditional method of adding completions. ZI uses its method, based on symlinks instead of adding several directories to $fpath. ZI will automatically install completions of a newly downloaded plugin.

To uninstall and install the completions:

  • uninstall: zi cuninstall zsh-users/zsh-completions
  • install: zi creinstall zsh-users/zsh-completions

Listing available completions​

To see what completions all plugins provide, in tabular formatting and with the name of each plugin:

zi clist

This command is specially adapted for plugins like zsh-users/zsh-completions, which provide many completions – listing will have 3 completions per line, so that a smaller number of terminal pages will be occupied like this:

…atach, bitcoin-cli, bower zsh-users/zsh-completionsbundle, caffeinate, cap zsh-users/zsh-completionscask, cf, chattr zsh-users/zsh-completions…

To show more completions per line by providing an argument to clist, e.g.: zi clist 6, will show:

…bundle, caffeinate, cap, cask, cf, chattr zsh-users/zsh-completionscheat, choc, cmake, coffee, column, composer zsh-users/zsh-completionsconsole, dad, debuild, dget, dhcpcd, diana zsh-users/zsh-completions…

Enabling / disabling - completions​

Completions can be disabled so that e.g. original Zsh completion will be used. The commands are very basic, they only need completion name:

$ zi cdisable cmakeDisabled cmake completion belonging to zsh-users/zsh-completions$ zi cenable cmakeEnabled cmake completion belonging to zsh-users/zsh-completions

That’s all on completions. There’s one more command, zi csearch, that will search all plugin directories for available completions.

The subversion for subdirectories​

In general, to use subdirectories of Github projects as snippets add /trunk/{path-to-dir} to URL:

zi ice svnzi snippet https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions/trunk/src
tip

For Oh-My-Zsh and Prezto, the OMZ:: and PZT:: prefixes work without the need to add the /trunk/ infix, however, the path should point to a directory, not to a file.

zi ice svnzi snippet PZT::modules/docker

Turbo Mode (Zsh >= 5.3)​

The ice-modifier wait allows the user to postpone the loading of a plugin to the moment when the processing of .zshrc is finished and the first prompt is being shown.

It is like Windows – during startup, it shows desktop even though it still loads data in the background. This has drawbacks but is for sure better than a blank screen for 10 minutes. And here, in ZI, there are no drawbacks of this approach – no lags, freezes, etc. – the command line is fully usable while the plugins are being loaded, for any number of plugins.

info

Turbo will speed up Zsh startup by 50%–80%. For example, instead of 200 ms, it'll be 40 ms.

note

Zsh 5.3 or greater is required.

To use this turbo mode add wait ice to the target plugin in one of the following ways:

PS1="READY > "zi ice wait'!0'zi load halfo/lambda-mod-zsh-theme

This sets plugin halfo/lambda-mod-zsh-theme to be loaded 0 seconds after zshrc. It will fire up after c.a. 1 ms of showing the basic prompt READY >.

You probably won't load the prompt in such a way, however, it is a good example in which Turbo can be directly observed. The exclamation mark causes ZI to reset the prompt after loading the plugin – it is needed for themes. The same with Prezto prompts, with a longer delay:

zi ice svn silent wait'!1' atload'prompt smiley'zi snippet PZT::modules/prompt

Using zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions without any drawbacks:

zi ice wait lucid atload'_zsh_autosuggest_start'zi light zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

Turbo wait - the key to performance​

It can be loaded asynchronously, which makes a huge difference when the amount of plugins increases. Usually used as zi ice wait"<SECONDS>".

note

The wait and wait"0" is the same

zi ice waitzi load z-shell/history-search-multi-word

Load after 2 seconds:

zi ice wait"2"zi load z-shell/history-search-multi-word

Also can be used in light and snippet:

zi ice waitzi snippet https://gist.githubusercontent.com/hightemp/5071909/raw/

Turbo & lucid​

Turbo and lucid are the most used options, because turbo mode is verbose, may require and option for quiet and this can be achieved with the lucid.

zi ice wait lucidzi load z-shell/history-search-multi-word

Turbo with sophisticated prompts​

For some, mostly advanced themes the initialization of the prompt is being done in a precmd-hook, i.e.; in a function that's gets called before each prompt. The hook is installed by the add-zsh-hook Zsh function by adding its name to the $precmd_functions array.

To make the prompt fully initialized after Turbo loading in the middle of the prompt the same situation as with the zsh-autosuggestions plugin, the hook should be called from atload'' ice`.

First, find the name of the hook function by examining the $precmd_functions array. For example, for the robobenklein/zinc theme, they'll be two functions: prompt_zinc_setup and prompt_zinc_precmd:

root@user > ~ > print $precmd_functions < ✔ < 22:21:33_zsh_autosuggest_start prompt_zinc_setup prompt_zinc_precmd

Then, add them to the ice-list in the atload'' ice:

zi ice wait'!' lucid nocd \  atload'!prompt_zinc_setup; prompt_zinc_precmd'zi load robobenklein/zinc

The exclamation mark in atload'!…' is to track the functions allowing the plugin to be unloaded, as described here. It might be useful for the multi-prompt setup described next.

Summary of turbo mode​

Autosuggestions use the precmd hook, which is being called right after processing zshrc – precmd hooks are being called right before displaying each prompt.

Turbo with the empty wait ice will postpone the loading 1 ms after that, so precmd will not be called at that first prompt. This makes autosuggestions inactive at the first prompt.

However the given atload ice-modifier fixes this, it calls the same function that precmd would, right after loading autosuggestions, resulting in the same behavior of the plugin.

The ice lucid causes the under-prompt message saying Loaded zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions that normally appears for every Turbo-loaded plugin to not show.

Automatic condition based - load & unload​

Ices load and unload allow defining when you want plugins active or inactive:

Load when in ~/tmp

zi ice load'![[ $PWD = */tmp* ]]' unload'![[ $PWD != */tmp* ]]' \  atload"!promptinit; prompt sprint3"zi load z-shell/zprompts

Load when NOT in ~/tmp

zi ice load'![[ $PWD != */tmp* ]]' unload'![[ $PWD = */tmp* ]]'zi load russjohnson/angry-fly-zsh

Two prompts, each active in different directories. This technique can be used to have plugin-sets, e.g. by defining parameter $PLUGINS with possible values like cpp, web, admin and by setting load / unload conditions to activate different plugins on cpp, on web, etc.

note
  • The difference with wait is that load / unload are constantly active, not only till the first activation. Note that for the unloading of a plugin to work the plugin needs to be loaded with tracking, so zi load … and not zi light ….

Tracking causes a slight slowdown, however, this doesn’t influence Zsh startup time when using turbo mode.

A Glance at the prompts​

tip

See: multiple prompts for more information. It contains more real-world examples of a multi-prompt setup, which is being close to what the author uses in his setup.

This is powerlevel10k, pure, starship sample:

Load powerlevel10k theme.

~/.zshrc
zi ice depth"1"zi light romkatv/powerlevel10k

Load pure theme

  • Will pick the async.zsh library and will source it.
~/.zshrc
zi ice pick"async.zsh" src"pure.zsh"zi light sindresorhus/pure

Load starship theme:

  • will pick starship binary as a command, from the GitHub release
  • starship setup: atclone create init.zsh and completion
  • atpull behavior same as atclone and will be used when running zi update
  • src will source init.zsh
~/.zshrc
zi ice as"command" from"gh-r" \  atclone"./starship init zsh > init.zsh; ./starship completions zsh > _starship" \  atpull"%atclone" \  src"init.zsh"zi light starship/starship

Updates & upgrades​

Self update & compile:

zi self-update

Update plugins and snippets:

zi update --all
zi update --reset
zi update --quiet

Update plugins or snippets:

zi update --plugins
zi update --snipets

Update specific plugin. Default is GitHub but can specify any with ice from'…':

zi update <user>/<repo>

Plugin parallel update plugins:

zi update --parallel

Increase the number of jobs in a concurrent set to 40

zi update --parallel 40

More examples on common use cases​

Load the pure theme, with the zsh-async library that's bundled with it.

~/.zshrc
zi ice pick"async.zsh" src"pure.zsh"zi light sindresorhus/pure

Binary release in the archive, from GitHub-releases page. After automatic unpacking, it provides the program "fzf".

~/.zshrc
zi ice from"gh-r" as"program"zi light junegunn/fzf

One other binary release needs renaming from docker-compose-Linux-x86_64. This can be done by ice modifier: mv'{from} -> {to}'.

There are multiple packages per single version, for OS X, Linux, and Windows – so ice modifier bpick is used to select Linux package – in this case, this is not needed, ZI will grep operating system name and architecture automatically when there's no bpick.

~/.zshrc
zi ice from"gh-r" as"program" mv"docker* -> docker-compose" bpick"*linux*"zi load docker/compose

Vim repository on GitHub – a typical source code that needs compilation, ZI can manage it for you if you like, run ./configure and other make stuff. Ice-modifier pick selects a binary program to add to $PATH. You could also install the package under the path $ZPFX.

~/.zshrc
zi ice as"program" atclone"rm -f src/auto/config.cache; ./configure" \  atpull"%atclone" make pick"src/vim"zi light vim/vim

Scripts that are built at install

There's single default make target, "install", and it constructs scripts.

The make'' ice could also be: make"install PREFIX=$ZPFX", if "install" wouldn't be the only, default target.

~/.zshrc
zi ice as"program" pick"$ZPFX/bin/git-*" make"PREFIX=$ZPFX"zi light tj/git-extras

Handle completions without loading any plugin, see clist command. This one is to be run just once, in an interactive session.

~/.zshrc
zi creinstall %HOME/my_completions

For GNU ls the binaries can be gls, gdircolors, but not on OS X when installing the coreutils package from Homebrew.

~/.zshrc
zi ice atclone"dircolors -b LS_COLORS > c.zsh" \  atpull'%atclone' pick"c.zsh" nocompile'!'zi light trapd00r/LS_COLORS

make'!' -> run make before atclone & atpull.

zi ice as"program" make'!' \  atclone'./direnv hook zsh > zhook.zsh' \  atpull'%atclone' src"zhook.zsh"zi light direnv/direnv

If you are interested to try out more then check out the playground repository where users have uploaded the ~/.zshrc and other ZI configurations. Feel free to submit your ~/.zshrc there if it contains ZI commands.

Additional examples: collection.