Prezto — Instantly Awesome Zsh

Prezto is the configuration framework for Zsh; it enriches the command line interface environment with sane defaults, aliases, functions, auto completion, and prompt themes.

Installation

Prezto will work with any recent release of Zsh, but the minimum required version is 4.3.11.

1. Launch Zsh:

   zsh
   

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone --recursive https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto.git "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprezto"
   

3. Create a new Zsh configuration by copying the Zsh configuration files provided:

   setopt EXTENDED_GLOB
   for rcfile in "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}"/.zprezto/runcoms/^README.md(.N); do
     ln -s "$rcfile" "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.${rcfile:t}"
   done
   

   Note: If you already have any of the given config files, ln will error. In simple cases you can add source "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprezto/init.zsh" to the bottom of your .zshrc to load prezto but keep your config intact. For more complicated setups, it is recommended that you back up your original configs and replace them with the provided prezto runcoms.

4. Set Zsh as your default shell:

   chsh -s /bin/zsh
   

5. Open a new Zsh terminal window or tab.

Troubleshooting

If you are not able to find certain commands after switching to Prezto, modify the PATH variable in ~/.zprofile then open a new Zsh terminal window or tab.

Updating

Run zprezto-update to automatically check if there is an update to zprezto. If there are no file conflicts, zprezto and its submodules will be automatically updated. If there are conflicts you will instructed to go into the $ZPREZTODIR directory and resolve them yourself.

To pull the latest changes and update submodules manually:

cd $ZPREZTODIR
git pull
git submodule update --init --recursive

Usage

Prezto has many features disabled by default. Read the source code and accompanying README files to learn of what is available.

Modules

1. Browse /modules to see what is available.
2. Load the modules you need in ~/.zpreztorc then open a new Zsh terminal window or tab.

Themes

1. For a list of themes, type prompt -l.

2. To preview a theme, type prompt -p name.

3. Load the theme you like in ~/.zpreztorc then open a new Zsh terminal window or tab.

   

External Modules

1. By default modules will be loaded from /modules and /contrib.

2. Additional module directories can be added to the :prezto:load:pmodule-dirs setting in ~/.zpreztorc.

   Note that module names need to be unique or they will cause an error when loading.

   zstyle ':prezto:load' pmodule-dirs $HOME/.zprezto-contrib
   

Customization

The project is managed via Git. It is highly recommended that you fork this project; so, that you can commit your changes and push them to GitHub to not lose them. If you do not know how to use Git, follow this tutorial and bookmark this reference.

Resources

The Zsh Reference Card and the zsh-lovers man page are indispensable.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.