Installation

Installing Zim Framework is easy. You can choose either the automatic or manual method below:

Automatic installation

This will install a predefined set of modules and a theme for you.

• With curl:

  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zimfw/install/master/install.zsh | zsh
  

• With wget:

  wget -nv -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zimfw/install/master/install.zsh | zsh
  

Restart your terminal and you're done. Enjoy your Zsh IMproved! Take some time to tweak your ~/.zshrc file and to also check the available modules and themes you can add to your ~/.zimrc.

Homebrew

1. Install zimfw with brew:

   brew install --formula zimfw
   

2. Add the following to your ~/.zshrc:

   ZIM_HOME=${ZDOTDIR:-${HOME}}/.zim
   # Install missing modules and update ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh if missing or outdated.
   if [[ ! ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh -nt ${ZIM_CONFIG_FILE:-${ZDOTDIR:-${HOME}}/.zimrc} ]]; then
     source /path/to/zimfw.zsh init
   fi
   # Initialize modules.
   source ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh
   

   replacing /path/to/zimfw.zsh with the path where brew installed the script, which is shown in the brew formula caveats. It is usually:

   • /opt/homebrew/opt/zimfw/share/zimfw.zsh on Apple Silicon macOS,
   • /usr/local/opt/zimfw/share/zimfw.zsh on Intel macOS,
   • /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/opt/zimfw/share/zimfw.zsh on Linux.

3. Restart your terminal and you're done. Enjoy your Zsh IMproved!

Manual installation

1. Set Zsh as the default shell, if you haven't done so already:

   chsh -s $(which zsh)
   

2. Set up your ~/.zshrc file

3. Restart your terminal and you're done. Enjoy your Zsh IMproved!

Set up ~/.zshrc

Add the lines below to your ~/.zshrc file, in the following order:

1. To set where the zimfw plugin manager configuration file will be located:

   ZIM_CONFIG_FILE=~/.config/zsh/zimrc
   

   This is optional. The value of ZIM_CONFIG_FILE can be any path your user has at least read access to. By default, the file must be at ~/.zimrc, if the ZDOTDIR environment variable is not defined. Otherwise, it must be at ${ZDOTDIR}/.zimrc.

2. To set the directory where the zimfw plugin manager will keep necessary files:

   ZIM_HOME=${ZDOTDIR:-${HOME}}/.zim
   

   The value of ZIM_HOME can be any directory your user has write access to. You can even set it to a cache directory like ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/zim or ~/.cache/zim.

3. To automatically download the zimfw plugin manager if missing:

   # Download zimfw plugin manager if missing.
   if [[ ! -e ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh ]]; then
     curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh \
         https://github.com/zimfw/zimfw/releases/latest/download/zimfw.zsh
   fi
   

   Or if you use wget instead of curl:

   # Download zimfw plugin manager if missing.
   if [[ ! -e ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh ]]; then
     mkdir -p ${ZIM_HOME} && wget -nv -O ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh \
         https://github.com/zimfw/zimfw/releases/latest/download/zimfw.zsh
   fi
   

   This is optional. Alternatively, the zimfw.zsh script can be installed with a package manager or downloaded anywhere your user has write access to: just replace the occurrences of ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh by the preferred path, like /usr/local/share/zimfw/zimfw.zsh for example. If you choose to not include this step, you should install or manually download the zimfw.zsh script once and keep it at the preferred path.

4. To automatically install missing modules and update the static initialization script if missing or outdated:

   # Install missing modules and update ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh if missing or outdated.
   if [[ ! ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh -nt ${ZIM_CONFIG_FILE:-${ZDOTDIR:-${HOME}}/.zimrc} ]]; then
     source ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh init
   fi
   

   This step is optional, but highly recommended. If you choose to not include it, you must remember to manually run zimfw install every time you update your ~/.zimrc file. If you have chosen to keep the zimfw.zsh script in a different path as mentioned in the previous step, replace ${ZIM_HOME}/zimfw.zsh by the chosen path.

5. To source the static script, that will initialize your modules:

   # Initialize modules.
   source ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh