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   # Install missing modules and update ${ZIM_HOME}/init.zsh if missing or outdated.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. Create your ~/.zimrc file

4. 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. Create your ~/.zimrc file

4. 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, you can download the zimfw.zsh script 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 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 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
   

Create ~/.zimrc

This file configures the zimfw plugin manager. It's referred to as ~/.zimrc in the documentation for the sake of simplicity, but the actual location of the file is defined by the following rules:

1. You can define the full path and name of the file with a ZIM_CONFIG_FILE environment variable. For example:

   ZIM_CONFIG_FILE=~/.config/zsh/zimrc
   

2. Or, if you defined a ZDOTDIR environment variable, then the file must be at ${ZDOTDIR}/.zimrc

3. Otherwise, it must be at at ~/.zimrc, which is it's default location.

As for the contents of the file, you can start with just:

# Fish-like syntax highlighting for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting
# Fish-like autosuggestions for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

If you also want saner defaults:

#
# Modules
#

# Sets sane Zsh built-in environment options.
zmodule environment
# Applies correct bindkeys for input events.
zmodule input
# Utility aliases and functions. Adds colour to ls, grep and less.
zmodule utility

#
# Modules that must be initialized last
#

# Fish-like syntax highlighting for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting
# Fish-like autosuggestions for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

If you also want one of our prompt themes:

#
# Modules
#

# Sets sane Zsh built-in environment options.
zmodule environment
# Applies correct bindkeys for input events.
zmodule input
# Utility aliases and functions. Adds colour to ls, grep and less.
zmodule utility

#
# Prompt
#

# Exposes to prompts how long the last command took to execute, used by asciiship.
zmodule duration-info
# Exposes git repository status information to prompts, used by asciiship.
zmodule git-info
# A heavily reduced, ASCII-only version of the Spaceship and Starship prompts.
zmodule asciiship

#
# Modules that must be initialized last
#

# Fish-like syntax highlighting for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting
# Fish-like autosuggestions for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

If you want to use our completion module too, instead of using compinit directly:

#
# Modules
#

# Sets sane Zsh built-in environment options.
zmodule environment
# Applies correct bindkeys for input events.
zmodule input
# Utility aliases and functions. Adds colour to ls, grep and less.
zmodule utility

#
# Prompt
#

# Exposes to prompts how long the last command took to execute, used by asciiship.
zmodule duration-info
# Exposes git repository status information to prompts, used by asciiship.
zmodule git-info
# A heavily reduced, ASCII-only version of the Spaceship and Starship prompts.
zmodule asciiship

#
# Completion
#

# Additional completion definitions for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-completions --fpath src
# Enables and configures smart and extensive tab completion.
# completion must be sourced after all modules that add completion definitions.
zmodule completion

#
# Modules that must be initialized last
#

# Fish-like syntax highlighting for Zsh.
# zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting must be sourced after completion
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting
# Fish-like autosuggestions for Zsh.
zmodule zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

The completion module calls compinit for you. You should remove any compinit calls from your ~/.zshrc when you use this module. The modules will be initialized in the order they are defined, and completion must be initialized after all modules that add completion definitions, so it must come after zsh-users/zsh-completions.

Check the zmodule usage for more examples on how to use it to define the modules you want to use.