# AX-ZSH: Alex' Modular ZSH Configuration [AX-ZSH] is a modular configuration system for the Z shell ([ZSH]). It provides sane defaults and is extendable by plugins. AX-ZSH integrates well with [Powerlevel10k] and other extensions, even plugins of [OhMyZsh], see [below](#integration-with-other-projects). The homepage of [AX-ZSH] can be found at [GitHub]: . ## Installation Prerequisites: * [ZSH] – obviously ;-) * [Git] (optional but recommended!) Installing AX-ZSH is a two-step process: 1. Clone or copy the source files into the `~/.axzsh` directory, 2. Run the `~/.axzsh/install.sh` script. The `install.sh` script creates symbolic links for `~/.zprofile`, `~/.zshrc`, `~/.zlogin`, and `~/.zlogout` (don't worry, already existing files are backed up). *Note:* The installation is per-user and only changes/installs files into the home directory of the current user (`~`). AX-ZSH is not meant to be installed globally for all users on a system at once, and you don't need to become "root" or any other user with elevated privileges! ### Installation using Git When using [Git], the preferred method, it is best to directly clone the AX-ZSH repository into the `~/.axzsh` directory and call `install.sh` from this location: ```sh git clone https://github.com/alexbarton/ax-zsh.git ~/.axzsh ~/.axzsh/install.sh ``` ### Installation without Git *Note:* If you do not install AX-ZSH with [Git], you will not be able to upgrade itself afterwards with the integrated `axzsh upgrade` command! Therefore this method is *not recommended* for normal use! ```sh curl -Lo ax-zsh-master.zip https://github.com/alexbarton/ax-zsh/archive/refs/heads/master.zip unzip ax-zsh-master.zip mv ax-zsh-master ~/.axzsh ~/.axzsh/install.sh ``` ### Post-Installation Tasks After installing AX-ZSH, using Git or via an archive file, you should close all running ZSH sessions and restart them to activate AX-ZSH. And maybe you want to change your default shell to ZSH if you haven't already? For example like this: ```sh # Set new default shell chsh -s $(command -v zsh) # Replace running shell with a ZSH login shell exec $(command -v zsh) -l ``` ## Upgrade When you used Git to install AX-ZSH (and/or plugins), you can use the `axzshctl` command to upgrade AX-ZSH itself and external plugins like this: ```sh axzshctl upgrade ``` ## Usage AX-ZSH comes with a hopefully sane default configuration and can be extended using plugins. Different types of plugins are supported: * Plugins shipped with AX-ZSH. * Themes shipped with AX-ZSH. * 3rd-party plugins: * installed manually into `$AXZSH/custom_plugins` * stand-alone plugins stored on GitHub * plugins of OhMyZsh from its GitHub repository * 3rd-party themes: * installed manually into `$AXZSH/custom_themes` * some stand-alone themes stored on GitHub ### Check whether all locally available "useful" plug-ins are activated Most plugins can be enabled even when the commands they work with aren't available and won't do any harm. But to keep ZSH startup times low, you should only enable plugins that are useable on your local system and which you actually plan to use. You can use the following command to let AX-ZSH scan the status of all locally available plugins: ```sh axzshctl check-plugins ``` It will summarize the status of all enabled plugins, and suggest to enable plugins which seem to make sense on the system and to disable enabled plugins that seem not to be supported (for example because of missing dependencies). ### List enabled plugins Run the following command to list all currently enabled plugins: ```sh axzshctl list-enabled ``` ### Enable plugins AX-ZSH comes with a sane "core ZSH configuration", but it can show its true strengths when enabling additional plugins for additional tools and commands that are available on your system and you want to use. Different types of plugins are supported (see the introduction to the section "*usage*" above) which are differentiated by their identifier: * ``: locally available plugin, either bundled with AX-ZSH itself, or installed manually (see below). * `/`: stand-alone [GitHub] repository. * `@ohmyzsh/`: [OhMyZsh] plugin from the OhMyZsh GitHub repository (see ). You can enable one or more plugins like this: ```sh axzshctl enable-plugin [ […]] ``` *Hint:* *Tab-completion* works for sub-commands and already locally available plugin names! Some examples: ```sh # Enable some plugins bundled with AX-ZSH: axzshctl enable-plugin editor_select git ssh_autoadd # Enable the Powerlevel10k "theme plugin" from GitHub, see # : axzshctl enable-plugin romkatv/powerlevel10k # Enable the "fast-syntax-highlighting" plugin from GitHub, see # : axzshctl enable-plugin zdharma-continuum/fast-syntax-highlighting # Enable the Git and tmux plugins of OhMyZsh: axzshctl enable-plugin @ohmyzsh/git @ohmyzsh/tmux ``` #### Custom local plugins You can link custom plugins stored in arbitrary directories using `axzshctl` by specifying the complete path name. Or you can place additional plugins into the `$AXZSH/custom_plugins` folder which is searched by the `axzshctl` tool by default. In addition you can set the `AXZSH_PLUGIN_D` variable (and `ZSH_CUSTOM` like [OhMyZsh]) to specify additional plugin search directories. ### Disable plugins Run the following command to disable a currently enabled plugin: ```sh axzshctl disable-plugin [ […]] ``` *Hint:* *Tab-completion* works for sub-commands and plugin names! ### Update plugin cache AX-ZSH uses a "plugin cache" to speedup ZSH start times. This cache is automatically updated when using the `axzshctl` sub-commands, for example when enabling or disabling plugins, or when upgrading the AX-ZSH installation and all plugins. But you *have to* update the cache when manually installing plugins or during development of a own local plugin after updating its code! Run the following command to update the AX-ZSH cache: ```sh axzshctl update-caches ``` ### Other `axzshctl` sub-commands Please run `axzshctl --help` to get a full list of a available sub-commands: ```sh axzshctl --help ``` ## Integration with other projects ### Powerlevel10k AX-ZSH supports [Powerlevel10k] out of the box, you just have to install it as a plugin: ```sh axzshctl enable-plugin romkatv/powerlevel10k ``` *Hint:* Once the Powerlevel10k plugin theme is installed, you can use the regular `axzshctl set-theme` command to enable it, like for any other installed theme: `axzshctl set-theme powerlevel10k`. ## AX-ZSH & local ZSH configuration Don't modify `~/.zprofile`, `~/.zshrc`, `~/.zlogin`, or `~/.zlogout`! These are links to "AX-ZSH"-private files that can become overwritten when updating. You can use the following files for local ZSH configuration: 1. AX-ZSH doesn't use `~/.zshenv` in any way. So you can use this file for your own purposes (for example, to set up some environment variables that AX-ZSH relies on). 2. AX-ZSH reads the optional files `~/.zprofile.local`, `~/.zshrc.local`, `~/.zlogin.local`, and `~/.zlogout.local` after its own core initialization files when present. ## Environment variables Expected to be already set: * `HOME` * `LOGNAME` Validated and/or set up by core plugins: * `AXZSH` – AX-ZSH installation directory * `HOST` * `HOSTNAME` (same as HOST, deprecated) * `LOCAL_HOME` * `PS1` * `SHORT_HOST` * `TERM` * `TMPDIR` (set and always ends with a "/") * `XDG_CACHE_HOME` * `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` * `ZSH_CACHE_DIR` ___ [AX-ZSH]: "AX-ZSH Homepage" [Git]: "Git Homepage" [GitHub]: "GitHub Homepage" [OhMyZsh]: "OhMyZsh Homepage" [Powerlevel10k]: "Powerlevel10k Homepage" [ZSH]: "ZSH Homepage" [AX-ZSH] Copyright (c) 2015-2022 Alexander Barton