zsh-bench VS powerlevel10k

Someone's made a benchmarking system for zsh: https://github.com/romkatv/zsh-bench#premade-configs

Of course, their config is the best according to the benchmark (and ohmyzsh is the slowest option), but DIY configs are also covered, particularly possible performance optimizations.

Unfortunately, running exit is not a great strategy for running benchmarks. For zsh specifically, plugin managers are optimized for fast exit.

romkatv did a great write-up and benchmark within the context of zsh[0]. It's a great read.

[0] https://github.com/romkatv/zsh-bench#how-not-to-benchmark

Given the addition of async rendering in the latest release of spaceship, I wasn't sure whether I should include performance in the list of features found in powerlevel10kbut but not in spaceship. I used zsh-bench to benchmark powerlevel10k on my laptop running on battery (I'm writing this on a train) with a config that makes powerlevel10k looks similar to spaceship. I simply ran p10k configure and chose what looked most similar: Lean Style, UNICODE, 256 colors, two lines, etc. Here are the benchmark results:

Obligatory link since you are engaging in profiling interactive zsh: https://github.com/romkatv/zsh-bench.

1.) It's fast. Like, really fast. 1.) It supports deferred loading via zsh-defer 1.) It supports local plugins as well as ones hosted via a git provider (aka: GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, etc) 1.) The codebase is simple and easy to understand and contribute to 1.) It supports git branches (with tag/shas on the roadmap) 1.) It supports partial plugin loading such as loading Oh-My-Zsh plugins and Prezto modules without loading the whole framework. 1.) There's an easy migration path from legacy plugin managers like Antigen/Antibody. 1.) Plugins are managed via a simple plugins file that makes it easy to share your config with others. 1.) And lots more

In any case, slow zsh startup is always caused by whatever you put in zsh startup files and it's always possible to reduce zsh startup to imperceptible levels without sacrificing any functionality by editing said startup files. There is a bit of info on interactive zsh performance at https://github.com/romkatv/zsh-bench.

Why is this a good thing? Is this a proxy for performance? If so, you can measure performance directly with zsh-bench. This way you can describe the advantage in terms that have real value to end users. For example, you can say that the first prompt appears N milliseconds faster when using Zpy than if you were using something-else.

That’s the minimum terminal setup. You can modify the look and add plugins such as autocompletion to your terminal by installing ohmyzsh and using themes such as powerlevel10k. I am already using them.

I used ohmyzsh with powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k[0] for years though recently i've settled on fish [1]

[0] https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k

I had just gone through a fun tutorial for setting up oh-my-zsh with a nice color scheme from iterm2colorschemes.com and a decent prompt and I was wondering: can I make my oblique strategy look nice? how can you actually use the colors from your scheme in the output in your cli?

A more robust way to do this would be to add simple wrappers that clone any external Zsh plugins you use regularly and store them in your own $ZSH_CUSTOM. For example, you say you like Powerlevel10k, so make that an OMZ plugin:

Looks like PowerLevel10 theme for Zsh shell

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Am i the only one who feels fish is not worth it despite of hype? Don't get me wrong. I think that fish is really good shell.

BUT...

After adding the following plugins to zsh(before you chime in, it's just adding these lines,not anything configuring much. also it auto bootstraps on new install), I found out that fish is no where near configured zsh.

1) https://github.com/zdharma-continuum/zinit (plugin manager)

2) https://github.com/zdharma-continuum/fast-syntax-highlightin...

3) https://github.com/zdharma-continuum/history-search-multi-wo...

4) https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

5) https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions

6) https://github.com/Aloxaf/fzf-tab

7) any good shell prompt generator like https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k

For example, I use fzf integration for tab completion. Fish's fzf integration is nowhere as good as that of zsh's. Also, posix compat and almost bash compat of zsh is plus.

I acknowledge that zsh isn't perfect shell either and I have tried and failed few times in past to switch to fish. If you provide me compelling reason/s to switch to fish, I am all ears.

To build upon that concept, you can even have your shell prompt display a symbol if you have a backgrounded job. I use https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k and the background_jobs handles it for me.

I also use PowerLevel10k. Themes up your zsh to make it look nice, pretty customisable.

start here: https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k