zsh-snap VS zsh-bench

Personally I use https://github.com/marlonrichert/zsh-snap as my plugin manager. You can just reference this baseline template that the author of the plugin manager has made if you want a sample config:

If you want something a bit different and interesting with a focus on cool features like instant-prompt, zcomet and zsh-snap

You can use a plugin manager like https://github.com/marlonrichert/zsh-snap to cache the output of these commands. Using something like the packages version number as the cache key will ensure that it gets regenerated only once per package update as opposed to every shell launch.

Author of Antidote here. I want to start by saying u/MrMarlon did a great job with znap, and it's a solid choice. zcomet and zgenom are also great. For modern Zsh plugin managers that are actively developed, I'd say these are my top 4 picks.

# Download Znap, if it's not there yet. [[ -f ~/Git/zsh-snap/znap.zsh ]] || git clone https://github.com/marlonrichert/zsh-snap.git ~/Git/zsh-snap source ~/Git/zsh-snap/znap.zsh # Start Znap znap prompt sindresorhus/pure # Go to prompt in just 15 to 40 ms! # Finish the rest of your .zshrc in the background. znap source zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions znap source zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting znap source marlonrichert/zsh-autocomplete # Cache any script you like from the interwebs: znap eval iterm2 'curl -fsSL https://iterm2.com/shell_integration/zsh'

If you haven’t actually used Zinit yet, have a look at Znap instead. It’s just as fast, but has a much simpler syntax that is very close to native Zsh.

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.