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Overview

The Zsh configuration provides a modern, feature-rich shell experience with intelligent completions, syntax highlighting, and seamless integration with powerful tools like FZF and zoxide.

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Zinit plugin manager

Zinit is used as the plugin manager, automatically downloading and managing Zsh plugins.

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Installation

Zinit is automatically installed on first run:
~/.zshrc
# Set the directory we want to store zinit and plugins
ZINIT_HOME="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/share}/zinit/zinit.git"

# Download Zinit, if it's not there yet
if [ ! -d "$ZINIT_HOME" ]; then
   mkdir -p "$(dirname $ZINIT_HOME)"
   git clone https://github.com/zdharma-continuum/zinit.git "$ZINIT_HOME"
fi

# Source/Load zinit
source "${ZINIT_HOME}/zinit.zsh"

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Plugins

The configuration loads several essential plugins for enhanced functionality: 
# Real-time syntax highlighting as you type
zinit light zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

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Oh My Zsh snippets

The configuration also includes useful Oh My Zsh snippets:
~/.zshrc
zinit snippet OMZP::git
zinit snippet OMZP::sudo
zinit snippet OMZP::archlinux
zinit snippet OMZP::command-not-found
zinit snippet OMZP::colored-man-pages

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Keybindings

Custom keybindings enhance navigation through command history:
~/.zshrc
bindkey -e  # Use emacs keybindings
bindkey '^p' history-search-backward
bindkey '^n' history-search-forward
Ctrl+P searches backward through history, while Ctrl+N searches forward.

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History settings

Robust history configuration ensures commands are saved and deduplicated:
~/.zshrc
HISTSIZE=5000
HISTFILE=~/.zsh_history
SAVEHIST=$HISTSIZE
HISTDUP=erase

setopt appendhistory
setopt sharehistory
setopt hist_ignore_space
setopt hist_ignore_all_dups
setopt hist_save_no_dups
setopt hist_ignore_dups
setopt hist_find_no_dups
  • appendhistory - Append to history file rather than overwriting
  • sharehistory - Share history between all sessions
  • hist_ignore_space - Don’t save commands starting with space
  • hist_ignore_all_dups - Delete old duplicate entries
  • hist_save_no_dups - Don’t save duplicate entries
  • hist_find_no_dups - Don’t show duplicates when searching

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Completion styling

Advanced completion settings provide a better user experience:
~/.zshrc
# Load completions
autoload -Uz compinit && compinit

zinit cdreplay -q

# Completion styling
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list 'm:{a-z}={A-Za-z}'
zstyle ':completion:*' list-colors "${(s.:.)LS_COLORS}"
zstyle ':completion:*' menu no
zstyle ':fzf-tab:complete:cd:*' fzf-preview 'ls --color $realpath'
zstyle ':fzf-tab:complete:__zoxide_z:*' fzf-preview 'ls --color $realpath'

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FZF integration

FZF (fuzzy finder) is configured with custom Catppuccin-inspired colors:
~/.zshrc
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS=" \
--color=bg+:#313244,bg:#1e1e2e,spinner:#f5e0dc,hl:#f38ba8 \
--color=fg:#cdd6f4,header:#f38ba8,info:#cba6f7,pointer:#f5e0dc \
--color=marker:#f5e0dc,fg+:#cdd6f4,prompt:#cba6f7,hl+:#f38ba8"

export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="fd --type f --hidden --follow --exclude .git"
eval "$(fzf --zsh)"
The FZF color scheme matches the Catppuccin Mocha theme used throughout the dotfiles.

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Zoxide integration

Zoxide provides smarter directory navigation by learning your frequently used directories:
~/.zshrc
if command -v zoxide &> /dev/null; then
  eval "$(zoxide init --cmd cd zsh)"
else
  echo "zoxide not installed"
fi
With this configuration, cd is replaced with zoxide’s intelligent jumping: 
# Jump to a frequently used directory
cd docs  # Jumps to ~/workspace/docs even from anywhere

# Interactive directory selection
cdi docs  # Opens FZF selector for matching directories

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Custom functions

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Video conversion

Convert WebM videos to MP4 with even dimensions:
~/.zshrc
webm2mp4() {
    if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "Usage: webm2mp4 <input_file>"
        return 1
    fi
    
    local input_file="$1"
    local output_file="${input_file%.*}.mp4"
    
    ffmpeg -i "$input_file" -vf "scale=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2" -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 22 -c:a aac -b:a 128k "$output_file"
}
Usage: 
webm2mp4 recording.webm
# Creates recording.mp4 with even dimensions

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Tmux auto-start

Automatic tmux session on shell startup:
~/.zshrc
if command -v tmux &> /dev/null && [ -n "$PS1" ] && [[ ! "$TERM" =~ screen ]] && [[ ! "$TERM" =~ tmux ]] && [ -z "$TMUX" ]; then
  exec tmux
fi
This will automatically start a tmux session when opening a new terminal. Remove this section if you prefer manual tmux management.

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Start screen

Display system information on shell startup using pfetch:
~/.zshrc
export PF_INFO="ascii title os host kernel uptime memory editor palette"
if command -v pfetch &> /dev/null; then
  pfetch
else
  echo "pfetch not installed"
fi

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