Zi

Manage your Zsh plugins, snippets, and command-line tools.

Quick start  ·  Documentation  ·  Releases  ·  Discussions

Zi is the Z-Shell ecosystem's plugin manager, formerly known as zplugin and zinit.

Features

• Responsive startup: defer plugin loading until after the first prompt with Turbo mode.
• Flexible sources: load plugins, scripts, completions, and release artifacts.
• Control over loading: use ice modifiers to configure downloads, builds, and updates.
• Tool management: install command-line tools without root access.
• Extensions: add capabilities through Zi annexes.

Requirements

Use Zsh with Git available on PATH. The quick-start installer also uses curl and a POSIX shell. Plugins and tools you install may have their own dependencies.

Quick start

1. Install Zi

The official installer installs Zi with the default loader profile and adds one short managed source entry to .zshrc (see the canonical installation page):

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL get.zshell.dev)" --

[!IMPORTANT] Review the installer source and its published SHA-256 checksum before running a remote installation script.

2. Add your first plugins

Add these commands to .zshrc after the installer's managed source entry. This example loads an Oh My Zsh snippet, command suggestions, and fast syntax highlighting:

# ~/.zshrc
zi snippet OMZ::plugins/git/git.plugin.zsh
zi light zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions
zi light z-shell/F-Sy-H

snippet loads a standalone script. light loads a plugin. The first load downloads any missing repositories or snippets.

3. Reload Zsh

exec zsh -il

Run zi -h to explore the available commands. For alternate installers, manual setup, completions, and post-install steps, see the full installation guide.

Learn by task

• Load plugins and snippets: general overview.
• Choose how dependencies load: ice modifiers.
• Configure paths and behavior: configuration guide.
• Update, inspect, and unload: command reference.
• Find plugins and annexes: ecosystem catalog.
• Understand shell startup: official Zsh startup-file reference.

For automated installers and terminal interfaces, use the setup integration contract, including plan/apply phases, results, and event handling.

Community and support

• Ask usage questions in Z-Shell Discussions.
• Report reproducible defects through Zi issues.
• Browse releases and changelogs on the releases page.
• Explore the wider Z-Shell organization.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read the contribution guide for the branch model and release process before opening an issue or pull request. See the Zsh workflow for the syntax and focused regression checks used to verify a checkout. Development work targets the next branch, while main contains production releases.

Security

Please follow the Z-Shell security policy to report vulnerabilities privately. Do not disclose a vulnerability in a public issue before a fix is available.

License

Zi is available under the MIT License.