Powerlevel10k

Powerlevel10k is a theme for ZSH. It's fast, flexible and easy to install and configure.

Powerlevel10k can be used as a fast drop-in replacement for Powerlevel9k. When given the same configuration options it will generate the same prompt.

Table of Contents

1. Installation
   1. Manual
   2. Oh My Zsh
   3. Prezto
   4. Antigen
   5. Zplug
   6. Zgen
   7. Antibody
   8. Zplugin
2. Configuration
   1. For new users
   2. For Powerlevel9k users
3. Fonts
   1. Recommended: Meslo Nerd Font patched for Powerlevel10k
4. Try it in Docker
5. Is it really fast?
6. License
7. FAQ
   1. What is instant prompt?
   2. Why my icons and/or powerline symbols look bad?
   3. Why is my cursor in the wrong place?
   4. Why is my prompt wrapping around in a weird way?
   5. Why is my right prompt in the wrong place?
   6. I cannot install the recommended font. Help!
   7. Why do I have a question mark symbol in my prompt? Is my font broken?
   8. Why does Powerlevel10k spawn extra processes?
   9. Are there configuration options that make Powerlevel10k slow?
   10. Is Powerlevel10k fast to load?
   11. Does Powerlevel10k always render exactly the same prompt as Powerlevel9k given the same config?
   12. Is there an AUR package for Powerlevel10k?
   13. I cannot make Powerlevel10k work with my plugin manager. Help!
   14. What is the minimum supported ZSH version?

Installation

Manual

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
echo 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>! ~/.zshrc

This is the simplest kind of installation and it works even if you are using a plugin manager. Just make sure to disable your current theme in your plugin manager. See FAQ for help.

Oh My Zsh

git clone https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git $ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/powerlevel10k

Set ZSH_THEME=powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k in your ~/.zshrc.

Prezto

Add zstyle :prezto:module:prompt theme powerlevel10k to your ~/.zpreztorc.

Antigen

Add antigen theme romkatv/powerlevel10k to your ~/.zshrc. Make sure you have antigen apply somewhere after it.

Zplug

Add zplug romkatv/powerlevel10k, as:theme, depth:1 to your ~/.zshrc.

Zgen

Add zgen load romkatv/powerlevel10k powerlevel10k to your ~/.zshrc.

Antibody

Add antibody bundle romkatv/powerlevel10k to your ~/.zshrc.

Zplugin

Add zplugin ice depth=1; zplugin light romkatv/powerlevel10k to your ~/.zshrc.

The use of depth=1 ice is optional. Other types of ice are neither recommended nor officially supported by Powerlevel10k.

Configuration

For new users

On the first run Powerlevel10k configuration wizard will ask you a few questions and configure your prompt. If it doesn't trigger automatically, type p10k configure. You can further customize your prompt by editing ~/.p10k.zsh.

For Powerlevel9k users

If you've been using Powerlevel9k before, do not remove the configuration options. Powerlevel10k will pick them up and provide you with the same prompt UI you are used to. Powerlevel10k recognized all configuration options used by Powerlevel9k. See Powerlevel9k configuration guide.

To go beyond the functionality of Powerlevel9k, type p10k configure and explore the unique styles and features Powerlevel10k has to offer. You can further customize your prompt by editing ~/.p10k.zsh.

Fonts

Powerlevel10k doesn't require custom fonts but can take advantage of them if they are available. It works well with Nerd Fonts, Source Code Pro, Font Awesome, Powerline, and even the default system fonts. The full choice of style options is available only when using Nerd Fonts.

Recommended: Meslo Nerd Font patched for Powerlevel10k

Download these four ttf files:

• MesloLGS NF Regular.ttf
• MesloLGS NF Bold.ttf
• MesloLGS NF Italic.ttf
• MesloLGS NF Bold Italic.ttf

Double-click on each file and press "Install". This will make MesloLGS NF font available to all applications on your system. Configure your terminal to use this font:

• iTerm2: Open iTerm2 → Preferences → Profiles → Text and set Font to MesloLGS NF.
• Hyper: Open Hyper → Edit → Preferences and change the value of fontFamily under module.exports.config to MesloLGS NF.
• Visual Studio Code: Open File → Preferences → Settings, enter terminal.integrated.fontFamily in the search box and set the value to MesloLGS NF.
• GNOME Terminal (the default Ubuntu terminal): Open Terminal → Preferences and click on the selected profile under Profiles. Check Custom font under Text Appearance and select MesloLGS NF Regular.
• Konsole: Open Settings → Edit Current Profile → Appearance, click Select Font and select MesloLGS NF Regular.
• Tilix: Open Tilix → Preferences and click on the selected profile under Profiles. Check Custom font under Text Appearance and select MesloLGS NF Regular.
• Windows Console Host (the old thing): Click the icon in the top left corner, then Properties → Font and set Font to MesloLGS NF.
• Windows Terminal (the new thing): Open Settings (Ctrl+,), search for fontFace and set value to MesloLGS NF for every profile.
• Termux: Type p10k configure and answer Yes when asked whether to install Meslo Nerd Font.

Run p10k configure to pick the best style for your new font.

Using a different terminal and know how to set font for it? Share your knowledge by sending a PR to expand the list!

Try it in Docker

Try Powerlevel10k in Docker. You can safely make any changes to the file system while trying out the theme. Once you exit zsh, the image is deleted.

docker run -e LANG=en_US.utf8 -e TERM -it --rm archlinux/base bash -uexc '
  pacman -Sy --noconfirm zsh git
  git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
  echo "source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme" >>~/.zshrc
  cd ~/powerlevel10k
  exec zsh'

Is it really fast?

Yes.

Benchmark results obtained with zsh-prompt-benchmark on Intel i9-7900X running Ubuntu 18.04 with the config from the demo.

Theme	Prompt Latency
powerlevel9k/master	1046 ms
powerlevel9k/next	1005 ms
powerlevel10k	8.7 ms

Powerlevel10k is over 100 times faster than Powerlevel9k in this benchmark.

In fairness, Powerlevel9k has acceptable latency when given a spartan configuration. If all you need is the current directory without truncation or shortening, Powerlevel9k can render it for you in 17 ms. Powerlevel10k can do the same 30 times faster but it won't matter in practice because 17 ms is fast enough (the threshold where latency becomes noticeable is around 50 ms). You have to be careful with Powerlevel9k configuration as it's all too easy to make prompt frustratingly slow. Powerlevel10k, on the other hand, doesn't require trading latency for utility -- it's virtually instant with any configuration. It stays way below the 50 ms mark, leaving most of the latency budget for other plugins you might install.

License

Powerlevel10k is released under the MIT license. Contributions are covered by the same license.

FAQ

What is instant prompt?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Instant prompt is incompatible with zsh startup configs that may require console input. This includes asking for a keyring password and [Y/N] confirmations. It is currently NOT RECOMMENDED that you enable instant prompt.

Instant Prompt is an optional feature of Powerlevel10k. When enabled, it gives you a limited prompt within 10 milliseconds of staring zsh, alowing you to start hacking right away while zsh is initializing. Once the initialization is complete, the full-featured Powerlevel10k will seamlessly replace instant prompt.

When you run p10k configure, Powerlevel10k will automatically enable instant prompt for you if it hasn't been already enabled. You can also enable it manually by adding two code snippets to ~/.zshrc.

At the very top of ~/.zshrc:

# Enable Powerlevel10k instant prompt. Should stay at the top of ~/.zshrc.
if [[ -r "${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/p10k-instant-prompt-${(%):-%n}.zsh" ]]; then
  source "${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/p10k-instant-prompt-${(%):-%n}.zsh"
fi

And at the very bottom of ~/.zshrc:

# Finalize Powerlevel10k instant prompt. Should stay at the bottom of ~/.zshrc.
(( ! ${+functions[p10k-instant-prompt-finalize]} )) || p10k-instant-prompt-finalize

It's important that you copy the lines verbatim. Don't replace source with something else, don't call zcompile, don't redirect output, etc. Just copy the lines and restart zsh.

To disable instant prompt, define POWERLEVEL9K_DISABLE_INSTANT_PROMPT=true together with the rest of your POWERLEVEL9K parameters. ~/.p10k.zsh already has a line that you can simply uncomment.

NOTE: Instant prompt requires ZSH >= 5.4. It's OK to enable it even when using an older ZSH version but it won't do anything.

Why my icons and/or powerline symbols look bad?

It's likely your font's fault. Install the recommended font and run p10k configure.

Why is my cursor in the wrong place?

Type echo '\u276F'. If you get an error saying "zsh: character not in range", your locale doesn't support UTF-8. You need to fix it.

If the echo command prints ❯ but the cursor is still in the wrong place, install the recommended font and run p10k configure.

If this doesn't help, add unset ZLE_RPROMPT_INDENT at the bottom of ~/.zshrc.

Still broken? Run the following command to diagnose the problem:

() {
  emulate -L zsh
  setopt err_return no_unset
  local text
  print -rl -- 'Select a part of your prompt from the terminal window and paste it below.' ''
  read -r '?Prompt: ' text
  local -i len=${(m)#text}
  local frame="+-${(pl.$len..-.):-}-+"
  print -lr -- $frame "| $text |" $frame
}

If the prompt line aligns with the frame

+------------------------------+
| romka@adam ✓ ~/powerlevel10k |
+------------------------------+

If the output of the command is aligned for every part of your prompt (left and right), this indicates a bug in the theme or your config. Use this command to diagnose it:

print -rl -- ${(eq+)PROMPT} ${(eq+)RPROMPT}

Look for %{...%} and backslash escapes in the output. If there are any, they are the likely culprits. Open an issue if you get stuck.

If the prompt line is longer than the frame

+-----------------------------+
| romka@adam ✓ ~/powerlevel10k |
+-----------------------------+

This is usually caused by a terminal bug or misconfiguration that makes it print ambiguous-width characters as double-width instead of single width. For example, this issue.

If the prompt line is shorter than the frame and is mangled

+------------------------------+
| romka@adam ✓~/powerlevel10k |
+------------------------------+

Note that this prompt is different from the original as it's missing a space after the checkmark.

This can be caused by a low-level bug in macOS. See this issue.

If the prompt line is shorter than the frame and is not mangled

+--------------------------------+
| romka@adam ✓ ~/powerlevel10k |
+--------------------------------+

This can be caused by misconfigured locale. See this issue.

Why is my prompt wrapping around in a weird way?

See Why is my cursor in the wrong place?

Why is my right prompt in the wrong place?

See Why is my cursor in the wrong place?

I cannot install the recommended font. Help!

Once you download the recommended font, you can install it just like any other font. Google "how to install fonts on your-OS".

Why do I have a question mark symbol in my prompt? Is my font broken?

If it looks like a regular ?, that's normal. It means you have untracked files in the current Git repository. Type git status to see these files. You can change this symbol or disable the display of untracked files altogether. Search for untracked files in ~/.p10k.zsh.

You can also get a weird-looking question mark in your prompt if your terminal's font is missing some glyphs. To fix this problem, install the recommended font and run p10k configure.

Why does Powerlevel10k spawn extra processes?

Powerlevel10k uses gitstatus as the backend behind vcs prompt; gitstatus spawns gitstatusd and zsh. See gitstatus for details. Powerlevel10k may also spawn zsh to trigger async prompt refresh. To avoid security hazard, these background processes aren't shared by different interactive shells.

Are there configuration options that make Powerlevel10k slow?

No, Powerlevel10k is always fast, with any configuration you throw at it. If you have noticeable prompt latency when using Powerlevel10k, please open an issue.

Is Powerlevel10k fast to load?

Yes, provided that you are using ZSH >= 5.4.

Loading time, or time to first prompt, can be measured with the following benchmark:

time (repeat 1000 zsh -dfis <<< 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme')

NOTE: This measures time to first complete prompt. Powerlevel10k can also display a limited prompt before the full-featured prompt is ready.

Running this command with ~/powerlevel10k as the current directory on the same machine as in the prompt benchmark takes 29 seconds (29 ms per invocation). This is about 6 times faster than powerlevel9k/master and 17 times faster than powerlevel9k/next.

Does Powerlevel10k always render exactly the same prompt as Powerlevel9k given the same config?

This is the goal. You should be able to switch from Powerlevel9k to Powerlevel10k with no visible changes except for performance. There are, however, several differences.

• By default only git vcs backend is enabled in Powerlevel10k. If you need svn and hg, you'll need to add them to POWERLEVEL9K_VCS_BACKENDS.
• Powerlevel10k strives to be bug-compatible with Powerlevel9k but not when it comes to egregious bugs. If you accidentally rely on these bugs, your prompt will differ between Powerlevel9k and Powerlevel10k. Some examples:
  • Powerlevel9k doesn't respect ZLE_RPROMPT_INDENT. As a result, right prompt in Powerlevel10k can have an extra space at the end compared to Powerlevel9k. Set ZLE_RPROMPT_INDENT=0 if you don't want that space.
  • Powerlevel9k ignores some options that are set after the theme is sourced while Powerlevel10k respects all options. If you see different icons in Powerlevel9k and Powerlevel10k, you've probably defined POWERLEVEL9K_MODE before sourcing the theme. This parameter gets ignored by Powerlevel9k but honored by Powerlevel10k. If you want your prompt to look in Powerlevel10k the same as in Powerlevel9k, remove POWERLEVEL9K_MODE.
  • There are dozens more bugs in Powerlevel9k that don't exist in Powerlevel10k.

If you notice any other changes in prompt appearance when switching from Powerlevel9k to Powerlevel10k, please open an issue.

Is there an AUR package for Powerlevel10k?

Yes, zsh-theme-powerlevel10k-git. This package is owned by an unaffiliated volunteer.

I cannot make Powerlevel10k work with my plugin manager. Help!

If the installation instructions didn't work for you, try disabling your current theme (so that you end up with no theme) and then installing Powerlevel10k manually.

1. Disable the current theme in your framework / plugin manager.

• zplug: Open ~/.zshrc and remove the zplug command that refers to your current theme. For example, if you are currently using Powerlevel9k, look for zplug bhilburn/powerlevel9k, use:powerlevel9k.zsh-theme.
• prezto: Open ~/.zpreztorc and put zstyle :prezto:module:prompt theme off in it. Remove any other command that sets theme such as zstyle :prezto:module:prompt theme powerlevel9k.
• oh-my-zsh: Open ~/.zshrc and remove the line that sets ZSH_THEME, such as ZSH_THEME=powerlevel9k/powerlevel9k.
• antigen: Open ~/.zshrc and remove the line that sets antigen theme, such as antigen theme powerlevel9k/powerlevel9k.

2. Install Powerlevel10k manually.

git clone https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
echo 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>! ~/.zshrc

This method of installation won't make anything slower or otherwise sub-par.

What is the minimum supported ZSH version?

ZSH 5.1 or newer should work.

However, there are too many version, OS, platform, terminal and option configurations to test. If Powerlevel10k doesn't work for you, please open an issue.