What's the best theme for Oh My Zsh?

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Considered

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Recs.

Feb 5, 2024

Last
Updated

Powerlevel10k vs Pure vs Dracula

vs Spaceship vs Powerlevel9K vs Bureau vs Bullet Train vs robbyrussell vs agnoster vs af-magic vs Refined vs Conda vs Gruvbox vs MusE vs Convos vs Brain It On! vs jreese vs Kiwix vs BulletTrain vs Ys Origin

Specs

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Free

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Convos let's you video chat with a single person or multiple participants.

Always online

Convos keeps you online and logs all activity in your archive.

Rich formatting

Convos makes the chat come alive with emojis and media displayed inline.

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Cost

Video chat

Always online

Rich formatting

Pros + Cons

Pro
Extensible

If there is no prompt segment that does what you need, implement your own. Powerlevel10k provides public API for defining segments that are as fast and as flexible as built-in ones.

Comment

Pro
Built-in configuration wizard

Type p10k configure to access the builtin WISIWIG configuration wizard right from your terminal.

Comment

Pro
Backward-compatible with Powerlevel9k

Powerlevel10k understands all Powerlevel9k configuration parameters. Migration from Powerlevel9k to Powerlevel10k is a straightforward process. All your POWERLEVEL9K configuration parameters will still work. Prompt will look the same as before but it will be much faster.

Comment

Pro
Extremely customizable

Powerlevel10k can be configured to look like any other Zsh theme out there. The full range of Powerlevel10k appearance spans from spartan to extravagant.

Comment

Pro
No prompt lag

Other Zsh themes capable of displaying the same information either produce prompt lag or print prompt that doesn't reflect the current state of the system and then refresh it later. With Powerlevel10k you get fast prompt and up-to-date information.

Comment

Pro
Batteries included

Powerlevel10k comes with dozens of built-in high quality segments.

Comment

Pro
Removes Zsh startup lag even when it's not caused by a theme

Powerlevel10k has a feature called Instant Prompt. Once enabled, it'll do what it says on the tin -- print prompt instantly upon Zsh startup allowing you to start typing while plugins are still loading.

Comment

Pro
Can display the same prompt as Pure

Type p10k configure and select Pure style. You can still use Powerlevel10k features such as transient prompt or instant prompt when sporting Pure style.

Comment

Pro
Current directory that just works

Powerlevel10k goes to great length to highlight the important parts of the current directory in prompt and to truncate it with the least loss of information when horizontal space gets scarce.

Comment

Pro
Displays information when it's relevant to the command you are typing

Show on command feature can display prompt segments dependent on what you are typing. For example, once you type kubectl, the current kubernetes cluster will show up in prompt.

Comment

Pro
Transient Prompt mode for clean scrollback and minimalist look

When Transient Prompt is enabled through p10k configure, Powerlevel10k will trim down every prompt when accepting a command line. Transient prompt makes it much easier to copy-paste series of commands from the terminal scrollback and saves vertical space.

Comment

Con
Not included in Oh My Zsh by default

You must clone Powerlevel10k repository before you can use it with Oh My Zsh: git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git $ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/powerlevel10k

Comment

Con
Requires Zsh >= 5.1

If you are using an old version of Zsh and unable to upgrade, you cannot use Powerlevel10k.

Comment

Con
The implementation is very complex

The implementation of Powerlevel10k is packed with advanced Zsh techniques. You must be an expert in Zsh scripting if you want to understand it. To an average Zsh user it's impenetrable.

Comment

Con
Inflexible

Configuration options are very limited. If the defaults don't work for you, you have to either patch the code or look for a different theme.

Comment

Pro
Minimalistic

Uses a combination of colors to differentiate between different elements in the prompt. No brackets or unnecessary special characters.

Comment

Pro
Very simple and clean + clear

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Git integration

Shows which git branch you are currently on and whether the branch is dirty (in that case it shows a * next to the branch name).

Comment

Con
Requires a custom color scheme to look decent

It looks awful with all builtin color schemes. I couldn't make it look the way it does on the screenshot.

Comment

Pro
Included in oh-my-zsh

This plugin is included in the base installation.

Comment

Con
Git prompt stops working after some time

See here.

Comment

Con
No number of background processes

You won't see if there are background processes running (or how many).

Comment

Con
Not included in oh-my-zsh

You have to install this script manually, or with the provided installation script.

Comment

Pro
Perfect color pitch

Colors are perfectly pitched, easy to focus on scripts and shells.

Comment

Pro
Well designed

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Available for many popular editors, terminals, etc.

Sublime, Atom, Vim, iTerm, Terminal.app, Zsh, Slack, TextMate, Emacs, Visual Studio Code/Visual Studio, Xcode, IntelliJ, and more.

Comment

Con
Consistency

Some colors are too vibrant and bright.

Comment

Con
Really slow when working with kubernetes or big repositories

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Easy installation

Spaceship isn't included in Oh My Zsh by default, but the repo includes an install script that takes less than a second to get it up and running.

Comment

Pro
Node and nvm integration

When using the spaceship theme and you use nvm so switch to an older version of Node, the prompt will show the version of Node you are currently using.

Comment

Pro
Git integration

If you're inside of a directory that has a Git repository setup, Spaceship shows you information like what branch you're on, if your repository has changes and if there are unpushed commits or upstream commits.

Comment

Pro
Easily customizable

Spaceship has lots of options to let you customize it to your heart's desire with variables set in your .zshrc file.

Comment

Pro
Notifies on non-zero exit codes

The cursor turns red if the command executed exited with a non-zero exit code.

Comment

Pro
Ruby and rvm integration

When using Spaceship, you also get a nice little gem showing the Ruby version currently used in RVM.

Comment

Pro
Available through the AUR

If you are on Arch this ensures an easy install. Just search for spaceship-prompt-git!

Comment

Con
npm install empties your zshrc file without even making a backup

[add description]

Comment

Con
Not included in Oh My Zsh

You have to install this script manually, or with the provided installation script.

Comment

Pro
Looks good

[add description]

Comment

Con
Doesn't support older zsh

Doesn't work on debian jessie with zsh 5.0.7.

Comment

Con
Very slow

Powerlevel10k is a fast reimplementation of this theme.

Comment

Pro
Interfaces seamlessly with oh-my-zsh

While notably more complex than most other oh-my-zsh themes, the developer has taken care to ensure that the two function naturally together, though the implementation can appear unwieldy at first.

Comment

Pro
Excellent documentation

Not only are all the possible variables clearly defined, most have visual examples as well. The gallery of screenshots shared by users is also well-curated and provides no end of inspiration for what you yourself might want.

Comment

Pro
Support for all major families of patched font methods

Not only are the standard Powerline fonts supported, but so too are the Awesome fonts and the Nerd fonts, all offering a different approach to adding more glyphs to your standard mono-spaced terminal typography.

Comment

Con
Project seems dead

GitHub issues don't get attention. No new features added in the last year.

Comment

Pro
Keeps terminal responsiveness high

One sad realization often encountered shortly after testing a new terminal theme or framework is that suddenly a noticeable lag is present when working in it. While it can happen with Powerlevel9k too, if you're deliberate in the elements you place in your prompt, it can also be mostly sidestepped.

Comment

Con
Does not support 24-bit true color

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Plays well with almost every existing zsh framework or add-on

Powerlevel9k lists step-by-step instructions for integrations into a plain zsh shell, as well as how to intergrate it with: oh-my-zsh, NixOS, Prezto, antigen, Zplug, Zgen, Antibody, ZPM, and zim. No matter what you've already found to enhance your zsh terminal, this theme will complement rather than displace them.

Comment

Pro
Sensitive to an extremely broad set of contextual environments

Powerlevel is capable of recognizing all of the following conditions and altering your prompt automatically to alert you or provide more relevant information to suit them: logged in as default user, logged in via SSH, low battery, background jobs running, whether the working directory is read-only or writable, VPN in use, operating with elevated privileges (sudo), vi mode (editing), working in a version-controlled directory tree, logged into AWS profile, dynamic display of Wi-Fi signal strength in the prompt itself, current partition free space, and so many more it's nearly obscene.

Comment

Pro
The default theme for oh my zsh

You don't need to change anything to use this. It's the default theme.

Comment

Pro
Very simple

Shows the folder you are in and if there's a git repository it shows the current branch.

Comment

Con
Does not show your current directory

Plain PROMPT='%~ ' has a big advantage over this theme.

Comment

Pro
Nice color

Nice color codes.

Comment

Con
Slow when working with large Git repositories

[add description]

Comment

Con
Prompt screws up cursor

The right arrow used in the prompt seems to be larger than 1 character, but slightly smaller than two. As such, your cursor will either be very slightly offset, or so offset that it is unworkable.

Comment

Con
Poor contrast

Text is impossible to read under dark blue theme.

Comment

Pro
Graphics

Quick-to-process icons.

Comment

Pro
Included with oh-my-zsh

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Great for skimming through lines of output

The colors and extra line of hyphens makes it very easy at a glance to see where one command ends and another begins.

Comment

Pro
Shows directory and git branch where applicable

[add description]

Comment

Pro
Reliable

No incompatibilities between many different systems, fonts and OSes.

Comment

Con
Sometimes the path gets in the way

Even though it abbreviates paths with ~ when they are in the home directory, deeply nested files or long paths often force the prompt to be squished against the width of the CLI, or in extreme cases wraps around multiple lines.

Comment

Con
Better options for 'full-screen' cli use

Out of the box it misses out on features like battery remaining, time/date, etc. If you're using a terminal emulator with a normal desktop environment, this is typically done by a status bar, but if you don't have this you may be better off with alternatives.