Zdots

Modular dotfiles for Zsh and Fish. One repo, both shells configured, switch anytime.

Features

	Zsh (~35ms)	Fish (~8ms)
Autosuggestions	match_prev_cmd → history → completion via plugin	Built-in
Syntax highlighting	Turbo-loaded plugin	Built-in
Completions	fzf-tab + zsh-completions	Built-in
Plugins needed	4 (managed by Zinit)	0
Config style	Modules assembled into single .zshrc	conf.d/ + functions/

Shared: Starship prompt, zoxide, lazy-loaded NVM, compiled .zshrc bytecode, --dry-run mode, non-interactive/CI support, backup merge flow.

Install

git clone https://github.com/purian23/zdots.git ~/.zdots
cd ~/.zdots
./setup.sh          # configures both shells
./setup.sh --dry-run  # preview only

Both shells are installed if missing. Switch anytime with zsh or fish.

Distro support

Auto-detects: pacman, apt, dnf, zypper, yum, apk, nix-env, xbps-install, emerge, Homebrew.

Tested on Arch, Ubuntu, Fedora 43, Alpine, macOS.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
ZDOTS_SHELLS=zsh|fish|zsh,fish	Only set up these shells, without asking about the others
ZDOTS_YES=1	Answer yes to all prompts
ZDOTS_NO=1	Answer no to all prompts
ZDOTS_NONINTERACTIVE=1	Use defaults, skip chsh
ZDOTS_PM=<name>	Force a package manager
ZDOTS_MERGE=all|yes|no	Control backup merge
ZDOTS_LOGFILE=<path>	Override log path

Machine-local config

setup.sh regenerates ~/.zshrc, so don't edit it by hand. Put per-machine aliases, exports and PATH entries in ~/.zshrc.local, which the generated ~/.zshrc sources last. When setup replaces an existing .zshrc, it can merge that file's aliases, exports, PATH lines and functions into ~/.zshrc.local. Re-running setup with no module changes leaves ~/.zshrc untouched and makes no backup.

For Fish, add your own files to ~/.config/fish/conf.d/. Setup only overwrites the files Zdots ships.

Performance

time zsh -i -c exit    # ~0.035s
time fish -c exit      # ~0.008s

Profile Zsh: add zmodload zsh/zprof to top of .zshrc, run zprof.

VS Code

"terminal.integrated.profiles.linux": {
  "zsh": { "path": "/bin/zsh", "args": ["-l"] },
  "fish": { "path": "/usr/bin/fish", "args": ["-l"] }
},
"terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "zsh"

Recommended packages

Not auto-installed: bat, eza, fzf, p7zip, starship, unrar, unzip, zoxide.

Uninstall

# Zsh — restore backup
mv ~/.zshrc ~/.zshrc.generated.bak
mv ~/.zshrc.bak.YYYYMMDDHHMM ~/.zshrc

# Fish — remove zdots configs
rm ~/.config/fish/conf.d/{00-options,10-path,20-nvm,30-prompt,40-zoxide,99-extras}.fish
rm ~/.config/fish/functions/nvm.fish

# Remove repo
rm -rf ~/.zdots

Contributing

PRs welcome. Priorities: clarity, speed, portability.