# Customizing your ZSH terminal in less than 5minutes

# Hey friends, welcome to this quick tutorial 👋

Today, I'm gonna show you how I personally set up my ZSH terminal on my mac. At the end of this tutorial, you will be able to configure it according to your own needs/preferences.

Let's get started!

## iTerm 2

[iTerm 2](https://iterm2.com/) is a replacement for the default mac terminal app. It is totally free and brings a lot of very convenient features (like split panes, global search, triggers...) as well as multiple customization possibilities (we will see it later).

Start by downloading the app [here](https://iterm2.com/downloads.html) and install it on your mac.

## Configuration

[Oh-my-zsh](https://ohmyz.sh/) is an open-source framework that will help you managing your zsh configuration. It allows you to use built-in helpers, themes, plugins...

Install it using the following curl command:

```console
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
```

By default, oh-my-zsh comes bundled with the `git` plugin. It means you can use all [these aliases](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/master/plugins/git). If you want to try, go to a git repository and run `gst` to get your current git status.

To add another plugin, choose one from [this list](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Plugins). Then, in your .zshrc (located at your `~`), find the line containing `plugins=(git)` and add the name of your newly selected plugin to the `plugins` array. Finally, do not forget to restart your terminal.

For example to add `z` and GitHub cli:
```console
plugins=(
  # other plugins...
  git z gh
)
```

> [`z`](https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/master/plugins/z) is one of my favorite plugins, it allows you to easily navigate to your most visited directories.

### Adding auto-complete (optional)

It is also possible to easily add command autocomplete based on your history. I personally use it so I'm gonna share it with you.

First, go to `~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins` and clone this repository:

```console
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
```

Then go back to your `~/.zshrc` and add `zsh-autosuggestions` to the array like:

```console
plugins=( 
    # other plugins...
    zsh-autosuggestions
)
```

Restart your `iTerm` and you are done! Try navigating around, you should now have nice suggestions 🎉

## Theme

[Powerlevel10k](https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k) allows you to highly customize your terminal theme using a "configuration wizard". This wizard will ask for your preferences and create the corresponding theme configuration.

Go ahead and install it:

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

Then restart `iTerm`. At the opening, you should access the `powerlevel10k` wizard.

At first, it can ask you to install a few fonts, install them to access all customization properties.

![Capture d’écran 2022-01-23 à 15.21.17.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1642947795895/9_sPu9Vj2.png)

Once done, stop `iTerm` by using the shortcut `⌘Q` and restart it. It should, then, ask you about your preferences as shown in the following video:

> If the configuration wizard doesn't start automatically, use the command `p10k configure`

💡 Enable English subtitles if you want to see my choices

%[https://youtu.be/s9ms2K-7aG4]

## iTerm Customization

Open `iTerm` preferences. Here you will be able to customize your terminal colors, opacity, cursor, widgets, and much more.

Let's start by finding the right colors under `Profiles > Colors`. You can either directly choose your own colors or use a preset. To find a preset that suits you go to the [iterm2colorschemes](https://iterm2colorschemes.com/) site.

> To export a preset, open it and export it with `save page as`.  The exported file will have the `.itermcolors.txt` extensions, rename it to keep only `.itermcolors`. Then import this file in `iTerm` to be able to use it in the `color presets` dropdown.

💡 At this time, my favorite color scheme is `Guezwhoz`. Do not hesitate to share yours with me in the comments below! You will maybe find my next favorite one 😄

In the following video, I show you how I changed:
- **colors**: to use an imported scheme
- **cursor**: to use blinking underscore
- **background**: to make it a little bit transparent (I like being able to see what's behind the terminal)
- **widgets**: to add some useful informations

%[https://youtu.be/MfLN-wFiPWo]

💡 Just forgot to show one thing: in `Colors` I set `Minimum Contrast` to `50` to prevent white text on light colors etc.

## Conclusion

Thanks for following this tutorial until the end! I hope your new terminal configuration will help you to improve your productivity as it does for me. As always, if you have any questions/suggestions do not hesitate to join me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/dpnick_) I will be happy to talk with you all.

🙋‍♂️ In this tutorial, I tried including videos to make it shorter and easier to follow. What did you think about it? Did you like it? 

See you next time! 👋

\- Yannick