10x Zsh Startup Time Improvement: From 5 Seconds to 0.5 Seconds
2025-07-21
The author's Zsh shell startup time was a sluggish 5 seconds. Using the built-in `zprof` profiler, they identified Oh-My-Zsh, compinit, and syntax highlighting as major bottlenecks. By disabling Oh-My-Zsh auto-updates, optimizing the compinit cache, tweaking Spaceship prompt settings, and optimizing plugin order, startup time was reduced to 0.5 seconds—a 10x improvement! The post includes before/after config comparisons and lists alternative optimization options like Starship prompt and the Zinit Zsh framework. Ultimately, the author advocates for optimizing only if necessary, as a faster shell is achieved with minimal effort.
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