> Once in a while, it also checks for updates, which can take up to a few seconds when you open a new tab.
This can be disabled fairly trivially. I then alias the update command to a homebrew update alias.
Oh My Zsh adds bloat
11–20 of 304 posts
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#12I use oh my zsh for exactly one reason: I can get a good shell experience out of the box and immediately start working on stuff productively, whether it's a new machine, a new remote host or a container. I could spend hours figuring out all those things, bit I'd rather use that time for something more important.
> I could spend hours figuring out all those things,
This post is explaining how to set up those things. Less than five minutes to read.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#13Like others I don't use too many of the features but Oh-My-Zsh is so easy to install.
Even better recently I discovered that FreeBSD has a package for it!
`pkg install ohmyzsh` and 5 seconds later it's ready. Plus I figure it's a bit more secure and insulated to any ohmyzsh breaches.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#14I switched to zim years ago and found it has all the features that I need but is much faster and I think easier to install (though I haven’t installed either for some time).
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#15I have not a small number of plugins on fish and I've never noticed a problem with startup time. I do wish there was a better way of managing or installing plugins. It just feels so fragile.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#16zsh is still crazy to me. I use bash for everything. I have no idea what I’m missing out on.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#17Or simply use fish
+1
Nowadays I just use fish with the out of box installation and it fits all my needs.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#18You probably don't need zsh. POSIX shells are holding us back.
Show me an environment where I can interact with my system programmatically, where I can compose together arbitrary tools, and which will never, ever, ever break on me, and I'll switch! My experience with graphical environments has been that they rarely compose, often break, and constantly make arbitrary changes that break my workflow. So every time I try something else I end up coming back to the terminal. But I agr…
Nushell. Still a terminal experience. But not a POSIX one. https://www.nushell.sh/
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#19Prezto is faster than OMZ, and has been for over a decade. Starship is faster still. I switched from using Prezto standalone to using Prezto + Starship and relying primarily on Starship several years ago. I'd be surprised if many people are still using Oh My ZSH in 2026 vs using Prezto, anyway.
Re: Oh My Zsh adds bloat
#20I use oh my zsh for exactly one reason: I can get a good shell experience out of the box and immediately start working on stuff productively, whether it's a new machine, a new remote host or a container. I could spend hours figuring out all those things, bit I'd rather use that time for something more important.
> I could spend hours figuring out all those things, This post is explaining how to set up those things. Less than five minutes to read.
> Less than five minutes to read.
OMZ is still easier to set up consistently. That’s why we use it.
If the concern is the bloat of OMZ then make FMZ - fast my zsh - that is just as quick to set up and doesn’t add “bloat”?