Zsh Setup with Auto-Suggestions, Syntax-highlighting & Themes

sudo apt update
sudo apt install zsh

chsh -s $(which zsh)

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

Now let’s install the zsh-autosuggestions plugin, which provides command auto-suggestion based on your history.

Clone the plugin repository:

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

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

Enable the plugin in your .zshrc file: Open your ~/.zshrc file using a text editor (e.g., nano, vim, code):
```
nano ~/.zshrc
```
Find the line that starts with plugins=(...). By default, it usually looks something like plugins=(git).

Add zsh-autosuggestions and syntax-highlighting to the list of plugins. It should look like this:
```
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)
```
You can add other plugins later as you discover them.
Find Available Themes (Optional)

Oh My Zsh has a dedicated wiki page listing all its built-in themes with screenshots. This is the best place to browse and see what they look like:

You can also find them locally in your system:

ls ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/*.zsh-theme

This command will list all the theme files, but it won’t show you previews. The wiki page is much more useful for selection.

Some popular themes include:

agnoster (requires a Powerline-compatible font)
pure (not built-in to OMZ, but a popular standalone)
powerlevel10k (not built-in to OMZ, but the most popular and customizable theme, also requires a Powerline-compatible font)
robbyrussell (the default Oh My Zsh theme)
ys
muse
Look for the line that starts with ZSH_THEME=. By default, it’s usually set to robbyrussell:
```
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
```
Change the value inside the double quotes ("") to the name of the theme you want to try. For example, if you want to try the agnoster theme:
```
ZSH_THEME="agnoster"
```
Important Note for agnoster and powerlevel10k: These themes use special characters (like arrows and icons) that require a “Powerline-compatible font” to display correctly. If you switch to them and see strange question marks or broken symbols, you’ll need to install a font like MesloLGS NF (recommended for powerlevel10k) or any other Powerline font (e.g., from Nerd Fonts). After installing the font, you’ll also need to configure your terminal emulator (e.g., iTerm2, Kitty, Alacritty, GNOME Terminal, etc.) to use that font.

For the changes to take effect, you need to reload your ~/.zshrc file.

source ~/.zshrc