# Customize your Linux prompt with Powerlevel10k > Test and customize the Powerlevel10k Zsh theme for your Linux or WSL prompt in a safe Docker sandbox environment before committing to a full installation. ---  **TL;DR** This article shows how to try the Powerlevel10k Zsh prompt theme risk-free using a disposable Alpine Docker container (a one-liner from the official README): everything — git, zsh, nano, the theme, and its config wizard — runs entirely in RAM and disappears on `exit`, letting you decide whether to install it for real before touching your actual machine. When you're working with Linux (also working with WSL thus), there are many ways to personalize your prompt. One of the simplest solutions is to use [Powerlevel10k](https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k) and its wizard. In this article we're going to use a Docker container just to: *test and discard*. You'll see exactly what the prompt looks like, play with the wizard, and leave your own machine untouched. The tip comes from [https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/blob/master/README.md](https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k/blob/master/README.md#try-it-in-docker) ## What Powerlevel10k looks like Here is my own prompt, once the wizard has run:  Read it from left to right: the current folder, then the git branch (`main`) with `?1` telling me one file is modified and not committed, then — on the right side — a green check for the previous command, the `root@AVONTURE-RACOUR` identity I'm connected as, and the time the command finished. All of that, permanently, without typing `git status` or `whoami`. That's the pitch; the rest of this article is about trying it without touching your machine. ## Try it without installing anything By running the single command below, you'll download a very small Linux Alpine image then start some initializations like installing `git`, `nano`, `zsh`, ... The Powerlevel10k repository will be downloaded from Github and its wizard will be started. ```bash $ docker run -e TERM -e COLORTERM -e LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 -it --rm alpine sh -uec ' apk add git zsh nano vim git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k echo "source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme" >>~/.zshrc cd ~/powerlevel10k exec zsh' ``` Answer the wizard's questions, play with the result, and decide if you want to adopt it or not. > **Everything is done in RAM; nothing on your disk:** > > Running the `docker run` command here above will download a Docker Alpine Linux image on your disk (less than 7 MB) then will install binaries inside the running container so, by leaving the container using the `exit` command, nothing will stay on your disk. Ideal for testing. ## Why I kept it * When an instruction is finished, the new prompt displays the time taken by the instruction, useful when you're trying to optimize a command, * On the right, you can see immediately if the instruction has failed, with a red display and the error code (`exitcode`), * It integrates nicely with [Windows Terminal](/blog/windows-terminal) if you're on WSL, and with the modular setup described in [Beyond the Monolith - Organizing Your ZSH Workflow Like a Pro](/blog/modular-zsh-workflow), * And, of course, the visual aspect, which is pretty cool. And also, because I work in Docker containers on a daily basis, using Powerlevel10k locally gives me a strong visual indication to remind me at all times whether I'm local or in a container. ## Conclusion The nice thing about this sandbox is that the decision costs you nothing: you type one command, you look at the prompt for two minutes, and you type `exit`. Whatever you answered to the wizard disappears with the container. If you liked what you saw, do it for real: [How to install Oh-My-ZSH](/blog/zsh-install) covers the on-disk installation (Oh-My-Zsh first, then Powerlevel10k), and the official [installation guide](https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k#installation) has the details for every other setup.