Customize your Linux prompt with Powerlevel10k

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 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

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.

$ 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.

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 if you're on WSL, and with the modular setup described in Beyond the Monolith - Organizing Your ZSH Workflow Like a Pro,
• 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 covers the on-disk installation (Oh-My-Zsh first, then Powerlevel10k), and the official installation guide has the details for every other setup.