---
name: "antidote"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "zsh-antidote"
version: "1.9.7-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/antidote"
---

# antidote(1)

the cure to slow zsh plugin management

## NAME

**antidote** - the cure to slow zsh plugin management

## SYNOPSIS

antidote \[-v \| –version\] \[-h \| –help\] \<command\> \[\<args\> ...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**antidote** is a Zsh plugin manager made from the ground up thinking about performance.

It is fast because it can do things concurrently, and generates an ultra-fast static plugin file that you can easily load from your Zsh config.

It is written natively in Zsh, is well tested, and picks up where Antigen and Antibody left off.

## OPTIONS

- \-h, --help

  Show context-sensitive help for antidote.

- \-v, --version

  Show currently installed antidote version.

## COMMANDS

- help

  Show documentation

- load

  Statically source all bundles from the plugins file

- bundle

  Clone bundle(s) and generate the static load script

- install

  Clone a new bundle and add it to your plugins file

- update

  Update antidote and its cloned bundles

- purge

  Remove a cloned bundle

- home

  Print where antidote is cloning bundles

- list

  List cloned bundles

- path

  Print the path of a cloned bundle

- init

  Initialize the shell for dynamic bundles

## EXAMPLES

### A Simple Config

Create a *.zsh\_plugins.txt* file with a list of the plugins you want:

   \# ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zsh\_plugins.txt

   zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

   zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search

   zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

Now, simply load your newly created static plugins file in your *.zshrc*.

   \# ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc

   source /path/to/antidote/antidote.zsh

   antidote load

### A More Advanced Config

Your *.zsh\_plugins.txt* file supports annotations. Annotations tell antidote how to do things like load plugins from alternate paths. This lets you use plugins from popular frameworks like Oh-My-Zsh:

   \# ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zsh\_plugins.txt

   ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib

   ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/git

   ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/magic-enter

   etc...

### Dynamic Bundling

Users familiar with legacy plugin managers like Antigen might prefer to use dynamic bundling. With dynamic bundling you sacrifice some performance to avoid having separate plugin files. To use dynamic bundling, we need to change how **antidote bundle** handles your plugins. We do this by sourcing the output from **antidote init**.

An example config might look like this:

   source /path/to/antidote/antidote.zsh

   source \<(antidote init)

   antidote bundle zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

   antidote bundle ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib

   antidote bundle ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/git

Instead of calling **antidote bundle** over and over, you might prefer to load bundles with a HEREDOC.

   source /path/to/antidote/antidote.zsh

   source \<(antidote init)

   antidote bundle \<\<EOBUNDLES

       zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting # regular plugins

       ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:lib # directories

       ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh path:plugins/magic-enter # frameworks

       https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search # URLs

   EOBUNDLES

### Installation

To install antidote you can clone it with git:

  git clone –depth=1 https://github.com/mattmc3/antidote.git ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.antidote

Then, simply add the following snippet to your .zshrc:

  source ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.antidote/antidote.zsh

  antidote load

## CUSTOMIZATION

The location where antidote clones repositories can bu customized by setting **$ANTIDOTE\_HOME**:

  ANTIDOTE\_HOME=/path/to/my/repos

The bundle directory in ANTIDOTE\_HOME can be changed to use friendly names with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle ':antidote:bundle' use-friendly-names on

The default bundle file is **${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zsh\_plugins.txt**. This can be overridden with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle ':antidote:bundle' file /path/to/my/bundle\_file.txt

The default static file is **${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zsh\_plugins.zsh**. This can be overridden with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle ':antidote:static' file /path/to/my/static\_file.zsh

The default options used by romkatv/zsh-defer can be changed with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle ’:antidote:bundle:\*’ defer-options \`-a'

  zstyle \`:antidote:bundle:foo/bar' defer-options \`-p'

Bundles can be Zsh compiled with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle ’:antidote:bundle:\*’ zcompile \`yes'

Or, if you only want to zcompile specific bundles, you can set those individually:

  zstyle ’:antidote:bundle:\*’ zcompile \`yes'

  zstyle \`:antidote:bundle:zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting' zcompile \`no'

The static file can be Zsh compiled with the following **zstyle**:

  zstyle \`:antidote:static' zcompile \`yes'

Or, to Zsh compile everything, static file and all bundles:

  zstyle ’:antidote:\*’ zcompile \`yes'

By default, antidote appends to the end of your $fpath. This is highly recommended, however if you really want to change that behavior, there’s a zstyle for that:

  zstyle \`:antidote:fpath' rule \`prepend'

By default, antidote uses romkatv/zsh-defer for deferred plugins. If there’s a fork you’d prefer to use, you can specify that with this zstyle:

  zstyle \`:antidote:defer' bundle \`getantidote/zsh-defer'

## SEE ALSO

For more information, visit https://getantidote.github.io/

## BUGS

See GitHub Issues: \<https://github.com/mattmc3/antidote/issues\>

## AUTHORS

- •

  Copyright (c) 2021-2024 Matt McElheny

- •

  antidote contributors: \<https://github.com/mattmc3/antidote/graphs/contributors\>

## LICENSE

MIT