I rechecked the installer and both upstream guides this morning, so every command below matches what the project ships today. Zsh4humans turns a stock shell into Zsh with the Powerlevel10k prompt, autosuggestions, and sane defaults through one script.
What you get, and one honest warning
You get syntax highlighting, completions, history-based autosuggestions, an fzf-powered search, and a wizard that shapes the prompt around your taste.
Upstream now flags the project as feature-complete with very limited support. Treat it as a fast personal setup, not a platform you can file tickets against.
If that tradeoff bothers you, compare shells first in our Zsh versus Bash breakdown and the tour of Linux shell types, or try the actively maintained Fish shell setup instead.
Install zsh4humans
You need only curl or wget on your machine. The script fetches everything else itself, so ignore older advice about installing Zsh, git, or fonts first.
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/romkatv/zsh4humans/v5/install)"
Run that line in any terminal you already use, such as one of the terminal emulators for Linux. If curl is missing, swap the inner fetch for wget with output to stdout.
The project page shows both forms. If piping a download straight into sh is new to you, our guide to running sh files explains what that approach does.
The installer backs up your existing startup files, writes fresh ones, starts a new shell, and offers to make Zsh your login shell. It asks before each step and explains what it is about to do.
That first screen lays out the installer plan, so let it proceed and answer each confirmation as it arrives.
Answer the setup wizard
The wizard starts with your keyboard layout so key bindings match your hardware. Pick the layout you type on every day.
Correct layout, correct shortcuts. This choice flows into every binding the wizard creates later.
Next it asks about extra key bindings and optional integrations such as tmux and direnv. Accept the defaults unless you already know you dislike one of them.
Nothing here is permanent. The prompt setup command at the end of this guide replays the whole questionnaire.
The wizard then checks whether you already have shell startup files and offers to back them up. Say yes and keep the backup until you are sure the new setup behaves.
Then comes prompt style. Lean, Classic, Rainbow, and Pure render the same information with different density. The screenshots below show Lean.
After style come character-set and spacing questions. Unicode gives you the full icon set, and ASCII is the fallback for terminals with limited fonts.
Next it asks whether the prompt shows the time. Pick a format you glance at, or turn it off.
Separators follow. They shape every command line you type, so pick the one you find readable.
Head markers distinguish command output in a busy scrollback. Pick the pair you spot fastest.
The last question is line layout: one line or two. Answer it and the wizard writes your config, and your new prompt appears immediately.
If an icon renders as a box or question mark, your terminal font lacks the Nerd Font glyphs. Install the Meslo Nerd Font from the Powerlevel10k repository and select it in your terminal settings, then rerun the prompt setup.
Confirm Zsh is your default shell
A new prompt in one window does not mean every new terminal opens Zsh. Check what your login shell is.
echo $SHELL
The path should end in zsh. If it still points at bash, set it explicitly and then log out and back in so the change takes effect.
chsh -s $(which zsh)
That command edits your user entry rather than any system file, and our guide to changing the default shell covers the fallback methods alongside it.
Edit your config and reload it
Your settings live in the zshrc file inside your home directory. Open that file in any text editor and add aliases, exports, and functions there.
vim ~/.zshrc
Save the file, then reload the shell so the changes apply to your current session. New aliases are a good first addition, and our alias command guide shows the syntax. If you come from Bash, the bashrc and bash profile explainer maps the startup-file concepts across.
exec zsh
Retune the prompt and stay updated
Taste changes. Rerun the prompt setup any time to pick a new style without touching the rest of your config.
p10k configure
Keep the framework itself fresh with the built-in update command. It pulls the latest snapshot of the pinned components.
z4h update
Remove it cleanly if you change your mind
Restore the startup files from the backup the installer made, or delete them if you started from scratch. Then restart your terminal completely, since restarting the shell inside it is not enough.
rm -rf ~/.cache/zsh4humans/v5
That cache directory holds the framework copy. Removing it after restoring your old configs leaves no trace.
On Ubuntu specifically, pair this guide with our Z Shell on Ubuntu walkthrough for the distribution-specific notes.
Is zsh4humans still maintained?
The project describes itself as feature-complete with very limited support. It still installs and works, but reported bugs will mostly go unfixed, so use it as a quick personal setup rather than a supported platform.
Do I need to install Zsh before running the zsh4humans installer?
No. The installer only needs curl or wget. It downloads and configures everything else, including Zsh itself, and asks for confirmation at each step.
How do I change my prompt style after installation?
Run p10k configure in your terminal. The Powerlevel10k wizard replays the style questionnaire and rewrites your prompt config without touching the rest of your setup.
How do I update or uninstall zsh4humans?
Run z4h update to pull the latest component snapshot. To remove it, restore your backed-up startup files or delete the new ones, restart your terminal fully, and delete the framework cache directory.