Creating Your Own Oh My Zsh Theme

Oh My Zsh is a popular framework for managing your own terminal to do cool stuff with using Zsh configurations. One of its most powerful features is the ability to create custom themes to personalize your terminal experience. This guide will walk you through the steps to create your own Oh My Zsh theme. Let's start with the clone the ohmyzsh github repository.

Clone the Oh My Zsh Repository

To get started, you need to have Oh My Zsh installed. If you haven’t already done so, follow the official installation guide.

Once installed, clone the repository to have access to the necessary files and directories:

# Clone the Oh My Zsh repository (optional if it's not already installed)
git clone https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh.git ~/.oh-my-zsh

Navigate to the custom themes directory where your theme files will reside:

cd ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes

Choose a Base Theme

Before creating your custom theme, it’s helpful to start with an existing theme as a reference. You can view the available themes in the themes directory of the Oh My Zsh repository:

ls ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes

Pick a theme that closely resembles the style or functionality you want. For example, if you like the agnoster theme, copy it to the custom themes folder:

cp ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/agnoster.zsh-theme ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/mytheme.zsh-theme

Now, open your copied theme file in a text editor to begin customizing:

nano ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/mytheme.zsh-theme

Customize and Add Functions to Your Theme

Basic Customization

You can modify the prompts (PROMPT and RPROMPT) in your theme file. For example:

PROMPT='%n@%m %1~ %# '
RPROMPT='%F{yellow}%*%f'

%n: Username
%m: Hostname
%1~: Current directory (truncated)
%#: Prompt character (# for root, $ for user)
%*: Current time

Refer to the Zsh prompt expansion documentation for more options.

Adding a New Function

You can add custom functions to your theme to display specific information in your prompt. For example, to display the current branch of a Git repository:

Define a function in the theme file:

function git_branch() {
    git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null
}

Use the function in the PROMPT variable:

PROMPT='%n@%m %1~ $(git_branch) %# '

Save the file and apply the theme.

Apply Your Custom Theme

To use your custom theme, update the ZSH_THEME variable in your ~/.zshrc file:

ZSH_THEME="mytheme"

Apply the changes by restarting your terminal or running:

source ~/.zshrc

Tips for Customization

Experiment with different colors using %F{color} and %f for text formatting.
Use plugins like git to enhance your prompt with additional context.
Test changes incrementally to avoid breaking your theme.

Naviend Theme

# vim:ft=zsh ts=2 sw=2 sts=2
function node_prompt_version {
  if [ -f .nvmrc ]; then
    if which node &> /dev/null; then
        echo "%{$fg_bold[green]%} ⬢ node %{$fg[green]%}$(node -v)%{$fg[green]%} %{$reset_color%}"
    fi
  fi
}
 
# Must use Powerline font, for \uE0A0 to render.
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX=" on %{$fg[magenta]%}\uE0A0 "
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX="%{$reset_color%}"
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_DIRTY="%{$fg[red]%}!"
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_UNTRACKED="%{$fg[green]%}?"
ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_CLEAN=""
 
ZSH_THEME_RUBY_PROMPT_PREFIX="%{$fg_bold[red]%}‹"
ZSH_THEME_RUBY_PROMPT_SUFFIX="›%{$reset_color%}"
 
# Function to check if the current month is in the Halloween period (Sep, Oct, Nov)
function is_halloween_season {
  local current_month=$(date +%m)
  [[ "$current_month" -ge 9 && "$current_month" -le 11 ]] # September, October, November
}
 
# Function to check if the current month is in the Christmas period (Dec, Jan, Feb)
function is_christmas_season {
  local current_month=$(date +%m)
  [[ "$current_month" -eq 12 || "$current_month" -eq 1 || "$current_month" -eq 2 ]] # December, January, February
}
 
# Function to check if the current month is in the Spring period (Mar, Apr, May)
function is_spring_season {
  local current_month=$(date +%m)
  [[ "$current_month" -ge 3 && "$current_month" -le 5 ]] # March, April, May
}
 
# Function to check if the current month is in the Summer period (Jun, Jul, Aug)
function is_summer_season {
  local current_month=$(date +%m)
  [[ "$current_month" -ge 6 && "$current_month" -le 8 ]] # June, July, August
}
 
HALLOWEEN_PROMPT='
💀🎃 %{%F{214}%}$(date +"%d.%m.%y - %H:%M")%{%f%} 🔮🦇 $(git_prompt_info)$(virtualenv_prompt_info)$(node_prompt_version) 
'
 
CHRISTMAS_PROMPT='
⛄🎄 %{$fg_bold[white]%}$(date +"%d.%m.%y - %H:%M") 🦌🦌🦌 $(git_prompt_info)$(virtualenv_prompt_info)$(node_prompt_version) 
'
 
SPRING_PROMPT='
🔥🏀 %{%F{202}%}$(date +"%d.%m.%y - %H:%M")%{%f%} 🌻🌱 $(git_prompt_info)$(virtualenv_prompt_info)$(node_prompt_version) 
'
 
SUMMER_PROMPT='
🌞🏖️ %{%F{226}%}$(date +"%d.%m.%y - %H:%M")%{%f%} 🏄‍♂️🍹 $(git_prompt_info)$(virtualenv_prompt_info)$(node_prompt_version) 
'
 
function set_prompt_based_on_season {
  if is_halloween_season; then
    PROMPT=$HALLOWEEN_PROMPT 
  elif is_christmas_season; then
    PROMPT=$SUMMER_PROMPT
  elif is_spring_season; then
    PROMPT=$CHRISTMAS_PROMPT
  elif is_summer_season; then
    PROMPT=$SPRING_PROMPT
  else
    # Default prompt for other months (you can set it to any other default, or leave empty)
    PROMPT='%{%F{7}%}$(date +"%d.%m.%y - %H:%M") %{%f%}$(git_prompt_info)$(virtualenv_prompt_info)$(node_prompt_version)'
  fi
}
 
set_prompt_based_on_season
 
RPROMPT='$(ruby_prompt_info)'

My Configurations

export ZSH="$HOME/.oh-my-zsh"
 
ZSH_THEME="naviend"
 
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting)
 
source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
 
# list all elements function
function cd() {
    builtin cd "$1" && ls
}
 
# idunno
function idunno(){
  print "¯¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯"
}
 
# updating zsh pull from master
function update() {
  if [ -d ".oh-my-zsh" ]; then
    cd .oh-my-zsh || { echo "Failed to change directory to .oh-my-zsh"; return 1; }
    
    echo "Fetching updates for Oh My Zsh..."
    git fetch origin master && git pull origin master
    
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
      echo "Oh My Zsh updated successfully!"
    else
      echo "Failed to update Oh My Zsh. Please check your Git configuration."
      return 1
    fi
    
    cd - > /dev/null || return 1
  else
    echo ".oh-my-zsh directory not found in the current path."
    return 1
  fi
}