benchmark-zsh-startup

To benchmark zsh startup latency, you can profile the shell startup path to attribute time spent in specific functions, plugins, and hooks. This process separates first-run work from warm runs to provide actionable optimization recommendations.

Profiling a slow zsh prompt involves using benchmarking tools to baseline interactive startup latency and attribute it to specific steps. You can compare zprof and xtrace outputs to decide which zsh plugin, hook, or startup file to optimize first.

You attribute zsh startup time by applying tracing tools to measure latency across the shell startup path. This separates first-run work from warm runs and tracks which zsh features, widgets, completions, or plugin-provided commands are actually being used.

Yes, zsh-bench can be applied to track which zsh features, widgets, completions, or plugin-provided commands are actively being used during startup. This helps identify unused components that contribute to unnecessary prompt latency.

Zsh startup time varies because first-run work often involves heavy initialization like completions and caching, while warm runs reuse cached data. Profiling separates these distributions to provide actionable optimization recommendations for shell startup.

While zprof attributes function-level latency, it may lack the granular step-by-step startup path visibility provided by xtrace. Using a structured workflow with both tools ensures safe testing and accurate baseline comparisons for optimizing zsh plugins.