Most zsh prompt configs land in your ~/.zshrc as 20 lines of escape sequences you copied off Stack Overflow and never understood. This zsh prompt generator builds the same thing visually — toggle segments, pick a preset, pick a colour mode, and the zsh prompt generator updates the PROMPT='…' line live. Copy the PROMPT line or the full .zshrc snippet (with vcs_info / PROMPT_SUBST already wired up) and you're done. The whole zsh prompt generator runs in your browser — no LLM, no signup, no credits.
Toggle segments, pick a preset, pick a colour mode. The zsh PROMPT string updates live below. Copy the PROMPT line or the full .zshrc snippet and paste it into ~/.zshrc.
Preset
Segments
Colour mode
Live preview
alex thinkpad ~/code/hotprompt$ ls -la
PROMPT='%F{39}%n%f %F{33}%m%f %F{75}%~%f%F{250}%#%f '~/.zshrc snippet# === hot-prompt-ai zsh prompt ===
setopt PROMPT_SUBST
PROMPT='%F{39}%n%f %F{33}%m%f %F{75}%~%f%F{250}%#%f '
# === end hot-prompt-ai zsh prompt ===Paste at the bottom of ~/.zshrc, then run source ~/.zshrc (or open a new terminal) to apply.
Before vs After
Powerlevel10k is great but it's overkill if you just want a clean PROMPT line. This zsh prompt generator builds a stock zsh PROMPT string with no theme dependency — just paste it into ~/.zshrc and you're done.
“I want a zsh prompt with user, path, Git branch, and an exit indicator.”
# === hot-prompt-ai zsh prompt ===
# Enable Git branch info via the built-in vcs_info module
autoload -Uz vcs_info
precmd() { vcs_info }
zstyle ':vcs_info:git:*' formats '%F{yellow}(%b)%f'
setopt PROMPT_SUBST
PROMPT='%F{39}%n%f %F{75}%~%f ${vcs_info_msg_0_} %(?..%F{red}✗%f) %# '
# === end hot-prompt-ai zsh prompt ===How it works
All client-side. Toggle, pick, copy — no LLM round-trip, no credits, no signup.
Minimal (one-liner mono), Classic (user@host:path$), Powerline-style (two-line, segmented), or Fancy (kitchen sink with time, k8s, Git, exit). Each preset seeds the segment toggles.
User, host, path, Git branch, exit status indicator, time, Python venv, k8s context, Node version, return code, root marker — the zsh prompt generator's full segment set. Toggle any combination.
Monochrome (tty1 safe), 16-color (widest support), 256-color (most modern terminals), or true-color (Kitty, iTerm2, WezTerm). The zsh prompt generator emits the right %F{...} syntax for the mode you pick.
Copy just the PROMPT line, or the full .zshrc snippet (includes vcs_info wiring for Git and PROMPT_SUBST for venv / k8s expansion). Paste at the bottom of ~/.zshrc, run source ~/.zshrc, done.
All client-side, all free, all instant. The zsh prompt generator is the only LLM-free tool on HotPrompt — your browser does all the work.
A live-updating PROMPT='…' string — every toggle updates the output instantly.
A full ~/.zshrc snippet — includes vcs_info wiring for Git, PROMPT_SUBST for parameter expansion, and start/end markers so you can find and remove it later.
A plain-text preview with sample values (alex@thinkpad ~/code/hotprompt (main) $) so you can sanity-check before applying.
Four colour modes — mono / 16-color / 256-color / true-color (24-bit hex). The zsh prompt generator picks the right %F{...} syntax for each.
Four presets to seed the segment toggles — Minimal, Classic, Powerline-style, Fancy.
Zero credits, no signup, no LLM. The zsh prompt generator runs entirely in your browser — your prompt config never leaves the page.
Anyone who lives in zsh and wants their PROMPT under their own control without the Powerlevel10k weight.
Use the zsh prompt generator to recreate your old bash PS1 with zsh's nicer %escape syntax. Paste, source, done.
Need to see the K8s context in the prompt so you don't `kubectl delete` against prod by accident? Toggle the k8s segment in the zsh prompt generator — it ships with KUBE_CONTEXT expansion baked in.
The Python venv segment shows your active virtualenv name as a prefix. The zsh prompt generator emits the right parameter-expansion syntax so it disappears when no venv is active.
Pick the Minimal preset and Monochrome colour mode — the zsh prompt generator outputs a clean two-segment prompt with no escapes and zero distraction.
If p10k is too heavy but you still want Git + exit indicator + time, the zsh prompt generator gives you 90% of that in a single PROMPT line with no plugin dependency.
Toggle the host segment so you always know which box you're on. The zsh prompt generator's hostname segment uses %m, which collapses to the short hostname automatically.
Questions
Yes — completely free, no signup, no credits. The zsh prompt generator is the only HotPrompt tool that runs 100% client-side with no LLM call. Your prompt config is computed in your browser and never sent to our servers.
No. Unlike the LLM-driven tools, the zsh prompt generator requires zero authentication — open the page and start toggling. The output is generated locally.
Yes — the zsh prompt generator emits standard zsh prompt syntax. It works in macOS Terminal, iTerm2, Linux gnome-terminal, Kitty, Alacritty, WezTerm and Windows WSL. Pick the colour mode that matches your terminal's capabilities.
No — the zsh prompt generator emits stock zsh PROMPT syntax with vcs_info, not a p10k theme. If you want p10k, run `p10k configure`. The zsh prompt generator is for people who want a plain PROMPT line they can read and edit.
We left it out for v1 — most people don't use RPROMPT and the few who do tend to want it for one specific thing (time, exit code). A future version of the zsh prompt generator will add RPROMPT toggles; today the PROMPT-only output covers ~95% of use cases.
No — the snippet is wrapped in `# === hot-prompt-ai zsh prompt ===` start/end markers. Paste it at the bottom of your ~/.zshrc, and you can remove the whole block later by deleting between the markers.
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