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Transient prompt is a Powerlevel10k feature that replaces your full prompt with a minimal one — just the prompt symbol — whenever you accept a command line by pressing ENTER. The rich, multi-segment prompt remains visible while you are typing, but once you run a command it collapses out of the way, keeping your terminal scrollback clean and easy to scan.

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What transient prompt does

When you hit ENTER, Powerlevel10k trims the previous prompt down to its simplest form. Only the prompt character (e.g., ❯) remains in the scrollback; all other segments such as the directory path, Git status, timestamps, and cloud-context indicators are removed. The full prompt reappears for the next command you type, so you never lose any context while working — you only lose the clutter in history. This makes it dramatically easier to copy-paste a series of commands from your terminal scrollback, because there is very little visual noise between the command lines.

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How to enable transient prompt

1

Run the configuration wizard

The easiest way to enable transient prompt is through the interactive setup wizard. Type:
p10k configure
Follow the prompts until you reach the Transient Prompt question and select Yes.
2

Or set the parameter directly in ~/.p10k.zsh

Open ~/.p10k.zsh in your editor, find the POWERLEVEL9K_TRANSIENT_PROMPT parameter (it is set near the bottom of the file), and change its value:
# Trim down prompt when accepting a command line.
# Supported values:
#   - off:      Don't change prompt when accepting a command line.
#   - always:   Trim down prompt when accepting a command line.
#   - same-dir: Trim down prompt when accepting a command line unless this is the first command
#               typed after changing current working directory.
typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_TRANSIENT_PROMPT=always
After saving the file, apply the change with:
exec zsh

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Parameter values

ValueBehaviour
offTransient prompt is disabled. Prompt is never changed after you press ENTER.
alwaysPrompt is trimmed to the prompt symbol every time you accept a command line.
same-dirPrompt is trimmed unless this is the first command typed after changing the current working directory, allowing you to see where you navigated to.

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Combining transient prompt with two-line prompts

If you enable transient prompt, take advantage of a two-line prompt. You get the benefit of extra horizontal space for typing long commands — normally the downside of two-line prompts is that they consume twice as many lines in scrollback — but with transient prompt enabled each accepted command collapses to a single line, eliminating that drawback entirely. All commands also start from the same left offset, making the scrollback easier to read at a glance.

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Combining transient prompt with sparse prompts

A sparse prompt (one with an empty line before the prompt symbol) gives your eyes a clear visual boundary between command outputs and the next prompt while you are working. Transient prompt removes those blank lines from the scrollback, so you get the best of both worlds: a spacious working environment and a compact history.

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Reloading your configuration

Do not use source ~/.zshrc when transient prompt is enabled. Running source ~/.zshrc in a session that has transient prompt active can break the feature and cause other unexpected behaviour. Use one of these alternatives instead:
# Reload Powerlevel10k config only (fastest):
p10k reload

# Restart the entire Zsh process (most reliable):
exec zsh

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Troubleshooting: transient prompt stops working

If transient prompt stops responding after some time in a session, the most likely cause is that source ~/.zshrc was run (perhaps by a tool or plugin that reloads Zsh configuration automatically). Because re-sourcing .zshrc in a running session can leave Zsh in an inconsistent state, the Zsh Line Editor (ZLE) widgets that power transient prompt may become unregistered or overwritten. The fix is the same as the prevention: always use exec zsh to restart Zsh cleanly, or p10k reload to reload only the Powerlevel10k configuration without restarting the shell.

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