p10k Command Reference: All Subcommands and Options

The p10k command is the single user-facing CLI installed by Powerlevel10k. It exposes every runtime capability of the theme — from launching the configuration wizard to controlling which prompt segments are visible — through a set of well-defined subcommands. All Powerlevel10k configuration is read from ~/.p10k.zsh, and p10k is your primary tool for generating, reloading, and dynamically adjusting that configuration without restarting your shell.

Subcommands

p10k configure

Launches the interactive configuration wizard, which walks you through a series of visual questions and writes a fully-commented ~/.p10k.zsh based on your answers. If the wizard has already run before, the file is overwritten.

p10k configure

The wizard runs automatically on the first Zsh startup if no POWERLEVEL9K_* parameters are defined. Set POWERLEVEL9K_DISABLE_CONFIGURATION_WIZARD=true in ~/.zshrc to suppress this auto-launch.

The output path for the generated config can be overridden with the POWERLEVEL9K_CONFIG_FILE environment variable:

POWERLEVEL9K_CONFIG_FILE=~/.config/zsh/p10k.zsh p10k configure

p10k reload

Re-applies the prompt configuration. You must call this after modifying any POWERLEVEL9K_* parameter in an already-running interactive shell (as opposed to editing ~/.p10k.zsh before a new session).

p10k reload

Set POWERLEVEL9K_DISABLE_HOT_RELOAD=false in ~/.p10k.zsh to enable automatic reload whenever a POWERLEVEL9K_* parameter changes. This eliminates the need to call p10k reload manually, at the cost of a marginally slower prompt.

p10k segment

Renders a single user-defined prompt segment. This command is designed to be called inside a custom prompt_<name> function during prompt rendering — it cannot be used from the command line directly.

p10k segment [-h] [{+|-}re] [-s STATE] [-b BG] [-f FG] [-i ICON] [-c COND] [-t TEXT]

To enable a custom segment named core, add core to POWERLEVEL9K_LEFT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS or POWERLEVEL9K_RIGHT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS in ~/.p10k.zsh.

Options

Flag	Description
`-s STATE`	Segment state suffix (uppercase). Different states can have different colors and icons via `POWERLEVEL9K_<NAME>_<STATE>_FOREGROUND` etc. İ is normalized to I.
`-b BG`	Background color. Accepts a color name (`blue`), 0–255 index, or `#RRGGBB`. An empty value means transparent. Default is black (`0`).
`-f FG`	Foreground color. Same format as `-b`. Empty means the terminal default.
`-i ICON`	Icon or glyph displayed before the text content.
`-r`	Treat the icon as a symbolic reference (e.g., `LOCK_ICON`) to be resolved by Powerlevel10k.
`+r`	Icon is already resolved and should be printed literally (default).
`-e`	The text content (`-t`) undergoes parameter expansion and process substitution. Advanced feature — use with caution.
`+e`	Do not expand text content (default).
`-c COND`	Condition: if this expression expands to an empty string or `false`, the segment is hidden. Defaults to `1` (always shown).
`-t TEXT`	Main text content of the segment. Undergoes prompt expansion (e.g., `%F{blue}%*%f`). Default is empty.
`-h`	Print usage help and exit.

p10k segment can only be called during prompt rendering (inside a prompt_<name> function). Calling it outside this context prints an error and returns non-zero.

p10k display

Shows, hides, or toggles individual prompt parts at runtime without editing ~/.p10k.zsh. Changes take effect immediately in ZLE (the line editor), making this ideal for key bindings.

# Set or toggle state
p10k display part-pattern=state-list...

# Dump current state
p10k display -a [part-pattern]...

# Redisplay prompt
p10k display -r

Options

Flag	Description
`-r`	Redisplay (reset) the prompt.
`-a`	Dump the current display state into the `reply` associative array.
`-h`	Print help and exit.
`NAME=show`	Show the named part.
`NAME=hide`	Hide the named part.
`NAME=show,hide`	Cycle through the listed states on each invocation.

Part names

Pattern	Matches
`empty_line`	The empty separator line between prompts
`ruler`	The ruler line (if configured)
`N`	Entire prompt line N (1-based; negative counts from bottom)
`N/left`	Left prompt on line N
`N/right`	Right prompt on line N
`N/gap`	Gap between left and right prompts on line N
`N/left_frame`	Left frame on line N
`N/right_frame`	Right frame on line N
`N/left/S`	Segment S within the left prompt on line N
`N/right/S`	Segment S within the right prompt on line N

Glob patterns are accepted for part names. For example, */kubecontext matches every kubecontext segment regardless of which prompt line it is on.

p10k help

Prints usage documentation for p10k or for a specific subcommand.

p10k help            # overall usage
p10k help segment    # segment subcommand reference
p10k help display    # display subcommand reference
p10k help configure  # configure subcommand reference
p10k help reload     # reload subcommand reference

p10k finalize

Marks the end of the instant-prompt initialization phase. This is called internally — Powerlevel10k’s instant-prompt snippet adds it to ~/.zshrc automatically. You do not need to call it manually.

# Added automatically by p10k configure at the bottom of ~/.zshrc
p10k finalize

Calling p10k finalize outside of the instant prompt context (i.e., when instant prompt is not active) is a no-op. Calling it with the wrong argument prints an error.

p10k clear-instant-prompt

Clears any content that was printed by the instant prompt. Useful if you need to programmatically remove the placeholder prompt that appears before Zsh has fully initialized.

p10k clear-instant-prompt

This command is safe to call even when instant prompt is not active — it simply returns 0.

Key Configuration Variables

The following POWERLEVEL9K_* parameters govern the overall behaviour of the theme. Set them in ~/.p10k.zsh (generated by p10k configure) or in ~/.zshrc before sourcing the theme.

POWERLEVEL9K_LEFT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS

array

Ordered list of segment names to display on the left side of the prompt. Example:

typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_LEFT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS=(
  os_icon dir vcs prompt_char
)

POWERLEVEL9K_RIGHT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS

array

Ordered list of segment names to display on the right side of the prompt. Example:

typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_RIGHT_PROMPT_ELEMENTS=(
  status command_execution_time context time
)

POWERLEVEL9K_INSTANT_PROMPT

string

default:"verbose"

Controls the instant prompt feature.

verbose — enables instant prompt and prints a warning when console output is detected during initialization.
quiet — enables instant prompt without the warning.
off — disables instant prompt entirely.

POWERLEVEL9K_TRANSIENT_PROMPT

string

default:"off"

Controls the transient prompt feature, which replaces previous prompts with a condensed version to reduce scrollback clutter.

always — always use transient prompt.
same-dir — use transient prompt only when staying in the same directory.
off — disabled.

POWERLEVEL9K_MODE

string

default:"nerdfont-complete"

Determines which icon set is used.

nerdfont-complete — all Nerd Fonts glyphs.
nerdfont-v3 — Nerd Fonts v3 glyphs.
powerline — Powerline symbols only.
ascii — ASCII-only; works with every font.

POWERLEVEL9K_CONFIG_FILE

string

default:"${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.p10k.zsh"

Path to the configuration file written by p10k configure. Defaults to ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.p10k.zsh. Override this variable before sourcing the theme to use a different location.

POWERLEVEL9K_DISABLE_CONFIGURATION_WIZARD

boolean

default:"false"

Set to true to prevent the configuration wizard from launching automatically when no POWERLEVEL9K_* parameters are defined.

POWERLEVEL9K_DISABLE_HOT_RELOAD

boolean

default:"true"

Set to false to enable automatic prompt refresh whenever a POWERLEVEL9K_* parameter is changed, without needing to call p10k reload. Adds a small overhead to every prompt.

POWERLEVEL9K_<SEGMENT>_SHOW_ON_COMMAND

string

An ERE regex. When set, the named segment is shown only while the command currently being typed matches this regex. Example:

typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_KUBECONTEXT_SHOW_ON_COMMAND='kubectl|helm|kubens'

POWERLEVEL9K_<SEGMENT>_FOREGROUND / _BACKGROUND

string | integer

Per-segment color overrides. Colors can be specified as a 0–255 index or as a #RRGGBB hex string (requires truecolor terminal).

typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_TIME_FOREGROUND=160
typeset -g POWERLEVEL9K_DIR_BACKGROUND='#005fd7'

Get Started

Configuration

Prompt Features

Compatibility

Reference

p10k Command Reference: All Subcommands and Options

Subcommands

p10k configure

p10k reload

p10k segment

Options

p10k display

Options

Part names

p10k help

p10k finalize

p10k clear-instant-prompt

Key Configuration Variables

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Configuration

Prompt Features

Compatibility

Reference

Documentation Index

​Subcommands

​p10k configure

​p10k reload

​p10k segment

​Options

​p10k display

​Options

​Part names

​p10k help

​p10k finalize

​p10k clear-instant-prompt

​Key Configuration Variables

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Subcommands

p10k configure

p10k reload

p10k segment

Options

p10k display

Options

Part names

p10k help

p10k finalize

p10k clear-instant-prompt

Key Configuration Variables