Document oh-my-zsh workaround for completion support

Describe the bug

After following the instructions for enabling shell completion I still can’t get the completion functionality to work. I’ve tried both the eval and Homebrew options. I’m on Mac OS 10.15.4 using zsh with Oh My Zsh and gh version 0.6.2.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Add the Homebrew completion snippet to .zshrc. and open a new terminal.
Type gh
Press Tab
Run eval "$(gh completion -s zsh)”
Repeat steps 2-3

Expected vs actual behavior

I expect to see completion options for gh commands but instead I get my shell’s standard file path completion.

Hi, you seem to be on the right track, and I don't know why completions are not working for you.

First of all, ensure that you have installed gh via Homebrew and that /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_gh file is present (assuming that your Homebrew prefix is /usr/local)
You do not need eval "$(gh completion -s zsh)” in your zshrc nor the current running shell. Those instructions are only applicable for bash
Make sure to restart your shell after configuration changes

Let us know how it went!

So my Homebrew prefix is /usr/local/homebrew and I do have the file /usr/local/homebrew/share/zsh/site-functions/_gh. I don’t have eval "$(gh completion -s zsh)” in my .zshrc but even after restarting my terminal I still don’t get the completions.

When do you echo $fpath, does the /usr/local/homebrew/share/zsh/site-functions directory appear in there?

If not, then double-check that you have this line in your zshrc

FPATH=$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions:$FPATH

If yes, then double-check that FPATH is changed before oh-my-zsh gets loaded.

Yes I see the site-functions path in $fpath. For reference here’s my .zshrc file:

export PATH=/usr/local/homebrew/bin:~/.local/bin:$PATH:/opt/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:~/Scripts:$GOPATH/bin

# Path to your oh-my-zsh installation.
export ZSH="/Users/nathanielpalmer/.oh-my-zsh"

# Set name of the theme to load --- if set to "random", it will
# load a random theme each time oh-my-zsh is loaded, in which case,
# to know which specific one was loaded, run: echo $RANDOM_THEME
# See https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Themes
# ZSH_THEME="agnoster"
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"

# Set list of themes to pick from when loading at random
# Setting this variable when ZSH_THEME=random will cause zsh to load
# a theme from this variable instead of looking in ~/.oh-my-zsh/themes/
# If set to an empty array, this variable will have no effect.
# ZSH_THEME_RANDOM_CANDIDATES=( "robbyrussell" "agnoster" )

# Uncomment the following line to use case-sensitive completion.
# CASE_SENSITIVE="true"

# Uncomment the following line to use hyphen-insensitive completion.
# Case-sensitive completion must be off. _ and - will be interchangeable.
# HYPHEN_INSENSITIVE="true"

# Uncomment the following line to disable bi-weekly auto-update checks.
# DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE="true"

# Uncomment the following line to automatically update without prompting.
# DISABLE_UPDATE_PROMPT="true"

# Uncomment the following line to change how often to auto-update (in days).
# export UPDATE_ZSH_DAYS=13

# Uncomment the following line if pasting URLs and other text is messed up.
# DISABLE_MAGIC_FUNCTIONS=true

# Uncomment the following line to disable colors in ls.
# DISABLE_LS_COLORS="true"

# Uncomment the following line to disable auto-setting terminal title.
# DISABLE_AUTO_TITLE="true"

# Uncomment the following line to enable command auto-correction.
# ENABLE_CORRECTION="true"

# Uncomment the following line to display red dots whilst waiting for completion.
# COMPLETION_WAITING_DOTS="true"

# Uncomment the following line if you want to disable marking untracked files
# under VCS as dirty. This makes repository status check for large repositories
# much, much faster.
# DISABLE_UNTRACKED_FILES_DIRTY="true"

# Uncomment the following line if you want to change the command execution time
# stamp shown in the history command output.
# You can set one of the optional three formats:
# "mm/dd/yyyy"|"dd.mm.yyyy"|"yyyy-mm-dd"
# or set a custom format using the strftime function format specifications,
# see 'man strftime' for details.
# HIST_STAMPS="mm/dd/yyyy"

# Would you like to use another custom folder than $ZSH/custom?
# ZSH_CUSTOM=/path/to/new-custom-folder

# Which plugins would you like to load?
# Standard plugins can be found in ~/.oh-my-zsh/plugins/*
# Custom plugins may be added to ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/
# Example format: plugins=(rails git textmate ruby lighthouse)
# Add wisely, as too many plugins slow down shell startup.
plugins=(
  vi-mode
  history-substring-search
  git
  zsh-nvm
  npm
  timer
  vscode
)

# Homebrew completions
if type brew &>/dev/null; then
  FPATH=$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions:$FPATH

  autoload -Uz compinit
  compinit
fi

source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh

# User configuration

# export MANPATH="/usr/local/man:$MANPATH"

# You may need to manually set your language environment
# export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

# Preferred editor for local and remote sessions
if [[ -n $SSH_CONNECTION ]]; then
  export EDITOR='vim'
else
  export EDITOR='code'
fi

# Compilation flags
# export ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64"

# Set personal aliases, overriding those provided by oh-my-zsh libs,
# plugins, and themes. Aliases can be placed here, though oh-my-zsh
# users are encouraged to define aliases within the ZSH_CUSTOM folder.
# For a full list of active aliases, run `alias`.
alias zshconfig="$EDITOR ~/.zshrc"
alias ohmyzsh="$EDITOR ~/.oh-my-zsh"
alias reload='source ~/.zshrc'

# Key Bindings
# bind UP and DOWN arrow keys
zmodload zsh/terminfo
bindkey "$terminfo[kcuu1]" history-substring-search-up
bindkey "$terminfo[kcud1]" history-substring-search-down

# bind k and j for VI mode
bindkey -M vicmd 'k' history-substring-search-up
bindkey -M vicmd 'j' history-substring-search-down

prompt_context(){}

@diminutivesloop

@diminutivesloop Thank you for sharing. I see nothing wrong with your setup. The only thing I can suggest is temporarily replacing your zshrc with a minimal one that just modifies FPATH and turns on completions, nothing else, then see if that helps gh completions. If it does, then it is the extra stuff in your zshrc that sabotages it. If it never works in any scenario, then I'm at a loss— you could check other paths in FPATH for whether they contain an unrelated _gh file or try upgrading zsh 😕

Ok so the culprit appears to be this block of code in oh-my-zsh.sh:

if [[ $ZSH_DISABLE_COMPFIX != true ]]; then
  source $ZSH/lib/compfix.zsh
  # If completion insecurities exist, warn the user
  handle_completion_insecurities
  # Load only from secure directories
  compinit -i -C -d "${ZSH_COMPDUMP}"
else
  # If the user wants it, load from all found directories
  compinit -u -C -d "${ZSH_COMPDUMP}"
fi

It doesn’t matter whether ZSH_DISABLE_COMPFIX is set to true or false.

So I can fix the problem either by commenting out the above block of code or by adding rm -f ~/.zcompdump; compinit to .zshrc after source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh to forcibly rebuild zcompdump as described in the Homebrew shell completion docs.

I have a similar setup. My workaround in .zshrc:

if type brew &>/dev/null; then
  FPATH=$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions:$FPATH
  # Despite homebrew docs, running compinit after loading oh-my-zsh
  # seems to work, without the need to rebuild zcompdump
  #autoload -Uz compinit
  #compinit
fi

source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh

if type brew &>/dev/null; then
  autoload -Uz compinit
  # Use `-u` to silence `zsh compinit: insecure directories`
  # See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19601821/4378637
  compinit -u
fi

Thank you both for your input! When you do land on a working solution that feels alright, please report so here so we can update our documentation for setting up zsh 👌

@SuaYoo

My solution is to add the following to .zshrc after source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh:

if type brew &>/dev/null; then
  FPATH=$(brew --prefix)/share/zsh/site-functions:$FPATH

  autoload -Uz compinit
    rm -f ~/.zcompdump; compinit
fi

Unlike the solution provided by @SuaYoo I don’t pass the -u to compinit and I update FPATH after source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh. I tried removing the line to rebuild zcompdump but whenever I did that it broke other completions such as those provided by the npm plugin.

It sounds like this is worth documenting in the manual area for gh completion.

@mislav

@mislav yes that does indeed work without the compdef hack!

@JonMontgo

Thanks @JonMontgo that is working for me (I am also on ubuntu 18.04 if that helps anyone)

ohmyzsh has a default place for completions, that is $ZSH/completions, it'll probably be /home/$USER/.oh-my-zsh/completions:
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/master/oh-my-zsh.sh#L18

So you just need to do:

gh completion -s zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh

and restart zsh.

ohmyzsh has a default place for completions, that is $ZSH/completions, it'll probably be /home/$USER/.oh-my-zsh/completions:
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/master/oh-my-zsh.sh#L18

So you just need to do:
gh completion -s zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh
and restart zsh.

This Works for ubuntu. Noice.

ohmyzsh has a default place for completions, that is $ZSH/completions, it'll probably be /home/$USER/.oh-my-zsh/completions:
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/blob/master/oh-my-zsh.sh#L18
So you just need to do:
gh completion -s zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh
and restart zsh.
This Works for ubuntu. Noice.

Thanks a lot for that. My version in ~/.zshrc is:

if [[ ! -d "$ZSH/completions" || ! -f "$ZSH/completions/_gh" ]]; then
    mkdir -pv $ZSH/completions
    gh completion --shell zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh
    echo "gh added completions: gh completion --shell zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh"
fi

help wanted

I followed the techniques shown above ...

Auto-completion worked. But when I press backspace and erase the command, the help message options are not going.

Please take a close look at this gif

help wanted

I followed the techniques shown above ...

Auto-completion worked. But when I press backspace and erase the command, the help message options are not going.

Please take a close look at this gif

I believe that this issue is zsh completion related because this is the case for many commands
For eg. When you type git remote and hit tab once, and press backspace, it still shows the options for git remote command

ohmyzsh has a default place for completions, that is $ZSH/completions, it'll probably be /home/$USER/.oh-my-zsh/completions:
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh@master/oh-my-zsh.sh#L18

So you just need to do:
gh completion -s zsh > $ZSH/completions/_gh
and restart zsh.

This works well.
Additionally I just had had to add a rm ~/.zcompdump* after adding the completions and before restarting zsh as referenced here: python-poetry/poetry#1734 (comment)

I've tried everything on this list to get this working to no avail. Currently on Fedora 34, zsh 5.8 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu), gh version 1.12.1 (2021-07-01) and the latest oh-my-zsh from their git repos. I've also tested fish and it doesn't work either. Only one that works is bash. I've also completely removed oh-my-zsh and attempted straight zsh as well to no avail. Starting to look like a bug possibly. Any ideas? Should I open a bug report?

@dasunsrule32

@dasunsrule32 I'm sorry you're having trouble! If zsh completions don't work for you after you follow zsh instructions in gh help completion, especially if you've also disabled oh-my-zsh, please open a new issue with as much information as you can share. 🙇

@mislav

@mislav Sounds good. I'll open a new bug report.

@dasunsrule32

@dasunsrule32 I'm sorry you're having trouble! If zsh completions don't work for you after you follow zsh instructions in gh help completion, especially if you've also disabled oh-my-zsh, please open a new issue with as much information as you can share.

Since version 1.13.1, it's working now with and without oh-my-zsh. Not sure if anything was changed under the hood or not. There have been Fedora updates since then as well. Who knows... 🤷🏻

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Document oh-my-zsh workaround for completion support #716

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Document oh-my-zsh workaround for completion support #716

Description

Describe the bug

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Expected vs actual behavior

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mislav commented on Mar 31, 2020

diminutivesloop commented on Mar 31, 2020

mislav commented on Apr 1, 2020

diminutivesloop commented on Apr 1, 2020

mislav commented on Apr 2, 2020

diminutivesloop commented on Apr 2, 2020

SuaYoo commented on Apr 2, 2020

mislav commented on Apr 3, 2020

diminutivesloop commented on Apr 4, 2020

vilmibm commented on May 13, 2020

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JonMontgo commented on Aug 12, 2020

logan-anderson commented on Aug 28, 2020

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prkprime commented on Sep 19, 2020

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aahnik commented on Oct 11, 2020

help wanted

prkprime commented on Oct 11, 2020

help wanted

daniel-vera-g commented on Oct 14, 2020

dasunsrule32 commented on Jul 15, 2021

mislav commented on Jul 16, 2021

dasunsrule32 commented on Jul 16, 2021

dasunsrule32 commented on Jul 25, 2021

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