zsh-autocomplete
Shows completion candidates as you type, without pressing Tab.
What it does
zsh-autocomplete puts a live completion menu under the prompt as characters are typed — files, commands, options, history — with arrow keys to select and a fuzzy history search bound to the up arrow.
# ~/.zshrc
source /opt/homebrew/share/zsh-autocomplete/zsh-autocomplete.plugin.zshNotes
It rebinds a lot of keys and overrides much of Zsh’s own completion UI, so load order matters: it goes before zsh-fast-syntax-highlighting and after compinit. If completions feel sluggish in a huge repository, zstyle ':autocomplete:*' min-input 2 cuts most of the cost.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| zsh-autosuggestions | Open source | Much lighter, suggests one inline completion; the far more common choice |
| fzf-tab | Open source | Replaces Tab completion with an fzf menu, without the live popup |
| Fish | Open source | Has all of this built in, at the cost of not being POSIX-compatible |
Install
brew install zsh-autocomplete