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alias-finder

Every time you run a command the long way, this prints the shorter alias you could have used:

$ git status
gst='git status'
On branch main …

With ~15 alias-heavy plugins enabled (git, docker, kubectl, brew, terraform, …) there are hundreds of aliases available. Nobody learns them from a list; this teaches them at the exact moment they're relevant.

Configured in dot_zshrc via zstyles:

zstyle ':omz:plugins:alias-finder' autoload yes   # run on every command
zstyle ':omz:plugins:alias-finder' longer yes     # also show longer-but-related aliases
zstyle ':omz:plugins:alias-finder' cheaper yes    # only suggest if actually shorter

Pro tips​

  • Run it manually against any command with alias-finder "docker compose up".
  • The cheaper flag matters — without it the output gets noisy with aliases longer than what you typed.
  • Once an alias has sunk in and the echo becomes noise, it stays useful for the next plugin's aliases — the git ones take a week, the kubectl ones a month.
  • Pair with acs (from the OMZ aliases lib) to browse aliases by group when you want the full menu instead of drip-feeding.