Loading Plugins From Private Repositories And Not Only

Introduction

In order to install and load a plugin whose repository is private - i.e.: requires providing credentials in order to log in – use the from'' ice in the following way:

zinit ice from"psprint@github.com"
zinit load psprint/fsh-auto-themes

Explanation

The point is that when the from'' ice isn't one of gh, github, gl, gitlab, bb, bitbucket, nb, notabug, gh-r, github-rel then it is treaten as a domain name and inserted into the domain position into the clone url. I.e.: the following (more or less) git clone command is being run:

git clone https://{from-ice-contents}/user/plugin

In order to change the protocol, use the proto'' ice.

Summary

By using this method you can clone plugins from e.g. GitHub Enterprise or embed the passwords as plain text in .zshrc.

On The FSH-Auto-Themes Plugin

The plugin used in the example really exists and really is private. It's available to my sponsors. The plugin README is available here. My GitHub sponsors page – if you're interested in receiving the benefit: here.