AI Candy

December 30, 2025 · View on GitHub

AI Candy Demo

A responsive Oh My Zsh theme for the AI-assisted developer who works across containers, VMs, and bare metal.

Ever SSH'd into a machine and wondered "Wait, am I on the host or in a container?" — This theme has your back.

Features

Responsive Layout — Adapts to terminal width and uses RPROMPT for sysinfo/AI in tight spaces
Environment Detection — Instantly know if you're in a container, TTY, or specific Desktop Environment (GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Xorg)
OS & Kernel Info — Displays distro-specific icons (Red Hat, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.) and kernel type
SSH + Public IP — SSH indicator plus external IP (green) or (offline) (red)
Git Status — Branch, dirty marker, ahead/behind, stash count, and special states (rebase, merge, cherry-pick, revert, bisect)
GitHub Integration — Username badge (with mismatch detection) + PR number + CI status
AI Tools Status — Claude, Codex, and Gemini versions with update indicators
Toggle Modes — Emoji/plaintext, path separator (space/slash), and network on/off
Smart Caching — Multi-tier memory + SQLite (WAL mode) + file caches with background refresh, zero prompt lag
Secure — Cache files are created with umask 077 and stored in a secure directory

Demo

Watch the prompt gracefully adapt as your terminal shrinks. Short/min modes push system info + AI to RPROMPT (right side):

Emoji Mode (Requires Nerd Font):

# LONG MODE - Full details + AI tools + PR status
[✓]user@host(x.x.x.x)  GitHubUser 💻 [09:32:49 PDT] [~/project] [main][#42✓] [  RHEL 9.7,  Linux-5.14.0] [ 1.0.18| 0.1.2504302| 0.1.9*]
-> %

# SHORT MODE - Sysinfo + AI move to RPROMPT
[✓]user@host(x.x.x.x)  GitHubUser 💻 [09:32:53 PDT] [~/project] [main][#42✓]
# RPROMPT: [  Rhel-9.7,  Linux-5.14.0] [ 1.0.18| 0.1.2504302| 0.1.9*]
-> %

# MIN MODE - Truncated path
[✓]user@host(x.x.x.x)  GitHubUser 💻 [09:33:11 PDT] [~/proj/..] [main]
# RPROMPT: [  Rhel-9.7,  Linux-5.14.0]
-> %

Plaintext Mode:

# LONG MODE with long AI names
[OK][SSH]user@host(x.x.x.x)[GitHubUser] H [09:32:49 PDT] [~/project] [main][#42 OK] [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.7 (Plow), Linux-5.14.0] [Claude:1.0.18|Codex:0.1.2504302|Gemini:0.1.9*]

# LONG MODE with short AI names
[OK][SSH]user@host(x.x.x.x)[GitHubUser] H [09:32:49 PDT] [~/project] [main][#42 OK] [Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.7 (Plow), Linux-5.14.0] [Cl:1.0.18|Cx:0.1.2504302|Gm:0.1.9*]

Badge Reference

Command Status

Indicator	Meaning
`[✓]` / `[OK]`	Last command succeeded (exit code 0)
`[✗N]` / `[ERRN]`	Last command failed with exit code N

Connection & Environment

Indicator	Meaning
`󰣀` / `[SSH]`	Connected via SSH (Nerd Font: nf-md-ssh)
`(x.x.x.x)`	Public IP address (green)
`(offline)`	No external connectivity (red)

GitHub Identity

Indicator	Meaning
` Username` / `[User]`	GitHub username badge (white bg)
` A	B`/`[A

AI Tools

Badge	Tool	Color
`` / `Cl:` / `Claude:`	Claude Code (Nerd Font: nf-fa-asterisk)	Coral
`` / `Cx:` / `Codex:`	OpenAI Codex CLI (Nerd Font: nf-fae-atom)	Light Gray
`` / `Gm:` / `Gemini:`	Gemini CLI (Nerd Font: nf-fa-google)	Purple

A red * after the version means an update is available.

Host & Environment Badges

Indicator	Meaning	Color
`` / `C`	Inside a container (Nerd Font: nf-fa-docker)	Magenta
`` / `T`	TTY session (Nerd Font: nf-fa-tty)	Yellow
`` / `G`	GNOME Desktop (Nerd Font: nf-linux-gnome)	Yellow
`` / `K`	KDE Plasma (Nerd Font: nf-linux-kde_plasma)	Yellow
`` / `X`	XFCE Desktop (Nerd Font: nf-linux-xfce)	Yellow
`` / `O`	Xorg Session (Nerd Font: nf-linux-xorg)	Yellow
`💻` / `H`	Physical/VM host	Yellow

GitHub PR Status

Indicator	Meaning
`#N`	Pull request number N for current branch
`✓` / `OK`	All CI checks passed
`✗` / `X`	Some CI checks failed
`⏳` / `...`	CI checks still running

Git Extended Status

Indicator	Meaning
`↑N` / `+N`	N commits ahead of upstream
`↓N` / `-N`	N commits behind upstream
`⚑N` / `SN`	N stashed changes
`*`	Uncommitted changes

Git Special States

Indicator	Meaning
`🔀` / `RB`	Rebase in progress
`🔀` / `MG`	Merge in progress
`🍒` / `CP`	Cherry-pick in progress
`⏪` / `RV`	Revert in progress
`🔍` / `BI`	Bisect in progress
`🔌` / `DT`	Detached HEAD state

Other Indicators

Indicator	Meaning
`⚙N` / `JN`	N background jobs running
`..`	Path truncated (in narrow terminal)

Quick Commands

Command	Action
`e`	Toggle emoji/plaintext mode
`p`	Toggle path separator (space/slash)
`n`	Toggle network features (IP, GitHub, AI updates)
`t`	Show tool availability status
`u`	Refresh all cached prompt info
`h`	Show help

Installation

Using Oh My Zsh

Clone this repo or download ai-candy.zsh-theme

Copy the theme to your Oh My Zsh themes directory:

cp ai-candy.zsh-theme ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/

Set it in your ~/.zshrc:
```
ZSH_THEME="ai-candy"
```
Reload your shell:
```
source ~/.zshrc
```

Requirements

Zsh 5.4+ (nameref support)
Oh My Zsh
A terminal with 256-color support
A Nerd Font (Required for Emoji Mode icons)
Optional: sqlite3 and xxd (for faster caching)
Optional: timeout/gtimeout (coreutils) for network features
Optional: curl for public IP display and AI update checks
Optional: gh CLI for GitHub PR status badge
Optional: ssh for GitHub identity badge
Optional: claude, codex, and/or gemini CLI tools for AI status badges

How It Works

The theme calculates the visible length of all prompt components and picks the best layout for your terminal width:

LONG  → Full OS name + full kernel + AI tools on the left
SHORT → Compact OS + kernel + AI tools move to RPROMPT
MIN   → Truncated path + compact sysinfo/AI on RPROMPT

Network lookups (public IP, GitHub identity/PR, AI update checks) run in the background and cache results. The theme uses a three-tier caching system (Memory, SQLite, and File) to ensure zero prompt lag.

Why "AI Candy"?

Because knowing where you are—and what AI tools are at your fingertips—should be sweet, not stressful.

Built for developers who live in terminals and talk to AI.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.