# zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search

🐠 ZSH port of Fish history search (up arrow)

Repository: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/zsh-history-substring-search
Language: Shell
License Family: other
Topics: history-search, command-history, fish-shell, zsh-plugins
Last push: 2026-01-15T17:44:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 51/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 62, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5577, "days_push": 230, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3095, forks 175 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:43.338569+00:00)

## What it is
A ZSH plugin that ports the Fish shell's history search feature, letting users type a substring of a past command and cycle through matching history entries with arrow keys. It is a clean-room implementation installable via Homebrew, oh-my-zsh, antigen, zplug, and other ZSH plugin managers.

## Use cases
- search zsh command history by substring
- cycle through history matches with up and down arrows
- get fish-like history search in zsh
- find previously typed commands by partial text
- make shell history navigation faster

## When to choose
- you use zsh and miss Fish's substring history search
- you want lightweight shell history navigation without switching shells
- you already use oh-my-zsh, antigen, zplug, or zinit

## When to avoid
- you use bash or another non-zsh shell
- you want full Fish shell features rather than just history search
- you need a tool with an explicit software license

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: zsh, shell-plugin, history-search, fish-shell, terminal, command-line, macos, linux

## Member repositories
- zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search (main) score 51

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:43.338569+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:27:18.144120+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-history-substring-search (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:43.338569+00:00, sha d0b3856ec516)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.