zsh

.zshrc vs .zprofile

Here’s the key differences between .zshrc and .zprofile in Zsh:

.zshrc (Zsh Run Commands)

• When it loads: Every time you start an interactive shell session
• Purpose: Configuration for interactive shell sessions
• Use cases:
  • Aliases and functions
  • Prompt customization
  • Key bindings
  • Interactive features (like Oh My Zsh, syntax highlighting, autosuggestions)
  • Environment variables needed for interactive work

.zprofile (Zsh Profile)

• When it loads: Only when you log in (login shells)
• Purpose: Login-time configuration
• Use cases:
  • Setting up environment variables that should be available system-wide
  • PATH modifications
  • One-time setup tasks
  • Variables that need to be available to GUI applications

Key Differences

Aspect	.zshrc	.zprofile
Frequency	Every interactive shell	Only at login
Scope	Interactive sessions	System-wide environment
GUI Apps	Not inherited	Inherited by GUI apps
Performance	Loads frequently	Loads once per login

Practical Example

Looking at your current .zshrc, you have:

# These should probably be in .zprofile instead:
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=...
export ANTHROPIC_BEDROCK_BASE_URL=...
export CLAUDE_CODE_SKIP_BEDROCK_AUTH=1
export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK=1

These environment variables would be better in .zprofile because:

1. They’re needed system-wide (for GUI apps, other terminals)
2. They don’t change often
3. They don’t need to be reloaded every time you open a new terminal

Recommendation

You might want to move those Claude-related environment variables to .zprofile and keep interactive features (Oh My Zsh, syntax highlighting, etc.) in .zshrc.