The module is a binary Zsh module (think about zmodload Zsh command, it's that topic) which transparently and automatically compiles sourced scripts. Many plugin managers do not offer compilation of plugins, the module is a solution to this. Even if a plugin manager does compile plugin's main script (like Zinit does), the script can source smaller helper scripts or dependency libraries (for example, the prompt geometry-zsh/geometry does that) and there are very few solutions to that, which are demanding (e.g. specifying all helper files in plugin load command and investigating updates to the plugin – in Zinit case: by using compile ice-mod).

To install just the binary Zinit module standalone (Zinit is not needed, the module can be used with any other plugin manager), execute:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zdharma-continuum/zinit-module/HEAD/scripts/mod-install.sh)"

This script will display what to add to ~/.zshrc (2 lines) and show usage instructions.

Zinit users can build the module by issuing following command instead of running above mod-install.sh script (the script is for e.g. zgen users or users of any other plugin manager):

zinit module build

This command will compile the module and display instructions on what to add to ~/.zshrc.

Besides the compilation-feature, the module also measures duration of each script sourcing. Issue zpmod source-study after loading the module at top of ~/.zshrc to see a list of all sourced files with the time the sourcing took in milliseconds on the left. This feature allows to profile the shell startup. Also, no script can pass-through that check and you will obtain a complete list of all loaded scripts, like if Zshell itself was investigating this. The list can be surprising.

To enable debug messages from the module set:

typeset -g ZINIT_MOD_DEBUG=1