I set $PATH in ~/.zshenv. If you don't, you can't use any of your "extra stuff" in your zsh-scripts, as they do not use login or interactive sessions. And then

I set $PATH in ~/.zshenv. If you don't, you can't use any of your "extra stuff" in your zsh-scripts, as they do not use login or interactive sessions. And then I unset GLOBAL_RCS so the system configfiles don't override my settings. In your guide, under ~/.zshenv, you mention that "macOS overrides this for PATH settings for interactive shells", without mentioning why or how. What's happening is that macOS sets your path in /etc/zprofile. It seems your guide is missing a few global configfiles :) This is the order for an interactive login shell [1]: /etc/zshenv ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshenv /etc/zprofile (login) ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprofile (login) /etc/zshrc (interactive) ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc (interactive) /etc/zlogin (login) ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zlogin (login) /etc/zlogout (login - loaded on logout) ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zlogout (login - loaded on logout) In fact, the configfiles you mention are only loaded the way you've mentioned them, if the option GLOBAL_RCS is unset. And if GLOBAL_RCS is unset, macOS does not override your PATH, because/etc/zprofile is not loaded :) 1: <https://zsh.sourceforge.io/Doc/Release/Files.html https://zsh.sourceforge.io/Doc/Release/Files.html>