Reloading Oh My Zsh plugins without restarting the shell

Answer

Oh My Zsh does not provide a dedicated command to load or unload a single plugin while the shell is running. The supported way to apply changes to the plugins array in ~/.zshrc is to source the file again.

Confirmed facts

• Sourcing ~/.zshrc re‑executes the plugin‑loading logic, making any newly added plugin’s functions, aliases and completions available in the current session.
• Removing a plugin from the array and then sourcing does not> automatically erase the plugin’s existing aliases, functions or environment variables; they remain until explicitly cleared.
• There is no built‑in “unload” mechanism for Oh My Zsh plugins.

Steps to add a plugin

1. Edit ~/.zshrc and add the plugin name to the plugins array.
2. Run source ~/.zshrc (or the shorthand . ~/.zshrc).
3. Verify the new plugin is active, e.g. type _ or which .

Steps to remove a plugin (with cleanup)

1. Edit ~/.zshrc and remove the plugin name from the plugins array.
2. Run source ~/.zshrc.
3. Because old definitions linger, manually clear them if needed:
   • Unalias any command the plugin provided: unalias (repeat for each).
   • Unset any variables or functions the plugin defined: unset -f or unset .
4. Optionally, check for duplicate PATH entries caused by repeated sourcing: echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n' | sort | uniq -d.

Side‑effects and cautions

• Repeated sourcing can duplicate PATH entries if the .zshrc does not guard against them.
• Overwriting existing aliases or functions during a reload may interrupt running scripts that rely on the old definitions.
• Memory usage grows slightly with each source if plugins define large arrays or globals that are not cleared.

Missing diagnostic detail

Are you adding a plugin, removing one, or both? Knowing this determines whether the manual cleanup step (unalias/unset) is necessary after sourcing.