ZVM-USE(1)

💅 ZVM-USE(1) — the one where you pick your Zig version

okay so this is a User Commands page, manual section 1, and it's literally all about zvm-use: selecting the active Zig version. bestie, let's go 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

zvm-use — select the active Zig version 🌈

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

zvm use [--global] [version]
zvm use --sync

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So what this does is: it picks an installed Zig version and updates the executables that get exposed through ZVM's bin directory. slay. 💅

The version you give it can be exact, shorthand, or an alias — go check zvm(1) for the deets, iykyk. And if that version isn't installed yet? no worries, ZVM literally offers to install it first before selecting it. so generous of her 🫶

Now here's the vibe check on shells: if you're in a shell that was set up with zvm-env(1) — that's the case where ZVM_MULTISHELL_PATH names a per-shell link — then only that shell's link gets changed and bin is left completely alone. main character shell energy, honestly. ✨

When you don't supply a version at all, ZVM tries to read .minimum_zig_version from build.zig.zon in the current project. it's giving "she read your mind" 😭

Oh, and one more thing — an installation can also be a link under the ZVM base directory pointing at a local Zig build that contains a zig or zig.exe executable. you can just use that directory name as the version argument. iconic. 👑

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💜 OPTIONS 💜

• --sync — reads a //! zvm-lock: directive from build.zig in the current directory and selects its version. the selection follows the current shell's scope. and heads up bestie: when you combine it with --sync, --global is ignored. 🫥
• -g, --global — changes the global default (~/.zvm/bin) even when you're in a shell set up with zvm-env(1). that shell keeps its own version until it runs zvm use again, no cap. and if there's no per-shell link at all? then --global behaves exactly like plain zvm use. same vibes, different name. 💫

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

zvm use 0.14.1
zvm use stable
zvm use --sync
zvm use --global 0.15.2

look at her go 🧚 four little lines, four little moods.

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

zvm(1), zvm-env(1), zvm-install(1), zvm-list(1), zvm-alias(1)

go read those too, they're all part of the friend group 💖

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sign-off szn 🌟 this is ZVM v0.9.4, dated October 2026, and it's the ZVM-USE(1) page — thanks for coming to my TED talk, mwah 💋🌸