rust-zmanim-cli

A command-line tool for computing Jewish zmanim, powered by the rust-zmanim library. The installed binary is named zmanim.

Installation

No cargo? Download the right binary from releases and put it in ~/.local/bin or your system's equivalent.

With cargo-binstall, that same binary gets downloaded and placed for you:

cargo binstall rust-zmanim-cli

Or build it from source:

cargo install rust-zmanim-cli

Usage

Compute zmanim by name for a location and date:

zmanim shkia tzeis_72_minutes --lat 31.778 --lon 35.235 --tz Asia/Jerusalem

Zman names match the library's method names; hyphens and underscores are interchangeable (tzeis-72-minutes == tzeis_72_minutes). Run zmanim list to see them all, optionally narrowed by a substring (e.g. zmanim list geonim) or by kind (e.g. zmanim list --kind duration for shaah zmanis calculations).

With no zman names given, a default set is used: hanetz, sof zman shema GRA, chatzos hayom, mincha gedola GRA, shkia, and tzeis geonim 8.5°. Override it with the zmanim key in the config file.

Location

Provide raw coordinates, or save a named location and reuse it:

zmanim locations add home --lat 31.778 --lon 35.235 --elevation 754 --tz Asia/Jerusalem
zmanim shkia --location home        # or just `zmanim shkia` once a default is set

The first location you add becomes the default. Manage the rest with zmanim locations list | remove | set-default.

--tz, --elevation, and --use-elevation override the corresponding saved values for a single run, so you can reuse a location with one field changed:

zmanim shkia --location home --elevation 0

Elevation

--elevation (meters, default 0) only matters if you also opt in to using it. --use-elevation controls that:

Mode	Effect
no (default)	Ignore elevation entirely
hanetz-shkia	Use it for sunrise and sunset only
all	Use it for every zman

This visibly moves times — at 754 m in Jerusalem, --use-elevation all puts shkia about 4½ minutes later than no. Set a per-location policy with use_elevation in the config so you don't have to pass the flag each time.

Dates

zmanim shkia                                   # today
zmanim shkia --date 2026-07-14
zmanim shkia --date tomorrow
zmanim shkia --date 2026-07-14..2026-07-20     # inclusive range
zmanim shkia --date 2026-07-14 --days 7        # 7 consecutive days

Output

--format takes table (the default), csv, or json. Times display to the minute; --precision m|s|ms and --round nearest|down|up change that.

--time-style picks how times are written: auto (the default — clock times for table and CSV, full-precision RFC-3339 for JSON), or human/iso to force one of them in any format.

Missing zmanim — such as a hanetz that never happens above the Arctic Circle — render as - in table, an empty field in CSV, and null in JSON.

Command reference

zmanim --help

$ zmanim --help
A command-line tool for computing Jewish zmanim, powered by rust-zmanim

Usage: zmanim [OPTIONS] [ZMAN]... [COMMAND]

Commands:
  list         List available zman names (optionally filtered by a substring)
  locations    Manage saved locations
  completions  Generate a shell completion script
  help         Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Arguments:
  [ZMAN]...
          Zmanim to compute, by name (see `zmanim list`). Hyphens and
          underscores are interchangeable. If omitted, a default set from config
          is used

Options:
  -L, --location <NAME>
          Saved location name (see `zmanim locations`)

          [env: ZMANIM_LOCATION=]

      --lat <LAT>
          Latitude in decimal degrees (requires --lon)

      --lon <LON>
          Longitude in decimal degrees (requires --lat)

      --elevation <METERS>
          Elevation in meters (default 0)

      --tz <TZ>
          IANA timezone (e.g. Asia/Jerusalem). Defaults to the location's saved
          timezone, or the system timezone for raw coordinates

          [env: ZMANIM_TZ=]

      --date <DATE>
          Date, `today`, `tomorrow`, or an inclusive range `START..END`

      --days <N>
          Number of consecutive days starting from --date (or today). Cannot be
          combined with a `START..END` range

      --use-elevation <MODE>
          Elevation policy for the calculations

          Possible values:
          - no:           Never use elevation
          - hanetz-shkia: Use elevation only for sunrise/sunset
          - all:          Use elevation for all zmanim

          [env: ZMANIM_USE_ELEVATION=]

      --format <FORMAT>
          Output format

          Possible values:
          - table: Aligned text table (or a vertical list for a single date)
          - csv:   Comma-separated values
          - json:  JSON array of per-date objects

          [env: ZMANIM_FORMAT=]

      --precision <PRECISION>
          Display precision for human-readable times/durations

          Possible values:
          - m:  Minutes
          - s:  Seconds
          - ms: Milliseconds

          [env: ZMANIM_PRECISION=]

      --round <ROUND>
          Rounding mode for human-readable times/durations

          Possible values:
          - nearest: Round to the nearest unit
          - down:    Round toward earlier times (floor)
          - up:      Round toward later times (ceil)

          [env: ZMANIM_ROUND=]

      --time-style <STYLE>
          Time rendering: `auto` (human for table/csv, ISO for json), or force
          `human`/`iso` in any format

          Possible values:
          - auto:  Human clock times for table/csv, full-precision ISO for json
          - human: Human-readable clock times/durations (honors precision and
            round)
          - iso:   Full-precision ISO 8601 (RFC-3339 times, `PT..` durations)

          [env: ZMANIM_TIME_STYLE=]

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

  -V, --version
          Print version

EXAMPLES:
  # Compute zmanim for raw coordinates, today
  zmanim shkia tzeis_72_minutes --lat 31.778 --lon 35.235 --tz Asia/Jerusalem

  # Use a saved location and a date range
  zmanim sof_zman_shema_gra shkia --location home --date 2026-07-14..2026-07-20

  # Default zman set (from config), as JSON, next 7 days
  zmanim --location home --days 7 --format json

  # Discover zman names
  zmanim list geonim

  # Save a location
  zmanim locations add home --lat 31.778 --lon 35.235 --tz Asia/Jerusalem

zmanim list --help

$ zmanim list --help
List available zman names (optionally filtered by a substring)

Usage: zmanim list [OPTIONS] [FILTER]

Arguments:
  [FILTER]
          Only show names containing this substring

Options:
      --kind <KIND>
          Only show zmanim of this kind

          Possible values:
          - time:     Instant-in-time zmanim
          - duration: Duration zmanim (*shaah zmanis*)

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

zmanim locations --help

$ zmanim locations --help
Manage saved locations

Usage: zmanim locations [COMMAND]

Commands:
  list         List saved locations (the default when no action is given)
  add          Add or update a saved location
  remove       Remove a saved location
  set-default  Set the default location
  help         Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help  Print help

zmanim completions --help

$ zmanim completions --help
Generate a shell completion script

Usage: zmanim completions <SHELL>

Arguments:
  <SHELL>  Shell to generate completions for [possible values: bash, elvish,
           fish, nushell, powershell, zsh]

Options:
  -h, --help  Print help

Configuration

Config lives at ~/.config/zmanim/config.toml. Settings resolve in the order flags > ZMANIM_* environment variables > config file > built-in defaults.

default_location = "home"
zmanim = ["hanetz", "sof_zman_shema_gra", "shkia", "tzeis_72_minutes"]
format = "table"
precision = "m"
round = "nearest"
time_style = "auto"

[locations.home]
latitude = 31.778
longitude = 35.235
elevation = 754.0               # optional, meters, default 0
timezone = "Asia/Jerusalem"
use_elevation = "hanetz-shkia"  # optional: no | hanetz-shkia | all

Unknown keys are rejected rather than ignored, so a typo fails loudly.

Environment variables

Each takes the same values as the flag it shadows:

Variable	Flag
ZMANIM_LOCATION	--location
ZMANIM_TZ	--tz
ZMANIM_USE_ELEVATION	--use-elevation
ZMANIM_FORMAT	--format
ZMANIM_PRECISION	--precision
ZMANIM_ROUND	--round
ZMANIM_TIME_STYLE	--time-style

--lat, --lon, --elevation, --date, and --days have no environment variable — pass them as flags.

Shell completions

zmanim completions <SHELL> writes a completion script to stdout.

On bash, zsh, and nushell these complete zman names too. fish, elvish, and PowerShell get flags and subcommands only: clap_complete's generators for those don't emit possible values for positional arguments, so zman names would need a more complicated setup that I didn't want to add, for now at least.

Setup, per shell

Add the relevant lines to that shell's ...rc or config file.

bash:

source <(zmanim completions bash)

zsh:

source <(zmanim completions zsh)

fish:

zmanim completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/zmanim.fish

nushell:
(note that if both lines live in the same file, the source runs before the save that generates the file)

zmanim completions nushell | save --force $"($nu.cache-dir)/zmanim-completions.nu"
source $"($nu.cache-dir)/zmanim-completions.nu"

elvish:

eval (zmanim completions elvish | slurp)

PowerShell:

zmanim completions powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

A note on AI assistance

Almost all of this CLI's code was written by Claude Code. I wrote the specification and made the design calls. I also reviewed, tested, and corrected the result. However, as the code itself was mostly generated, there may be some of the odd kind of mistakes or code style which only LLMs make. Bear this in mind if you want to contribute, or just read the code.

Of course, I would be happy to field any bug reports, feature requests, or even grumpy complaints. Thanks in advance!