diff --git a/crates/forge_main/src/zsh/plugin.rs b/crates/forge_main/src/zsh/plugin.rs
index 27ec8678eb..8bc64e48ba 100644
--- a/crates/forge_main/src/zsh/plugin.rs
+++ b/crates/forge_main/src/zsh/plugin.rs
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ pub fn generate_zsh_plugin() -> Result<String> {
     output.push_str(&completions_str);
 
     // Set environment variable to indicate plugin is loaded (with timestamp)
-    output.push_str("\n_FORGE_PLUGIN_LOADED=$(date +%s)\n");
+    // Use typeset -g so the variable is global even when eval'd inside a function
+    // (e.g. lazy-loading plugin managers like zinit, zplug, zsh-defer)
+    output.push_str("\ntypeset -g _FORGE_PLUGIN_LOADED=$(date +%s)\n");
 
     Ok(output)
 }
@@ -55,7 +57,9 @@ pub fn generate_zsh_theme() -> Result<String> {
         super::normalize_script(include_str!("../../../../shell-plugin/forge.theme.zsh"));
 
     // Set environment variable to indicate theme is loaded (with timestamp)
-    content.push_str("\n_FORGE_THEME_LOADED=$(date +%s)\n");
+    // Use typeset -g so the variable is global even when eval'd inside a function
+    // (e.g. lazy-loading plugin managers like zinit, zplug, zsh-defer)
+    content.push_str("\ntypeset -g _FORGE_THEME_LOADED=$(date +%s)\n");
 
     Ok(content)
 }
diff --git a/shell-plugin/forge.theme.zsh b/shell-plugin/forge.theme.zsh
index 065f275a0b..816844f153 100644
--- a/shell-plugin/forge.theme.zsh
+++ b/shell-plugin/forge.theme.zsh
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env zsh
 
 # Enable prompt substitution for RPROMPT
-setopt PROMPT_SUBST
+# Use emulate to ensure setopt applies globally even when sourced from a function
+emulate -R zsh -c 'setopt PROMPT_SUBST'
 
 # Model and agent info with token count
 # Fully formatted output directly from Rust
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ function _forge_prompt_info() {
 
 # Right prompt: agent and model with token count (uses single forge prompt command)
 # Set RPROMPT if empty, otherwise append to existing value
+# Use typeset -g to ensure RPROMPT is set globally even when sourced from a function
 if [[ -z "$_FORGE_THEME_LOADED" ]]; then
-    RPROMPT='$(_forge_prompt_info)'"${RPROMPT:+ ${RPROMPT}}"
+    typeset -g RPROMPT='$(_forge_prompt_info)'"${RPROMPT:+ ${RPROMPT}}"
 fi
diff --git a/shell-plugin/lib/config.zsh b/shell-plugin/lib/config.zsh
index 0a7510b321..e4392833ef 100644
--- a/shell-plugin/lib/config.zsh
+++ b/shell-plugin/lib/config.zsh
@@ -1,36 +1,38 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env zsh
 
 # Configuration variables for forge plugin
-# Using typeset to keep variables local to plugin scope and prevent public exposure
+# Using typeset -gh (global + hidden) so variables survive lazy-loading
+# from within a function scope (e.g. zinit, zplug, zsh-defer) while
+# staying hidden from `typeset` listings.
 
-typeset -h _FORGE_BIN="${FORGE_BIN:-forge}"
-typeset -h _FORGE_CONVERSATION_PATTERN=":"
-typeset -h _FORGE_MAX_COMMIT_DIFF="${FORGE_MAX_COMMIT_DIFF:-100000}"
-typeset -h _FORGE_DELIMITER='\s\s+'
-typeset -h _FORGE_PREVIEW_WINDOW="--preview-window=bottom:75%:wrap:border-sharp"
+typeset -gh _FORGE_BIN="${FORGE_BIN:-forge}"
+typeset -gh _FORGE_CONVERSATION_PATTERN=":"
+typeset -gh _FORGE_MAX_COMMIT_DIFF="${FORGE_MAX_COMMIT_DIFF:-100000}"
+typeset -gh _FORGE_DELIMITER='\s\s+'
+typeset -gh _FORGE_PREVIEW_WINDOW="--preview-window=bottom:75%:wrap:border-sharp"
 
 # Detect fd command - Ubuntu/Debian use 'fdfind', others use 'fd'
-typeset -h _FORGE_FD_CMD="$(command -v fdfind 2>/dev/null || command -v fd 2>/dev/null || echo 'fd')"
+typeset -gh _FORGE_FD_CMD="$(command -v fdfind 2>/dev/null || command -v fd 2>/dev/null || echo 'fd')"
 
 # Detect bat command - use bat if available, otherwise fall back to cat
 if command -v bat &>/dev/null; then
-    typeset -h _FORGE_CAT_CMD="bat --color=always --style=numbers,changes --line-range=:500"
+    typeset -gh _FORGE_CAT_CMD="bat --color=always --style=numbers,changes --line-range=:500"
 else
-    typeset -h _FORGE_CAT_CMD="cat"
+    typeset -gh _FORGE_CAT_CMD="cat"
 fi
 
 # Commands cache - loaded lazily on first use
-typeset -h _FORGE_COMMANDS=""
+typeset -gh _FORGE_COMMANDS=""
 
 # Hidden variables to be used only via the ForgeCLI
-typeset -h _FORGE_CONVERSATION_ID
-typeset -h _FORGE_ACTIVE_AGENT
+typeset -gh _FORGE_CONVERSATION_ID
+typeset -gh _FORGE_ACTIVE_AGENT
 
 # Previous conversation ID for :conversation - (like cd -)
-typeset -h _FORGE_PREVIOUS_CONVERSATION_ID
+typeset -gh _FORGE_PREVIOUS_CONVERSATION_ID
 
 # Session-scoped model and provider overrides (set via :model / :m).
 # When non-empty, these are passed as --model / --provider to every forge
 # invocation for the lifetime of the current shell session.
-typeset -h _FORGE_SESSION_MODEL
-typeset -h _FORGE_SESSION_PROVIDER
+typeset -gh _FORGE_SESSION_MODEL
+typeset -gh _FORGE_SESSION_PROVIDER
diff --git a/shell-plugin/lib/highlight.zsh b/shell-plugin/lib/highlight.zsh
index cdefe7c4b4..ec1f0c59de 100644
--- a/shell-plugin/lib/highlight.zsh
+++ b/shell-plugin/lib/highlight.zsh
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@
 # Syntax highlighting configuration for forge commands
 # Style the conversation pattern with appropriate highlighting
 # Keywords in yellow, rest in default white
+#
+# Use global declarations so we update the shared zsh-syntax-highlighting
+# collections even when sourced from within a function (lazy-loading plugin
+# managers). Patterns must remain an associative array because the pattern
+# highlighter stores regex => style entries in ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_PATTERNS.
+
+typeset -gA ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_PATTERNS
+typeset -ga ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS
 
 # Style tagged files
 ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_PATTERNS+=('@\[[^]]#\]' 'fg=cyan,bold')