diff --git a/zshrc b/zshrc
index 0cebe11525..20b03d8c9a 100644
--- a/zshrc
+++ b/zshrc
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ type -a nvm > /dev/null && load-nvmrc
 # Same for `./node_modules/.bin` and nodejs
 export PATH="./bin:./node_modules/.bin:${PATH}:/usr/local/sbin"
 
+# the $path variable can get bloated after a while
+# this command makes sure that it only includes unique values
+typeset -U path
+
 # Store your own aliases in the ~/.aliases file and load the here.
 [[ -f "$HOME/.aliases" ]] && source "$HOME/.aliases"
 
@@ -70,3 +74,4 @@ export EDITOR=code
 
 # Set ipdb as the default Python debugger
 export PYTHONBREAKPOINT=ipdb.set_trace
+