Neovim plugins

This got long enough it needed it’s own page. If you just want to see what plugins we use here at onboardme, you can check them out here.

Know issues

Python3 Plugins

If you run into a bunch of errors about vim not being compiled with python3, then you probably need to first install pynvim, which helps with this:

# I use python3.11 everywhere right now, but you probably don't need to specify
python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade pynvim

After that, all my plugins worked find as they do in vim.

Lazy

lazy.nvim is the new kid on the block for neovim package managers. I don’t know much about it, but will report back soon.

Packer

You’ll start seeing a lot of people talking about packer as you go on your neovim journey. It’s similar to vim-plug or vundle, but it’s in pure lua. In your init.lua, put the following:

require('plugins')

and then create a file in ~/.config/nvim/lua called plugins.lua with the following:

-- This file can be loaded by calling `lua require('plugins')` from your init.vim

-- this function installs the packer plugin if it's not already installed
local ensure_packer = function()
  local fn = vim.fn
  local install_path = fn.stdpath('data')..'/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim'
  if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then
    fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path})
    vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]
    return true
  end
  return false
end

-- this calls the above function
local packer_bootstrap = ensure_packer()

-- this manages your actual plugins
return require('packer').startup(function(use)

    -- Packer can manage itself
    use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim'

    -- Example plugin for if you already have a plugin installed in vim with
    -- something like vim-plug, like: Plug 'junegunn/limelight.vim'
    use '~/.vim/plugged/limelight.vim'

    -- Example github based plugin: https://github.com/mfussenegger/nvim-treehopper
    use {'mfussenegger/nvim-treehopper'}

    -- Automatically set up your configuration after cloning packer.nvim
    -- Put this at the end after all plugins
    if packer_bootstrap then
        require('packer').sync()
    end
end)

Note: You can checkout my actual plugins.lua file here

Finally, you can open up neovim and run: :PackerCompile and :PackerInstall and you should be on your way :)

vim-plug

I have a whole section on vim-plug under vim, but we have a few caveats if we want to use it in neovim.

Continuing to use vim-plug from vim

Source Plugins for vim/neovim in the same location

Having to install a package twice in two different locations is silly and makes maintanence and updates more of a chore. Pick a location, and stick with it, but to do this in vimscript with both an init.vim from neovim and a .vimrc being sourced for regular vim, we get into slightly more complicated territory, and kind of repetitive. The quick way I found was to have a section in your .vimrc like this:

" this means: don't run this part in if we're using neovim
if !has('nvim')

    call plug#begin()

    " put all your vim plugins here, but don't include anything that only
    " works in neovim (e.g. semshi)

    " plugin that works in vim/neovim: This is helpful for markdown
    Plug 'junegunn/limelight.vim'

    call plug#end()

endif

and then in your init.vim, have something like this AFTER you source your .vimrc, so that vim-plug knows where to source your plugin exactly:

source ~/.vimrc

call plug#begin()

" plugin that works in vim/neovim but was installed with vim-plug in vim
Plug 'junegunn/limelight.vim', {'dir': '~/.vim/plugged/limelight.vim'}

" Example plugin that only works in neovim
Plug 'numirias/semshi', { 'do': ':UpdateRemotePlugins' }

call plug#end()

writing little lua scripts

If you want to say, take this block from your .vimrc:

"                              FOLDING ZONE:
"                 "collapse an entire block or function"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Enable folding on base indent
set foldmethod=indent
set foldlevel=99
" let spacebar allow me to fold the code
nnoremap <space> za
" also allow me to see the doc strings
let g:SimpylFold_docstring_preview=1
" enable folding for markdown?
let g:markdown_folding = 1
let g:indentLine_fileTypeExclude = ['dashboard']

and move it to your lua config for neovim, you may not want it cluttering your init.lua, because it will be difficult to maintain that file. You can create a directory structure in your ~/.config/nvim directory like this:

# tree ~/.config/nvim

nvim
├── init.lua
└── lua
    └── user
        └── folding.lua

In there, you can see a a file in the path of: ~/.config/nvim/lua/user/folding.lua

That file can then contain the same code from your .vimrc written in lua, like:

--                             FOLDING ZONE:
--                 collapse an entire block or function
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Enable folding on base indent
vim.opt.foldmethod = 'indent'
vim.opt.foldlevel = 99
-- also allow me to see the doc strings
vim.g.SimpylFold_docstring_preview=1
-- enable folding for markdown?
vim.g.markdown_folding = 1
vim.g.indentLine_fileTypeExclude = [['dashboard']]

Finally, to make sure that’s sourced, include the following in your init.lua:

require('user.folding')

Note: make sure you source your lua script AFTER your plugins that you’re referencing from your package manager (vim-plug, packer, etc).

TreeSitter

Treesitter is probably your best bet for syntax highlighting in neovim, and you’ll use this plugin: nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter

If you want extra neovim treesitter features for checking into things like highlighting, you can also install nvim-treesitter/playground. For example, if you want to check syntax highlighting for a given word, you can do:

:TSHighlightCapturesUnderCursor

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