Introduce

The KISS-based configuration that maximizes the use of Neovim's built-in functionality.

How my configuration might be useful to you?

Nix overlay/wrapper for configuring package content

Did he write another way to configure Neovim with nix?

No, I don't like all the things people are doing with Neovim using Nix. In my opinion it just makes your user experience more complicated and uncomfortable. Try to answer the following questions:

• What's the point of keeping your configuration in immutable store and losing the ability to make quick changes?
• We already have a first class supported language in Neovim to write our configuration with all that lsp stuff, syntax highlighting, etc. So why give it up?
• Any plugin, has instructions on how to install it easily by copying a snippet from the README. Is it really that much harder than enabling the option in Nix?
• Neovim already has a very cool plugin manager with lazy loading, lock file and bytecode compilation. As far as I know the latter is not available in any Nix solution. So, what benefits will you get from Nix?

But I also want to have an easily portable Neovim configuration. So that on any machine that has Nix installed, I can quickly get into my development environment. That's why I wrote this. My overlay allows you to define a Neovim package with a number of dependencies, which also contains a small script to bootstrap your Neovim configuration from git repo at startup.

Unlike the solutions I know:

• The NixOS module in nixpkgs
• The module in Home Manager
• nixvim
• neovim-flake

My overlay does not involve configuring Neovim with Nix. Instead, it enables you to wrap the standard neovim-unwrapped package using the standard wrapper provided in nixpkgs. This allows you to configure the following aspects:

• Add packages to $PATH, specifically for Neovim.
• Add Tree-sitter parsers via package rebuild or :h 'rtp' option.
• Add additional Lua code to pre-init.lua.
• Add additional arguments to makeWrapper.

EDIT: Previously I also passed nvim-treesitter-parsers from nixpkgs, but this was a bad idea because the queries files from nvim-treesitter, which will be managed by the nvim plugin manager, like lazy.nvim, and the parsers from nixpkgs may not be compatible.

What is pre-init.lua?

This is a Lua file that is executed with the command --cmd "luafile pre-init.lua", which means that it is executed before any vimrc is processed. It consists of:

• vim.g.is_nix_package = 1. This can be used to change the configuration based on whether Neovim is a package from this overlay.
• If repo is not null, it also contains a snippet that checks and clones the repository from the specified URL. See the repo argument below.
• Any additional Lua code you specify with additionalPreInit.

Arguments for override

Arguments that are simply passed to neovimUtils.makeNeovimConfig. Source:

• extraName, string, default: "". The suffix to be added to the name attribute in the derivation.
• viAlias, bool, default: false. Similar to the programs.neovim.viAlias option in NixOS.
• vimAlias, bool, default: false. Similar to the programs.neovim.vimAlias option in NixOS.
• withPython3, bool, default: false. Similar to the programs.neovim.withPython3 option in NixOS.
• withNodeJs, bool, default: false. Similar to the programs.neovim.withNodeJs option in NixOS.
• withRuby, bool, default: false. Similar to the programs.neovim.withRuby option in NixOS.
• withPerl, bool, default: false. Similar to the above options enable the Perl provider. But this is still an experimental option, be careful.
• extraPython3Packages, default: _: [ ]. A function that you normally pass in python.withPackages, but which is passed to the python provider Neovim.
• extraLuaPackages, default: _: [ ]. Similar to the above.

Additional arguments, that implemented inside wrapper.nix:

• repo, string or null, default: null. On startup, Nvim will check if the specified repository is a user configuration, and load it if it is not. If some configuration already exists but is not the specified repository, it will be renamed with the prefix "_backup_{current date}". The git remote get-url origin command is used for verification.
• additionalPreInit, string, default: "". Any Lua code you want to add to pre-init.lua. Be careful, it will be executed every time you open Neovim.
• additionalWrapperArgs, list of string, default: [ ]. As mentioned above, using this option you can add arguments to makeWrapper.
• extraBinPath, list of package, default: [ ]. Packages to be added to $PATH.

Usage example

If you use flakes

# flake.nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    # Add input
    nvim.url = "github:name-snrl/nvim";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, ... }@inputs: {
    nixosConfigurations.<hostname> = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      modules = [ ./configuration.nix ];
      # pass inputs to config
      specialArgs = { inherit inputs; };
    };
  };
}

# configuration.nix
{ pkgs, inputs, ... }: {
  nixpkgs.overlays = [
    # Add my overlay. It uses final.callPackage, so it doesn't matter the
    # sequence in which it is added, it will always use neovim-unwrapped from
    # the final package set.
    inputs.snrl-cfg.overlays.default
    # configure your own package
    (final: prev: {
      my-nvim = final.nvim.override {
        viAlias = true;
        vimAlias = true;
        repo = "https://github.com/<user-name>/<repo>";
        extraBinPath = with final; [
          curl
          fd
          ripgrep
        ];
      };
    })
  ];
  # add it to environment.systemPackages or wherever you want
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    my-nvim
  ];
}

If you use channels

{ pkgs, ... }: {
  nixpkgs.overlays = [
    (final: prev: {
      my-nvim =
        let
          nvim-overlay = builtins.fetchTarball {
            url = "https://github.com/name-snrl/nvim/archive/from-scratch.tar.gz";
          };
        in
        final.callPackage "${nvim-overlay}/wrapper.nix" {
          # your overrides here
        };
    })
  ];
  # add it to environment.systemPackages or wherever you want
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    my-nvim
  ];
}

FAQ

What wrapping is?

This is creating a small bash script around the package to create its own environment. As you may have noticed, nixpkgs has many packages with the suffix -unwrapped, which means that it is a standardly built package with standard output. But sometimes a wrapper is created for a package to work properly in NixOS or to customize it through a module, so wrapped packages are hidden under their normal names. What does a wrapper look like? Execute:

nvim "$(realpath "$(which nvim)")"

Is this causing Neovim to be rebuilt?

No, unless the rebuildWithTSParsers option is enabled. By default, this just builds a thin bash wrapper around the neovim-unwrapped package.

How do I change the package that will be wrapped?

By default, the overlay uses your system's neovim-unwrapped package from the final argument, which means that if you use neovim-nightly, which overrides the neovim-unwrapped package, you don't need to do anything. Or you can specify the package manually via override:

final: prev: {
  my-nvim = final.nvim.override { neovim-unwrapped = prev.neovim-i-want-wrap; }
}

Plugins I use

• git integration
  • vim-fugitive
• nvim-treesitter
• appearance
  • colorscheme nightfox.nvim
• misc
  • translate.nvim
  • nvim-highlight-colors

TODO

• git integration
  • tpope/vim-fugitive
    • selecting commits for fixup
    • commands
    • stage/unstage files
    • conflicts
    • blame
    • stash
  • lewis6991/gitsigns.nvim
    • stage/unstage in file
  • telescope
    • quickfix for :G mergetool
    • branch/commit switching. git_commit/git_bcommit
  • easy way to resolve merger conflicts. WIP vim-fugitive
  • a tool to manage working trees, maybe telescope is all we need, just ThePrimeagen/git-worktree.nvim!!!!!!!
  • easy way to clone a repo to /tmp followed by timeline-based exploration
    • clone with vim-fugitive, create a mapping: G clone {clipboard} /tmp/tmpdir | cd /tmp/tmpdir
    • explore with:
      • telescope: git_commit/git_bcommit, git_bcommits with -L, git_files
      • vim-fugitive: :G blame, maybe :Gclog/:Gllog
  • octo.nvim/tpope/vim-rhubarb
  • branch/commit switching, telescope. WIP telescope
  • making fixups, telescope. WIP telescope
  • stash management, telescope. WIP telescope and vim-fugitive
    • pop with telescope
    • stash with vim-fugitive, maybe additional mappings?
• file navigation
  • telescope
    • git file same for grep
    • all files except .git/ same for grep
    • help files
    • man files
  • harpoon
• text navigation
  • flash.nvim
    • jump anywhere in the window
    • enhanced f/F/t/T
    • select ts-object
  • vim-matchup/monkoose/matchparen.nvim/theHamsta/nvim-treesitter-pairs, but do we realy need this?
  • project-wide replace with one of:
    • nvimdev/lspsaga rename
    • nvim-pack/nvim-spectre
• text processing
  • kylechui/nvim-surround
  • numToStr/Comment.nvim
• autopairs
  • windwp/nvim-autopairs
  • nvimdev/dyninput.nvim
  • altermo/ultimate-autopair.nvim
  • echasnovski/mini.pairs
  • or something else from https://github.com/yutkat/my-neovim-pluginlist/blob/main/auto-insert.md#insert-pairs
  • autopairs for lua tables and nix attrsets/lists/multi-strings, which will append a comma (lua) or semicolon (nix) to the pairing
  • pairs for markdown `/**/_
  • a new line within a pair
  • default pairs
• tree-sitter
  • highlighting using vim.treesitter.start(), looks like we don't need nvim-treesitter anymore. we still need nvim-treesitter because it contains queries for highlighting and everything else.
  • indentation? yeah, it looks better than writing in vimL..
  • code navigation through telescope
• code context and breadcrumbs/outline can use gO mapping for oppening outline buffer, it makes same by default:
  • SmiteshP/nvim-navic and SmiteshP/nvim-navbuddy (only LSP). want the same but through treesitter
  • nvimdev/lspsaga outline
  • stevearc/aerial.nvim
  • hedyhli/outline.nvim
  • Bekaboo/dropbar.nvim
• LSP
  • nvimdev/lspsaga
  • folke/trouble.nvim
  • j-hui/fidget.nvim
  • nvim-cmp not sure we need this because Neovim now has an API vim.snippet.
• languages
  • lua
    • indentation
    • formatting
    • lsp, neodev.nvim, but we also use Neovim for writing mpv plugins
    • diagnostics
  • nix
    • indentation, Neovim does not provide good indentation rules for nix
      • https://vi.stackexchange.com/questions/42674/how-to-fix-indentation-for-nix-files
    • formatting
    • lsp
    • diagnostics
  • markdown
    • indentation
    • formatting
    • lsp
    • diagnostics
    • preview
  • bash
    • indentation
    • formatting
    • lsp
    • diagnostics
  • starlark
    • indentation
    • formatting
    • lsp
    • diagnostics
  • scala
    • indentation, Neovim does not provide good indentation rules for scala
    • formatting
    • lsp
    • diagnostics
  • starlark
    • indentation
    • formatting
    • lsp
      • hovers with bzl lsp
      • goto-definition with alexander-born/bazel.nvim
    • diagnostics
• appearance
  • EdenEast/nightfox.nvim
    • install
    • adjust lsp colors https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol/specifications/lsp/3.17/specification/#textDocument_semanticTokens
  • lukas-reineke/indent-blankline.nvim
  • add an image of the look
• misc
  • folke/todo-comments.nvim?
  • uga-rosa/translate.nvim
  • brenoprata10/nvim-highlight-colors
  • tpope/vim-repeat
• DAP
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KQK2id3JtI
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0moS8UHupGc
• AI coding assistant
  • doc
  • snippets
  • tests