nvim-config

A very minimal Neovim configuration I use for work. It does not rely on any plugin managers and does not randomly execute untrusted code from the internet.

Anyway, if you're wondering where you can learn about all this, there are plenty of videos and channels on YouTube.

Clone this repository:

git clone git@github.com:bkircher/nvim-config.git ~/.config/nvim

Plugins

You can easily manage plugins manually in Neovim, see :help packages. Here I use git submodules to install, update, and track plugins inside the Neovim config directory (~/.config/nvim) and use a symlink to the runtime path:

~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/plugins → ~/.config/nvim/plugins

Installing new plugins

Create the necessary directories and symlinks first. Create the plugin directory:

$ mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/
$ cd ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack

Create a symlink into your Neovim config directory:

$ ln -s ~/.config/nvim/plugins plugins

Then clone the plugin of your choice into your ~/.config/nvim/plugins/start directory. For example, you would install nvim-treesitter as follows

$ cd ~/.config/nvim
$ git submodule add git@github.com:nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter.git \
    plugins/start/nvim-treesitter

This adds a git submodule to your source tree which you can introspect and manage with git. For example, with git submodule you can list all installed plugins and the referenced versions:

$ git submodule
 b10ed9a8b37d6b7448908be98ff8f58f550adc48 plugins/start/everforest (v0.3.0-114-gb10ed9a)
 7f8dd2e48bc47227d8138a5b5b1fb5a6d6e42237 plugins/start/nvim-treesitter (v0.9.3-576-g7f8dd2e4)

Updating plugins

To update a plugin, say nvim-treesitter, you would navigate to the plugin directory and pull the latest changes

$ cd ~/.config/nvim/plugins/start/nvim-treesitter
$ git pull

Then, reopen Neovim and run TSUpdate again to update parsers if needed.

Defaults and Keymaps

• Leader key is set to space (<Space>). Local leader is ,.
• Colorscheme is Everforest (dark/hard) with transparent background.
• Treesitter is configured with highlighting, indentation, and incremental selection (gnn to init, grn/grm to inc/dec).
• Quality-of-life keymaps:
  • <C-h/j/k/l> to move between splits
  • <leader>h to clear search highlight
  • <leader>w to save the buffer (if modified)
• Deno formatting: <leader>f formats the current buffer via deno fmt - if deno is installed and the filetype/extension is supported.

Spelling

This config uses a personal wordlist located in

~/.config/spelling/en.utf-8.add

• Neovim options point spellfile to that path and set spelllang to en_us and de_de.
• Spell is auto-enabled for markdown, gitcommit, and text. Toggle with <leader>ss in any buffer.
• Add words from inside Neovim with zg (appends to en.utf-8.add).

Recompile after dictionary changes

Recompilation is optional but recommended after large edits to the dictionary file.

From inside Vim:

:mkspell! ~/.config/spelling/en.utf-8.add

From the shell:

$ nvim -n -u NONE -c "silent mkspell! ~/.config/spelling/en.utf-8.add" -c 'qa'

Note: adding words with zg writes directly to en.utf-8.add, and Neovim uses them immediately.

TODO

• Add minimal built-in LSP startup that only activates when servers are present (no plugins, no downloads)

Links

• https://neovim.io/doc/
• https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter?tab=readme-ov-file#nvim-treesitter