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NixVim - A Neovim configuration system for nix

• Quick set up tutorial (by @Vimjoyer)
• Nixvim: How to configure Neovim with the power of Nix (NeovimConf 2023 talk by @GaetanLepage)

What is it?

NixVim is a Neovim distribution built around Nix modules. It is distributed as a Nix flake, and configured through Nix, all while leaving room for your plugins and your vimrc.

What does it look like?

Here is a simple configuration that uses gruvbox as the colorscheme and uses the lightline plugin:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    enable = true;

    colorschemes.gruvbox.enable = true;
    plugins.lightline.enable = true;
  };
}

When we do this, lightline will be set up to a sensible default, and will use gruvbox as the colorscheme, no extra configuration required!

Support/Questions

If you have any question, please use the discussions page! Alternatively, join the Matrix channel at #nixvim:matrix.org!

Installation

WARNING !

NixVim needs to be installed with a compatible nixpkgs version. This means that the main branch of NixVim requires to be installed with nixos-unstable.

If you want to use NixVim with nixpkgs 23.05 you should use the nixos-23.05 branch.

Without flakes

NixVim now ships with flake-compat, which makes it usable from any system.

To install it, edit your home-manager (or NixOS) configuration:

{ pkgs, lib, ... }:
let
  nixvim = import (builtins.fetchGit {
    url = "https://github.com/nix-community/nixvim";
    # If you are not running an unstable channel of nixpkgs, select the corresponding branch of nixvim.
    # ref = "nixos-23.05";
  });
in
{
  imports = [
    # For home-manager
    nixvim.homeManagerModules.nixvim
    # For NixOS
    nixvim.nixosModules.nixvim
    # For nix-darwin
    nixvim.nixDarwinModules.nixvim
  ];

  programs.nixvim.enable = true;
}

Using flakes

This is the recommended method if you are already using flakes to manage your system. To enable flakes, add this to /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

{ pkgs, lib, ... }:
{
  nix = {
    package = pkgs.nixFlakes;
    extraOptions = lib.optionalString (config.nix.package == pkgs.nixFlakes)
      "experimental-features = nix-command flakes";
  };
}

Now, you need to import the module. If your system is already configured using flakes, just add the nixvim input:

{
  # ...
  inputs.nixvim = {
    url = "github:nix-community/nixvim";
    # If you are not running an unstable channel of nixpkgs, select the corresponding branch of nixvim.
    # url = "github:nix-community/nixvim/nixos-23.05";

    inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };
}

You can now access the module using inputs.nixvim.homeManagerModules.nixvim, for a home-manager installation, inputs.nixvim.nixosModules.nixvim, for NixOS, and inputs.nixvim.nixDarwinModules.nixvim for nix-darwin.

Usage

NixVim can be used in four ways: through the home-manager, nix-darwin, NixOS modules, and standalone through the makeNixvim function. To use the modules, just import the nixvim.homeManagerModules.nixvim, nixvim.nixDarwinModules.nixvim, and nixvim.nixosModules.nixvim modules, depending on which system you're using.

If you want to use it standalone, you can use the makeNixvim function:

{ pkgs, nixvim, ... }: {
  environment.systemModules = [
    (nixvim.legacyPackages."${system}".makeNixvim {
      colorschemes.gruvbox.enable = true;
    })
  ];
}

To get started with a standalone configuration, you can use the template by running the following command in an empty directory (recommended):

nix flake init --template github:nix-community/nixvim

Alternatively, if you want a minimal flake to allow building a custom neovim you can use the following:

{
  description = "A very basic flake";

  inputs.nixvim.url = "github:nix-community/nixvim";

  outputs = {
    self,
    nixvim,
    flake-parts,
  } @ inputs: let
    config = {
      colorschemes.gruvbox.enable = true;
    };
  in
    flake-parts.lib.mkFlake {inherit inputs;} {
      systems = [
        "aarch64-darwin"
        "aarch64-linux"
        "x86_64-darwin"
        "x86_64-linux"
      ];

      perSystem = {
        pkgs,
        system,
        ...
      }: let
        nixvim' = nixvim.legacyPackages."${system}";
        nvim = nixvim'.makeNixvim config;
      in {
        packages = {
          inherit nvim;
          default = nvim;
        };
      };
    };
}

You can then run neovim using nix run .# -- <file>. This can be useful to test config changes easily.

With a devShell

You can also use nixvim to define an instance which will only be available inside a Nix devShell:

let
  nvim = nixvim.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.makeNixvim {
    plugins.lsp.enable = true;
  };
in pkgs.mkShell {
  buildInputs = [nvim];
};

Advanced Usage

You may want more control over the nixvim modules, like:

• Splitting your configuration in multiple files
• Adding custom nix modules to enhance nixvim
• Change the nixpkgs used by nixvim

In this case, you can use the makeNixvimWithModule function.

It takes a set with the following keys:

• pkgs: The nixpkgs to use (defaults to the nixpkgs pointed at by the nixvim flake)
• module: The nix module definition used to extend nixvim. This is useful to pass additional module machinery like options or imports.
• extraSpecialArgs: Extra arguments to pass to the modules when using functions. Can be self in a flake, for example.

How does it work?

When you build the module (probably using home-manager), it will install all your plugins and generate a lua config for NeoVim with all the options specified. Because it uses lua, this ensures that your configuration will load as fast as possible.

Since everything is disabled by default, it will be as snappy as you want it to be.

Documentation

Documentation is available on this project's GitHub Pages page: https://nix-community.github.io/nixvim

If the option enableMan is set to true (by default it is), man pages will also be installed containing the same information, they can be viewed with man nixvim.

Plugins

After you have installed NixVim, you will no doubt want to enable some plugins. Plugins are based on a modules system, similarly to NixOS and Home Manager.

So, to enable some supported plugin, all you have to do is enable its module:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    plugins.lightline.enable = true;
  };
}

Of course, if that was everything, there wouldn't be much point to NixVim, you'd just use a regular plugin manager. All options for supported plugins are exposed as options of that module. For now, there is no documentation yet, but there are detailed explanations in the source code. Detailed documentation for every module is planned.

Not all plugins will have modules, so you might still want to fetch some. This is not a problem, just use the extraPlugins option:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    extraPlugins = with pkgs.vimPlugins; [
      vim-nix
    ];
  };
}

However, if you find yourself doing this a lot, please consider contributing or requesting a module!

Colorschemes

Colorschemes are provided within a different scope:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    # Enable gruvbox
    colorschemes.gruvbox.enable = true;
  };
}

Just like with normal plugins, extra colorscheme options are provided as part of its module.

If your colorscheme isn't provided as a module, install it using extraPlugins and set it using the colorscheme option:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    extraPlugins = [ pkgs.vimPlugins.gruvbox ];
    colorscheme = "gruvbox";
  };
}

All NixVim supported plugins will, by default, use the main colorscheme you set, though this can be overridden on a per-plugin basis.

Options

NeoVim has a lot of configuration options. You can find a list of them by doing :h option-list from within NeoVim.

All of these are configurable from within NixVim. All you have to do is set the opts attribute:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    opts = {
      number = true;         # Show line numbers
      relativenumber = true; # Show relative line numbers

      shiftwidth = 2;        # Tab width should be 2
    };
  };
}

Please note that to, for example, disable numbers you would not set opts.nonumber to true, you'd set opts.number to false.

Key mappings

It is fully possible to define key mappings from within NixVim. This is done using the keymaps attribute:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    keymaps = [
      {
        key = ";";
        action = ":";
      }
      {
        mode = "n";
        key = "<leader>m";
        options.silent = true;
        action = "<cmd>!make<CR>";
      }
    ];
  };
}

This is equivalent to this vimscript:

noremap ; :
nnoremap <leader>m <silent> <cmd>make<CR>

This table describes all modes for the keymaps option. You can provide several modes to a single mapping by using a list of strings.

Each keymap can specify the following settings in the options attrs.

Globals

Sometimes you might want to define a global variable, for example to set the leader key. This is easy with the globals attribute:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    globals.mapleader = ","; # Sets the leader key to comma
  };
}

Additional config

Sometimes NixVim won't be able to provide for all your customization needs. In these cases, the extraConfigVim and extraConfigLua options are provided:

{
  programs.nixvim = {
    extraConfigLua = ''
      -- Print a little welcome message when nvim is opened!
      print("Hello world!")
    '';
  };
}

If you feel like what you are doing manually should be supported in NixVim, please open an issue.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md