Neovim Config

A from-scratch Neovim configuration focused on functionality, performance, and simplicity.

Philosophy & Key Decisions

Plugin Manager: vim.pack (built-in) over lazy.nvim

Why: After migrating to lazy.nvim and comparing startup times, the complexity of a separate plugin manager wasn't worth the ~74ms saved by deferred loading. With vim.schedule() for the single heaviest plugin (orgmode), startup is ~82ms — well below human perception. lazyloading .

Package Management: Nix shells over mason.nvim

Language servers, formatters, and linters are provided by Nix shells per project (or global system install). nvim-lspconfig auto-detects anything on $PATH. No mason.

mini.nvim preference

Wherever mini.nvim provides a feature (cursorword, hipatterns, surround, etc.), it's used over standalone alternatives. Consistent API, single maintainer, lightweight.

No UI/Looks plugins

Explicitly avoided noice.nvim, lualine.nvim, bufferline.nvim, and similar cosmetic plugins. The focus is on editing efficiency, not eye candy.

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Plugin Stack

Core & Colorscheme

Plugin	Purpose	Load
nordic.nvim	Colorscheme	Startup

Treesitter & Syntax

Plugin	Purpose	Load
nvim-treesitter	Syntax parsing, highlighting	Startup
nvim-treesitter-textobjects	Syntax-aware text objects (vif, vaf, ]m, [[, etc.)	Startup
nvim-treesitter-context	Sticky function/class header while scrolling	Startup
nvim-ts-autotag	Auto-close/rename HTML/JSX tags	Startup
rainbow-delimiters.nvim	Rainbow-coloured bracket pairs	Startup
nvim-ts-context-commentstring	Correct commentstring in mixed files	Startup

Parsers installed: go, nix, lua, json, html, markdown_inline, python, bash, zsh, just, yaml, javascript, typescript, tsx, css, svelte, vue, c, cpp, rust, java, kotlin

LSP

Plugin	Purpose	Load
nvim-lspconfig	LSP client configuration	Startup
lazydev.nvim	Lua LSP enhancements	FileType lua only

Enabled servers: nixd, lua_ls, jsonls, html, marksman, gopls, ruff, basedpyright, yamlls, bashls, just, qmlls, org

Completion

Plugin	Purpose	Load
blink.cmp	Completion engine (v2, Rust-backed fuzzy matcher)	Startup
LuaSnip	Snippet engine	Startup
friendly-snippets	Snippet collection	Startup
copilot.lua	Copilot LSP backend	Startup (disabled, toggled on demand)
blink-copilot	blink.cmp Copilot source	Startup (disabled, toggled on demand)

Copilot is disabled on startup to avoid the keepassxc password prompt. Toggle with <leader>cc or :CopilotToggle.

Fuzzy Finding

Plugin	Purpose	Load
telescope.nvim	Fuzzy finder (replaces mini.pick)	Startup
telescope-fzf-native.nvim	Native fzf sorting (out-of-order matching)	Startup
plenary.nvim	Lua utilities (telescope dependency)	Startup
telescope-orgmode.nvim	Orgmode headline/tag/refile/link pickers	Startup
telescope-undo.nvim	Visual undo tree browser	Startup
telescope-zoxide	Zoxide directory picker	Startup

Why replace mini.pick? mini.pick lacks out-of-order fuzzy matching (e.g. src/lua won't match lua/src). telescope-fzf-native provides proper fzf-style matching.

Editing

Plugin	Purpose	Load
mini.nvim	Swiss-army knife (all modules below)	Startup

mini.nvim modules used:

• mini.git / mini.diff — Git gutter signs
• mini.statusline — Status line
• mini.move — Line/selection moving
• mini.splitjoin — Toggle single/multi-line arguments
• mini.surround — Surround text objects
• mini.indentscope — Indent scope highlighting
• mini.notify — In-editor notifications
• mini.comment — Comment/uncomment (gc, gcc)
• mini.files — File explorer
• mini.sessions — Session management
• mini.visits — Visit/file tracking
• mini.starter — Startup screen
• mini.icons — Icon provider for blink.cmp and telescope
• mini.hipatterns — Highlight TODO/FIXME/HACK/NOTE + hex colors
• mini.cursorword — Auto-highlight word under cursor

Formatting & Linting

Plugin	Purpose	Load
conform.nvim	Formatter (alejandra for nix, gofumpt+goimports for go)	Startup
nvim-lint	Linter (golangci-lint for go)	Startup

Debugging

Plugin	Purpose	Load
nvim-dap	Debug Adapter Protocol client	Startup
nvim-dap-ui	DAP UI (scopes, breakpoints, stacks, watches, REPL)	Startup
nvim-dap-go	Go DAP configuration (delve)	Startup
nvim-dap-virtual-text	Inline evaluated expression display	Startup
nvim-nio	Async library (dap-ui + neotest dependency)	Startup

Note: No Python DAP adapter configured — gap if debugging Python.

Testing

Plugin	Purpose	Load
neotest	Test runner framework	Startup
neotest-golang	Go test adapter (go test)	Startup
neotest-python	Python test adapter (pytest)	Startup
neotest-plenary	Lua/Neovim plugin test adapter (busted)	Startup

Git

Plugin	Purpose	Load
diffview.nvim	Git diff/merge viewer	Startup

Git + mini.git/mini.diff provide gutter signs. diffview adds rich diff browsing.

Markdown

Plugin	Purpose	Load
render-markdown.nvim	In-buffer markdown rendering	FileType markdown only
markdown.nvim	Markdown utilities	FileType markdown only
markdown-table-mode.nvim	Table editing	FileType markdown only

Orgmode

Plugin	Purpose	Load
nvim-orgmode	Org-mode (agenda, capture, TODOs, notifications)	Startup, setup deferred via vim.schedule
org-roam.nvim	Roam-style notes (dailies, backlinks)	Startup, setup deferred via vim.schedule

Why deferred? orgmode's 180-line setup with capture templates, agenda views, and custom commands costs ~23ms at startup. Since you won't enter orgmode in the first second, setup is scheduled to run 200ms after startup, saving that time.

Keybinding Help

Plugin	Purpose	Load
which-key.nvim	Keybinding popup help	Startup

Why replace mini.clues? which-key provides a popup window (vs inline hints), auto-discovers keymaps from desc attributes, and requires less manual configuration.

Diagnostics

Plugin	Purpose	Load
trouble.nvim	Live diagnostics/quickfix panel	Startup

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Keybindings Reference

Leader: <Space>

Group	Prefix	Description
Find	<leader>f	Telescope pickers, file/search/git/visits
Debug	<leader>d	DAP breakpoint, continue, step, REPL, UI
Test	<leader>t	Neotest run, file, last, stop, output, summary
Session	<leader>s	MiniSessions create/select
Visits	<leader>v	MiniVisits add/remove labels
LSP	<leader>l	Format buffer
Copilot	<leader>c	Toggle Copilot
Explorer	<leader>e	Toggle mini.files
Orgmode	<leader>o	Agenda, capture, telescope headings/tags/refile/link
Roam	<leader>nd	Org-roam dailies
Git	<leader>g	Diffview open/close/history
Trouble	<leader>x	Diagnostics, quickfix, references, symbols
Undo	<leader>u	Telescope undo tree
Zoxide	<leader>z	Telescope zoxide

Text Objects (treesitter)

Key	Selects
vif / vaf	Inner / around function
vic / vac	Inner / around class
vil / val	Inner / around loop
vii / vai	Inner / around conditional
vip / vap	Inner / around parameter
vib / vab	Inner / around block
vir / var	Inner / around return

Motion (treesitter)

Key	Action
]m / [m	Next/previous method
[M / ]M	End of next/previous method
]] / [[]	Next/previous class
][ / []	End of next/previous class
<leader>sn / <leader>sp	Swap parameter next/previous

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Performance

Metric	Value
Startup time	~82ms
Plugins total	35
Loaded at startup	33
Deferred (load on demand)	render-markdown, markdown.nvim, markdown-table-mode, lazydev.nvim
Deferred setup (via vim.schedule)	orgmode, org-roam

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Language Support

Language	LSP	Formatter	Linter	Test adapter
Go	gopls	gofumpt + goimports	golangci-lint	neotest-golang
Python	basedpyright + ruff	ruff	ruff	neotest-python
Lua	lua_ls + lazydev.nvim	—	—	neotest-plenary
Nix	nixd	alejandra	—	—
Bash	bash-language-server	—	—	—
Org	org (built-in)	—	—	—

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File Structure

~/.config/nvim/
├── init.lua                        # Entry point
├── lazy-lock.json                  # (not used — using vim.pack)
├── nvim-pack-lock.json             # Plugin lockfile
├── README.md
├── lua/
│   ├── config/
│   │   ├── init.lua                # Requires settings, keybindings, autocommands
│   │   ├── settings.lua            # vim.opt options
│   │   ├── keybindings.lua         # Global keymaps
│   │   ├── autocommands.lua        # Autocommands
│   │   └── copilot.lua             # Copilot toggle manager
│   ├── lsp/
│   │   ├── go.lua                  # gopls settings
│   │   └── nixd.lua                # nixd settings
│   └── plugins/
│       ├── init.lua                # Plugin load order
│       ├── colorscheme.lua
│       ├── treesitter.lua          # treesitter + textobjects + context + autotag + rainbow + commentstring
│       ├── lsp.lua                 # lspconfig + lazydev
│       ├── blink.lua               # blink.cmp + LuaSnip + copilot
│       ├── telescope.lua           # telescope + fzf-native + extensions
│       ├── which-key.lua
│       ├── conform.lua
│       ├── lint.lua
│       ├── dap.lua                 # nvim-dap + dap-ui + dap-go + dap-virtual-text
│       ├── neotest.lua             # neotest + adapters
│       ├── trouble.lua             # trouble diagnostics panel
│       ├── diffview.lua            # git diff viewer
│       ├── markdown.lua            # render-markdown + markdown.nvim + table-mode
│       ├── org.lua                 # nvim-orgmode + org-roam
│       └── mini/
│           ├── init.lua            # All mini.nvim modules
│           ├── _files.lua          # mini.files config
│           ├── _highlight.lua      # mini.hipatterns config
│           ├── _pick.lua           # mini.icons only (picker replaced by telescope)
│           ├── _starter.lua        # mini.sessions + mini.visits + mini.starter
│           └── _clues.lua          # Disabled (replaced by which-key)