nixpkgs/doc/languages-frameworks/vim.section.md

# Vim {#vim}

Both Neovim and Vim can be configured to include your favorite plugins
and additional libraries.

Loading can be deferred; see examples.

At the moment we support two different methods for managing plugins:

- Vim packages (*recommended*)
- vim-plug (vim only)

Right now two Vim packages are available: `vim` which has most features that require extra
dependencies disabled and `vim-full` which has them configurable and enabled by default.

::: {.note}
`vim_configurable` is a deprecated alias for `vim-full` and refers to the fact that its
build-time features are configurable. It has nothing to do with user configuration,
and both the `vim` and `vim-full` packages can be customized as explained in the next section.
:::

## Custom configuration {#custom-configuration}

Adding custom .vimrc lines can be done using the following code:

```nix
vim-full.customize {
  # `name` optionally specifies the name of the executable and package
  name = "vim-with-plugins";

  vimrcConfig.customRC = ''
    set hidden
  '';
}
```

This configuration is used when Vim is invoked with the command specified as name, in this case `vim-with-plugins`.
You can also omit `name` to customize Vim itself. See the
[definition of `vimUtils.makeCustomizable`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix#L408)
for all supported options.

For Neovim the `configure` argument can be overridden to achieve the same:

```nix
neovim.override {
  configure = {
    customRC = ''
      # here your custom configuration goes!
    '';
  };
}
```

If you want to use `neovim-qt` as a graphical editor, you can configure it by overriding Neovim in an overlay
or passing it an overridden Neovim:

```nix
neovim-qt.override {
  neovim = neovim.override {
    configure = {
      customRC = ''
        # your custom configuration
      '';
    };
  };
}
```

## Managing plugins with Vim packages {#managing-plugins-with-vim-packages}

To store your plugins in Vim packages (the native Vim plugin manager, see `:help packages`) the following example can be used:

```nix
vim-full.customize {
  vimrcConfig.packages.myVimPackage = with pkgs.vimPlugins; {
    # loaded on launch
    start = [ youcompleteme fugitive ];
    # manually loadable by calling `:packadd $plugin-name`
    # however, if a Vim plugin has a dependency that is not explicitly listed in
    # opt that dependency will always be added to start to avoid confusion.
    opt = [ phpCompletion elm-vim ];
    # To automatically load a plugin when opening a filetype, add vimrc lines like:
    # autocmd FileType php :packadd phpCompletion
  };
}
```

`myVimPackage` is an arbitrary name for the generated package. You can choose any name you like.
For Neovim the syntax is:

```nix
neovim.override {
  configure = {
    customRC = ''
      # here your custom configuration goes!
    '';
    packages.myVimPackage = with pkgs.vimPlugins; {
      # see examples below how to use custom packages
      start = [ ];
      # If a Vim plugin has a dependency that is not explicitly listed in
      # opt that dependency will always be added to start to avoid confusion.
      opt = [ ];
    };
  };
}
```

The resulting package can be added to `packageOverrides` in `~/.nixpkgs/config.nix` to make it installable:

```nix
{
  packageOverrides = pkgs: with pkgs; {
    myVim = vim-full.customize {
      # `name` specifies the name of the executable and package
      name = "vim-with-plugins";
      # add here code from the example section
    };
    myNeovim = neovim.override {
      configure = {
      # add code from the example section here
      };
    };
  };
}
```

After that you can install your special grafted `myVim` or `myNeovim` packages.

### What if your favourite Vim plugin isn’t already packaged? {#what-if-your-favourite-vim-plugin-isnt-already-packaged}

If one of your favourite plugins isn't packaged, you can package it yourself:

```nix
{ config, pkgs, ... }:

let
  easygrep = pkgs.vimUtils.buildVimPlugin {
    name = "vim-easygrep";
    src = pkgs.fetchFromGitHub {
      owner = "dkprice";
      repo = "vim-easygrep";
      rev = "d0c36a77cc63c22648e792796b1815b44164653a";
      hash = "sha256-bL33/S+caNmEYGcMLNCanFZyEYUOUmSsedCVBn4tV3g=";
    };
  };
in
{
  environment.systemPackages = [
    (
      pkgs.neovim.override {
        configure = {
          packages.myPlugins = with pkgs.vimPlugins; {
          start = [
            vim-go # already packaged plugin
            easygrep # custom package
          ];
          opt = [];
        };
        # ...
      };
     }
    )
  ];
}
```

If your package requires building specific parts, use instead `pkgs.vimUtils.buildVimPlugin`.

### Specificities for some plugins {#vim-plugin-specificities}
#### Treesitter {#vim-plugin-treesitter}

By default `nvim-treesitter` encourages you to download, compile and install
the required Treesitter grammars at run time with `:TSInstall`. This works
poorly on NixOS.  Instead, to install the `nvim-treesitter` plugins with a set
of precompiled grammars, you can use `nvim-treesitter.withPlugins` function:

```nix
(pkgs.neovim.override {
  configure = {
    packages.myPlugins = with pkgs.vimPlugins; {
      start = [
        (nvim-treesitter.withPlugins (
          plugins: with plugins; [
            nix
            python
          ]
        ))
      ];
    };
  };
})
```

To enable all grammars packaged in nixpkgs, use `pkgs.vimPlugins.nvim-treesitter.withAllGrammars`.

## Managing plugins with vim-plug {#managing-plugins-with-vim-plug}

To use [vim-plug](https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug) to manage your Vim
plugins the following example can be used:

```nix
vim-full.customize {
  vimrcConfig.packages.myVimPackage = with pkgs.vimPlugins; {
    # loaded on launch
    plug.plugins = [ youcompleteme fugitive phpCompletion elm-vim ];
  };
}
```

Note: this is not possible anymore for Neovim.


## Adding new plugins to nixpkgs {#adding-new-plugins-to-nixpkgs}

Nix expressions for Vim plugins are stored in [pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tree/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins). For the vast majority of plugins, Nix expressions are automatically generated by running [`nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run vim-plugins-updater`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/updater.nix). This creates a [generated.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/generated.nix) file based on the plugins listed in [vim-plugin-names](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-plugin-names).

When the vim updater detects an nvim-treesitter update, it also runs [`nvim-treesitter/update.py $(nix-build -A vimPlugins.nvim-treesitter)`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/update.py) to update the tree sitter grammars for `nvim-treesitter`.

Some plugins require overrides in order to function properly. Overrides are placed in [overrides.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/overrides.nix). Overrides are most often required when a plugin requires some dependencies, or extra steps are required during the build process. For example `deoplete-fish` requires both `deoplete-nvim` and `vim-fish`, and so the following override was added:

```nix
{
  deoplete-fish = super.deoplete-fish.overrideAttrs(old: {
    dependencies = with super; [ deoplete-nvim vim-fish ];
  });
}
```

Sometimes plugins require an override that must be changed when the plugin is updated. This can cause issues when Vim plugins are auto-updated but the associated override isn't updated. For these plugins, the override should be written so that it specifies all information required to install the plugin, and running `nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run vim-plugins-updater` doesn't change the derivation for the plugin. Manually updating the override is required to update these types of plugins. An example of such a plugin is `LanguageClient-neovim`.

To add a new plugin, run `nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run 'vim-plugins-updater add "[owner]/[name]"'`. **NOTE**: This script automatically commits to your git repository. Be sure to check out a fresh branch before running.

Finally, there are some plugins that are also packaged in nodePackages because they have Javascript-related build steps, such as running webpack. Those plugins are not listed in `vim-plugin-names` or managed by `vimPluginsUpdater` at all, and are included separately in `overrides.nix`. Currently, all these plugins are related to the `coc.nvim` ecosystem of the Language Server Protocol integration with Vim/Neovim.

### Testing Neovim plugins {#testing-neovim-plugins}

#### neovimRequireCheck {#testing-neovim-plugins-neovim-require-check}
`neovimRequireCheck` is a simple test which checks if Neovim can requires lua modules without errors. This is often enough to catch missing dependencies.

It accepts a single string for a module, or a list of module strings to test.
- `nvimRequireCheck = MODULE;`
- `nvimRequireCheck = [ MODULE1 MODULE2 ];`

When `nvimRequireCheck` is not specified, we will search the plugin's directory for lua modules to attempt loading. This quick smoke test can catch obvious dependency errors that might be missed.
The check hook will fail the build if any failures are detected to encourage inspecting the logs to identify potential issues.

If you would like to only check a specific module, this can be manually added through plugin definition overrides in the [overrides.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/overrides.nix).

```nix
  gitsigns-nvim = super.gitsigns-nvim.overrideAttrs {
    dependencies = [ self.plenary-nvim ];
    nvimRequireCheck = "gitsigns";
  };
```
Some plugins will have lua modules that require a user configuration to function properly or can contain optional lua modules that we dont want to test requiring.
We can skip specific modules using `nvimSkipModule`. Similar to `nvimRequireCheck`, it accepts a single string or a list of strings.
- `nvimSkipModule = MODULE;`
- `nvimSkipModule = [ MODULE1 MODULE2 ];`

```nix
  asyncrun-vim = super.asyncrun-vim.overrideAttrs {
    nvimSkipModule = [
      # vim plugin with optional toggleterm integration
      "asyncrun.toggleterm"
      "asyncrun.toggleterm2"
    ];
  };
```

In rare cases, we might not want to actually test loading lua modules for a plugin. In those cases, we can disable `neovimRequireCheck` with `doCheck = false;`.

This can be manually added through plugin definition overrides in the [overrides.nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/overrides.nix).
```nix
  vim-test = super.vim-test.overrideAttrs {
    # Vim plugin with a test lua file
    doCheck = false;
  };
```

### Plugin optional configuration {#vim-plugin-required-snippet}

Some plugins require specific configuration to work. We choose not to
patch those plugins but expose the necessary configuration under
`PLUGIN.passthru.initLua` for neovim plugins. For instance, the `unicode-vim` plugin
needs the path towards a unicode database so we expose the following snippet `vim.g.Unicode_data_directory="${self.unicode-vim}/autoload/unicode"` under `vimPlugins.unicode-vim.passthru.initLua`.


## Updating plugins in nixpkgs {#updating-plugins-in-nixpkgs}

Run the update script with a GitHub API token that has at least `public_repo` access. Running the script without the token is likely to result in rate-limiting (429 errors). For steps on creating an API token, please refer to [GitHub's token documentation](https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token).

```sh
nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run 'vim-plugins-updater --github-token=mytoken' # or set GITHUB_API_TOKEN environment variable
```

Alternatively, set the number of processes to a lower count to avoid rate-limiting.

```sh
nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run 'vim-plugins-updater --proc 1'
```

If you want to update only certain plugins, you can specify them after the `update` command. Note that you must use the same plugin names as the `pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-plugin-names` file.

```sh
nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run 'vim-plugins-updater update "nvim-treesitter" "LazyVim"'
```

## How to maintain an out-of-tree overlay of vim plugins ? {#vim-out-of-tree-overlays}

You can use the updater script to generate basic packages out of a custom vim
plugin list:

```
nix-shell -p vimPluginsUpdater --run vim-plugins-updater -i vim-plugin-names -o generated.nix --no-commit
```

with the contents of `vim-plugin-names` being for example:

```
repo,branch,alias
pwntester/octo.nvim,,
```

You can then reference the generated vim plugins via:

```nix
{
  myVimPlugins = pkgs.vimPlugins.extend (
    (pkgs.callPackage ./generated.nix {})
  );
}
```