Best (Neo)vim "batteries included" for NixOS

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Hey everyone!

First off, I am NOT a Vim expert. Some of what I describe as needing to be “easy”, will likely be easy to others. ha/

I have been using Lunarvim (without customization) for some time and actually enjoy it. Recently, however, it has started acting up, and even when I start fresh, the issues persist.

I am not yet at the point where I need assistance there (and would open a more appropriately titled post).

I am just curious to see what others are using with a good nixos experience where I will not be tweaking for the following “x” number of months to get “just right”.

For myself, the most significant items I like to have “easy” are pretty simple.

  • easy comment toggling
  • reasonable clipboard settings
  • easy multi-select
  • easy language support (mostly syntax, linting, and finding my errors). (common ones are Go, Nix, Terraform, Shell, etc)

I know there is Helix as “batteries included,” but my muscle memory was killing me when I tried it out. And I do not want to tweak the heck out of that to emulate Vim. Maybe at some point, I may, but not today.

I am just not in the time position to shave the yak on this.

Thanks to all!

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Lazyvim?

I just copied somebody’s Nixvim file, and it has proven surprisingly robust & effective and a good base from which to develop.

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I second Lazyvim! I have had minimal trouble with it on Nix - even less so after disabling Mason. Feel free to see how I manage it on Github.

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I have written a series of posts on this subject of Neovim and Nix, that go from basic to more advanced. Here is the first. Basically, beyond just packaging the editor itself, Nix and/or Home Manager can replace the various Neovim plugin managers. With Nix, there is no need for LazyVim or Mason, for example. In terms of how to get started without something like Lunarvim, there are projects like kickstart.nvim and more simply, mini.nvim. For a really full-featured solution, you could try Nixvim.

If you will allow me to take off my Nix and put on my Neovim hat, I would like to encourage you to reconsider your overall approach: I actually “got good” at Vim and later Neovim when I put in the gradual time to build up the editor. For example, learn what C-X C-O does and why: then you will better understand what kinds of completion are available to you. Building up the editor will make it long-term easier to maintain and less buggy.

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Thanks everyone! I’ll have to look at each of there options! Appreciate it!

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Well, I think I am landing on nixvim.

It makes sense to me once I looked at a few samples. And once my personal module is set up, it should be easy to maintain.

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