Yet Another (N)Vim Config

Introduction#

You can find my configs for everything here.

The Basic Vim Config#

I've used Vim since about 2018. Over these last eight years, my Vim config has changed very little. Here's the entire .vimrc as of today:

" Make sure Python virtualenvs don't throw a warning when starting vim.
if exists('$VIRTUAL_ENV')
    let &pythonthreedll = system("find /usr/lib64 -name 'libpython3.*.so.1.0' | tail -1 | tr -d '\n'")
    python3 << EOF
import sys
import sysconfig
sys.path.insert(0, sysconfig.get_path('purelib', vars={'base': '/usr', 'platbase': '/usr'}))
EOF
endif

" Uncomment this instead if using neovim:
" if exists('$VIRTUAL_ENV')
"    let g:python3_host_prog = '/usr/bin/python3'
" endif

execute pathogen#infect()
syntax on
colorscheme desert

" Use filetype detection and file-based automatic indenting
if has('filetype')
    filetype plugin indent on
endif

set autoindent          " automatically indent
set hidden              " allow switching buffers without saving
set hlsearch            " highlight search results
set ignorecase          " case-insensitive search...
set incsearch           " show search results as you type
set mouse=              " disable mouse
set pastetoggle=<F2>    " hotkey for paste mode to avoid extra indentation
set ruler               " show cursor position in status bar (redundant with airline but harmless)
set scrolloff=5         " keep 5 lines visible above/below cursor when scrolling
set smartcase           " ...unless you use uppercase in the search term
set textwidth=80        " wrap width
set updatetime=100      " reduce time between updates from 4000ms to 100ms
set visualbell          " don't beep
set wildmenu            " better tab completion in command mode

if has("autocmd")
    " Use actual tab chars in Makefiles
    autocmd FileType make setlocal tabstop=8 shiftwidth=8 softtabstop=0 noexpandtab
    autocmd FileType c    setlocal tabstop=8 shiftwidth=8 softtabstop=8 noexpandtab
    autocmd FileType python setlocal tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4 expandtab
    autocmd FileType rust   setlocal tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4 expandtab
    autocmd FileType yaml   setlocal tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 softtabstop=2 expandtab
    autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.v,*.vs setlocal tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4 expandtab
endif

let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1

with the following installed as plugins:

• fugitive
• nerdtree
• vim-airline
• vim-gitgutter

Switching to NeoVim#

There have been times when I've made an attempt to switch to NeoVim, but I've always found the popular distros to be too much even on first install - there are a lot of changes and new features that feel too different from the default Vim behaviour I expect on a random system. Now that I use Claude for a bit of pair programming and clean-up, I asked it about how I could achieve a similar minimal setup with NeoVim. It gave me this config structure:

/home/tgamblin/.config/nvim/
├── init.lua
└── lua
    └── plugins.lua

and these files:

init.lua

-- Bootstrap lazy.nvim
local lazypath = vim.fn.stdpath("data") .. "/lazy/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
    vim.fn.system({
        "git", "clone", "--filter=blob:none",
        "https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git",
        "--branch=stable",
        lazypath,
    })
end
vim.opt.rtp:prepend(lazypath)

-- Load plugins
require("lazy").setup("plugins")

-- Appearance
vim.cmd("colorscheme desert")
vim.opt.number         = true
vim.opt.ruler          = true
vim.opt.visualbell     = true
vim.opt.colorcolumn    = "81"

-- Editing behaviour
vim.opt.autoindent     = true
vim.opt.textwidth      = 80
vim.opt.scrolloff      = 5
vim.opt.hidden         = true
vim.opt.mouse          = ""

-- Search
vim.opt.hlsearch       = true
vim.opt.incsearch      = true
vim.opt.ignorecase     = true
vim.opt.smartcase      = true
vim.opt.wildmenu       = true

-- Performance
vim.opt.updatetime     = 100

-- Filetype-specific indentation
vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("FileTypeIndent", { clear = true })

-- Use Esc to exit terminal mode
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('t', '<Esc>', '<C-\\><C-n>', {noremap = true})

local function set_indent(pattern, opts)
    vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
        group = "FileTypeIndent",
        pattern = pattern,
        callback = function()
            vim.opt_local.tabstop     = opts.tabstop
            vim.opt_local.shiftwidth  = opts.shiftwidth
            vim.opt_local.softtabstop = opts.softtabstop
            vim.opt_local.expandtab   = opts.expandtab
        end,
    })
end

set_indent("make",   { tabstop=8, shiftwidth=8, softtabstop=0, expandtab=false })
set_indent("c",      { tabstop=8, shiftwidth=8, softtabstop=8, expandtab=false })
set_indent("python", { tabstop=4, shiftwidth=4, softtabstop=4, expandtab=true  })
set_indent("rust",   { tabstop=4, shiftwidth=4, softtabstop=4, expandtab=true  })
set_indent("yaml",   { tabstop=2, shiftwidth=2, softtabstop=2, expandtab=true  })

-- Verilog files (.v, .vs)
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({"BufNewFile", "BufRead"}, {
    group = "FileTypeIndent",
    pattern = {"*.v", "*.vs"},
    callback = function()
        vim.opt_local.tabstop     = 4
        vim.opt_local.shiftwidth  = 4
        vim.opt_local.softtabstop = 4
        vim.opt_local.expandtab   = true
    end,
})

plugins.lua

return {
    -- Statusline
    {
        "vim-airline/vim-airline",
        dependencies = { "vim-airline/vim-airline-themes" },
        config = function()
            vim.g.airline_powerline_fonts = 1
        end,
    },

    -- Git
    { "tpope/vim-fugitive" },
    {
        "lewis6991/gitsigns.nvim",  -- gitgutter equivalent, native neovim plugin
        config = function()
            require("gitsigns").setup()
        end,
    },

    -- tpope essentials
    { "tpope/vim-surround" },
    { "tpope/vim-commentary" },
    { "tpope/vim-repeat" },
    { "tpope/vim-sleuth" },
}

It seems like a nice upgrade, but the differences are subtle. Terminal Mode got me at first. Note this part

-- Use Esc to exit terminal mode
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('t', '<Esc>', '<C-\\><C-n>', {noremap = true})

More?#

I think at this point this may be the heaviest I want to make my editor, but we'll see. Maybe I'll publish it with a setup script as an alternative to the bigger options. There are also still a lot of shortcuts in Vim I ought to make much better use of before trying to add extra stuff. There's a great reference here.