nix-community.nixvim/docs/user-guide/faq.md

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I use a plugin not implemented in nixvim

Using a plugin not supported by nixvim, but packaged in nixpkgs is straightforward:

• Register the plugin through extraPlugins: extraPlugins = [pkgs.vimPlugins."<plugin name>"].
• Configure the plugin through extraConfigLua: extraConfigLua = "require('my-plugin').setup({foo = "bar"})";

How do I use a plugin not packaged in nixpkgs

This is straightforward too, you can add the following to extraPlugins for a plugin hosted on GitHub:

extraPlugins = [(pkgs.vimUtils.buildVimPlugin {
    name = "my-plugin";
    src = pkgs.fetchFromGitHub {
        owner = "<owner>";
        repo = "<repo>";
        rev = "<commit hash>";
        hash = "<nix NAR hash>";
    };
})];

The nixpkgs manual has more information on this.

How do I solve <name> missing

When using NixVim it is possible to encounter an error of the type attribute 'name' missing, for example it could look like:

       (stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full trace)

       error: attribute 'haskell-scope-highlighting-nvim' missing

       at /nix/store/k897af00nzlz4ylxr5vakzpcvh6m3rnn-source/plugins/languages/haskell-scope-highlighting.nix:12:22:

           11|     originalName = "haskell-scope-highlighting.nvim";
           12|     defaultPackage = pkgs.vimPlugins.haskell-scope-highlighting-nvim;
             |                      ^
           13|

This usually means one of two things:

• The nixpkgs version is not in line with NixVim (for example nixpkgs nixos-24.05 is used with NixVim master)
• The nixpkgs unstable version used with NixVim is not recent enough.

How do I create multiple aliases for a single keymap

You could use the builtin map function (or similar) to do something like this:

keymaps =
  (builtins.map (key: {
    inherit key;
    action = "<some-action>";
    options.desc = "My cool keymapping";
  }) ["<key-1>" "<key-2>" "<key-3>"])
  ++ [
    # Other keymaps...
  ];

This maps a list of keys into a list of similar keymaps. It is equivalent to:

keymaps = [
  {
    key = "<key-1>";
    action = "<some-action>";
    options.desc = "My cool keymapping";
  }
  {
    key = "<key-2>";
    action = "<some-action>";
    options.desc = "My cool keymapping";
  }
  {
    key = "<key-3>";
    action = "<some-action>";
    options.desc = "My cool keymapping";
  }
  # Other keymaps...
];

How to use system provided binaries instead of nixvim provided ones

There are a number of plugins that install extra packages using nix, but this can cause issues. For example enabling plugins.treesitter could add gcc to the PATH of neovim, and this could break workflows that rely on the system provided compiler.

Most plugins that install packages also provide a xxxPackage option that can be set to null to skip the installation of the package. For example plugin.treesitter provides the gccPackage option.