kickstart.nvim

Introduction

A starting point for Neovim that is:

• Small
• Modular (core and plugin configurations are split into logical files)
• Completely Documented

NOT a Neovim distribution, but instead a starting point for your configuration.

Installation

Install Neovim

Kickstart.nvim targets only the latest 'stable' and latest 'nightly' of Neovim. If you are experiencing issues, please make sure you have the latest versions.

Install External Dependencies

External Requirements:

• Basic utils: git, make, unzip, C Compiler (gcc)
• ripgrep, fd-find
• Clipboard tool (xclip/xsel/win32yank or other depending on the platform)
• A Nerd Font: optional, provides various icons
  • if you have it set vim.g.have_nerd_font in init.lua to true
• Emoji fonts (Ubuntu only, and only if you want emoji!) sudo apt install fonts-noto-color-emoji
• Language Setup:
  • If you want to write Typescript, you need npm
  • If you want to write Golang, you will need go
  • etc.

Note

See Install Recipes for additional Windows and Linux specific notes and quick install snippets

Install Kickstart

Note

Backup your previous configuration (if any exists)

Neovim's configurations are located under the following paths, depending on your OS:

OS	PATH
Linux, MacOS	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim, ~/.config/nvim
Windows (cmd)	%localappdata%\nvim\
Windows (powershell)	$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\

Recommended Step

Fork this repo so that you have your own copy that you can modify, then install by cloning the fork to your machine using one of the commands below, depending on your OS.

Note

Your fork's URL will be something like this: https://github.com/<your_github_username>/kickstart.nvim.git

You likely want to remove lazy-lock.json from your fork's .gitignore file too - it's ignored in the kickstart repo to make maintenance easier, but it's recommended to track it in version control.

Clone kickstart.nvim

Note

If following the recommended step above (i.e., forking the repo), replace nvim-lua with <your_github_username> in the commands below

Linux and Mac

git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/nvim

Windows

If you're using cmd.exe:

git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "%localappdata%\nvim"

If you're using powershell.exe

git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "${env:LOCALAPPDATA}\nvim"

Post Installation

Start Neovim

nvim

That's it! Lazy will install all the plugins you have. Use :Lazy to view the current plugin status. Hit q to close the window.

Read The Friendly Documentation

Read through the init.lua file and the files it loads in your configuration folder for more information about extending and exploring Neovim. The main init.lua provides an overview and loads core settings and plugins, which have their configurations in lua/core/ and lua/plugins/ respectively. This modular structure helps in organizing settings and plugins as your configuration grows. The documentation also includes examples of adding popularly requested plugins.

Note

For more information about a particular plugin check its repository's documentation.

Getting Started

The Only Video You Need to Get Started with Neovim

FAQ

• What should I do if I already have a pre-existing Neovim configuration?
  • You should back it up and then delete all associated files.
  • This includes your existing init.lua and the Neovim files in ~/.local which can be deleted with rm -rf ~/.local/share/nvim/
• Can I keep my existing configuration in parallel to kickstart?
  • Yes! You can use NVIM_APPNAME=nvim-NAME to maintain multiple configurations. For example, you can install the kickstart configuration in ~/.config/nvim-kickstart and create an alias:

    alias nvim-kickstart='NVIM_APPNAME="nvim-kickstart" nvim'
    

    When you run Neovim using nvim-kickstart alias it will use the alternative config directory and the matching local directory ~/.local/share/nvim-kickstart. You can apply this approach to any Neovim distribution that you would like to try out.
• What if I want to "uninstall" this configuration:
  • See lazy.nvim uninstall information
• How is the Kickstart configuration structured?
  • Kickstart.nvim now adopts a modular structure by default. While it remains a teaching tool and a reference configuration, this modularity is introduced as a best practice for maintainability as your Neovim configuration grows.
  • The structure is as follows:
    • init.lua: This is still the main entry point for your Neovim configuration. However, it now primarily focuses on loading different modules and orchestrating the setup of core features and plugins. It's the place to get an overview of what's being loaded.
    • lua/core/: This directory contains the base Neovim settings, broken down into logical files:
      • options.lua: General Neovim options (vim.o and vim.g).
      • keymaps.lua: Core (non-plugin) key mappings.
      • autocommands.lua: General (non-plugin) autocommands.
    • lua/plugins/: This directory holds the plugin configurations. Each plugin, or a logical group of related plugins, lives in its own Lua file (e.g., telescope.lua, lsp.lua). Kickstart can be configured to automatically load all files from here using the import = 'plugins' option in init.lua's lazy.setup call.
  • This modular approach makes it easier to understand, manage, and extend your Neovim setup. You can easily find where specific settings or plugin configurations are located.
• How do I add a new plugin?
  • For personal use (recommended for most users):
    1. Create a new Lua file in the lua/plugins/ directory (e.g., lua/plugins/my-new-plugin.lua).
    2. In this file, return the plugin specification as required by lazy.nvim. For example:

       return {
         'username/my-new-plugin.nvim',
         -- Optional: add configuration like opts, event, dependencies, config function, etc.
         opts = {},
       }

    3. If you've uncommented the { import = 'plugins' } line in init.lua's lazy.setup call, lazy.nvim will automatically pick up and load your new plugin file from lua/plugins/.
    4. If you prefer to load plugins explicitly, you can require your new plugin configuration directly within the plugins table in init.lua's lazy.setup call:

       -- In init.lua, inside the lazy.setup plugins table:
       require('plugins.my-new-plugin'),

  • To suggest a plugin for Kickstart itself (core plugins):
    1. Create a new Lua file in lua/plugins/ (e.g., lua/plugins/new-core-plugin.lua).
    2. Add the plugin specification in this file, similar to the example above.
    3. Then, add a require call for this new file in the main init.lua within the lazy.setup plugins table:

       -- In init.lua, inside the lazy.setup plugins table:
       require('plugins.new-core-plugin'),

    (This is typically for contributions back to the Kickstart project).

Install Recipes

Below you can find OS specific install instructions for Neovim and dependencies.

After installing all the dependencies continue with the Install Kickstart step.

Windows Installation

Windows with Microsoft C++ Build Tools and CMake

Installation may require installing build tools and updating the run command for `telescope-fzf-native`

See telescope-fzf-native documentation for more details

This requires:

• Install CMake and the Microsoft C++ Build Tools on Windows

{'nvim-telescope/telescope-fzf-native.nvim', build = 'cmake -S. -Bbuild -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release && cmake --build build --config Release && cmake --install build --prefix build' }

Windows with gcc/make using chocolatey

Alternatively, one can install gcc and make which don't require changing the config, the easiest way is to use choco:

1. install chocolatey either follow the instructions on the page or use winget, run in cmd as admin:

winget install --accept-source-agreements chocolatey.chocolatey

2. install all requirements using choco, exit the previous cmd and open a new one so that choco path is set, and run in cmd as admin:

choco install -y neovim git ripgrep wget fd unzip gzip mingw make

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

wsl --install
wsl
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neovim-ppa/unstable -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep unzip git xclip neovim

Linux Install

Ubuntu Install Steps

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neovim-ppa/unstable -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep unzip git xclip neovim

Debian Install Steps

sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep unzip git xclip curl

# Now we install nvim
curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/latest/download/nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo mkdir -p /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo chmod a+rX /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo tar -C /opt -xzf nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

# make it available in /usr/local/bin, distro installs to /usr/bin
sudo ln -sf /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64/bin/nvim /usr/local/bin/

Fedora Install Steps

sudo dnf install -y gcc make git ripgrep fd-find unzip neovim

Arch Install Steps

sudo pacman -S --noconfirm --needed gcc make git ripgrep fd unzip neovim