nvim-nightly

Neovim 0.12 nightly configuration. Uses lazy.nvim for plugin management with a modular file structure — one file per plugin, separate modules for LSP, core settings, and utilities.

Quick Start

# Clone to your Neovim config directory
git clone git@github.com:danballance/neovim.git ~/.config/nvim

# Launch Neovim
nvim

On first launch, lazy.nvim will bootstrap itself and install all plugins. On non-NixOS systems, treesitter parsers will also be installed automatically.

On NixOS, this config is designed to be used with a Nix wrapper that provides the nightly binary, LSP servers, and treesitter parsers. See the NixOS-Specific Design section.

Directory Structure

nvim-nightly/
├── init.lua                    # Set leader, load modules via logger helper
├── lazy-lock.json              # Plugin version lockfile
├── docs/                       # This documentation
└── lua/
    ├── lazy_bootstrap.lua      # Bootstrap lazy.nvim & setup plugins
    ├── core/
    │   ├── options.lua         # Editor settings (line numbers, tabs, etc.)
    │   ├── keymaps.lua         # Global keymaps (diagnostic navigation)
    │   └── autocmds.lua        # LspAttach/LspDetach autocommands
    ├── plugins/
    │   ├── catppuccin.lua      # Colorscheme
    │   ├── oil.lua             # File explorer (replaces netrw)
    │   ├── fzf.lua             # Fuzzy finder
    │   ├── neotree.lua         # Project tree (floating)
    │   ├── outline.lua         # Code outline sidebar
    │   ├── treesitter.lua      # Syntax highlighting (parsers from Nix or runtime)
    │   ├── blink.lua           # Completion engine
    │   ├── whichkey.lua        # Keymap hints
    │   └── notify.lua          # Visual notifications (replaces vim.notify)
    ├── lsp/
    │   ├── init.lua            # Server configs & debug commands
    │   └── diagnostics.lua     # Diagnostic display & sign definitions
    └── utils/
        ├── logger.lua          # Startup tracing with timestamps
        └── health.lua          # :checkhealth integration

Startup Load Order

1. vim.g.mapleader = " "          (before lazy.nvim)
2. require("utils.logger")        (enables startup tracing)
3. core.options                   (editor settings)
4. core.keymaps                   (global keymaps)
5. core.autocmds                  (LSP autocommands)
6. lazy_bootstrap                 (bootstrap lazy.nvim + load plugins)
7. lsp/init.lua                   (server configs, vim.lsp.enable)
8. lsp/diagnostics.lua            (diagnostic display)
9. colorscheme catppuccin         (apply theme)

Every module load (steps 3-8) is wrapped in logger.module() via a load() helper, which uses xpcall with debug.traceback. If any module fails, the error and full traceback are logged to startup.log and the remaining modules still load.

NixOS-Specific Design

This config is built for NixOS. Key differences from a typical Neovim setup:

• No Mason — LSP server binaries (lua-language-server, nil, rust-analyzer) are installed via NixOS packages. pylsp (Python) comes from each project's dev environment (nix develop / devenv)
• nixpkgs-fmt — used as the Nix formatter (configured in nil_ls)
• flake.nix root marker — nil_ls recognizes flake.nix as a project root
• Nix-provided treesitter parsers — parsers are built by Nix via nvim-treesitter.withPlugins, exported as NIX_TS_PARSERS env var by the nvim wrapper, and preserved through lazy.nvim's rtp reset via performance.rtp.paths. No runtime compilation needed.

Portability

This config also works on non-NixOS machines:

• Treesitter parsers are auto-installed at runtime when NIX_TS_PARSERS is not set
• LSP servers must be on PATH (install via your system package manager)
• lazy.nvim bootstraps itself on first launch

Further Reading

• Keymaps — complete keymap reference
• LSP — language server setup and debugging
• Plugins — plugin list and configuration
• Troubleshooting — debug commands and common issues