kickstart.nixvim

NOTE This repo is a WORK IN PROGRESS

Introduction

This repo is a personal project to learn Nix & Nixvim within NixOS while also learning/setting up kickstart.nvim. I have attempted to be as true to kickstart as possible while adding new and updated comments to help those learning Nix.

Caveats

1. Nix does not lend itself to the same separation paradigms used by kickstart.nvim. The idea of keeping the configuration as a single file similar to kickstart.nvim was originally planned but as I translated more of the init.lua over I found Nix lended itself better to a more modular implementation. This means most plugins have their own .nix files that are imported into the base nixvim.nix file.
2. I used as little lua code as possible in the .nix files but due to Nixvim being a relatively new Nix module not everything can be natively configured. Any lua code will slowly be removed as new Nixvim features come out that allow for native methods of configuation.
3. I did not include Lazy nor Mason as I felt those both went against the Nix philosophy of having all your dependencies installed and managed through the .nix files. While it is possible to configure Lazy in Nixvim the implementation is very limited at the moment. Further enhancements to Lazy which would allow lazy loading are being discussed here and I may update this repo to use Lazy when these features are implemented.
4. kickstart.nixvim is somewhat slower than kickstart.nvim, some of this has to do with the fact that this repo is not using Lazy. I'll have to do futher investigation to identify how else to speed up this implementation.

Installation

This installation process assumes you understand the basics of importing and adding dependencies to your .nix configuration file. This installation process also assumes you are running NixOS, this repo should work the same with a home-manager configuration not on NixOS but I have not confirmed this yet. I plan to add more options for installation once i've had the time to study Nix a bit more.

Install External Dependencies

• Basic utils: git, C Compiler (gcc)
• ripgrep
• Clipboard tool (xclip/xsel/win32yank or other depending on platform)
• A Nerd Font: optional, provides various icons
  • if you have it set have_nerd_font in nixvim.nix to true
• Language Dependencies:
  • If you want to write Typescript, you will need npm
  • If you want to write Golang, you will need go
  • etc.

Installing Nixvim Module

This repo is currently setup to be imported into your current NixOS/Home-Manager module. To setup the Nixvim module follow the steps found here under the Usage as a module (NixOS, home-manager, nix-darwin) section.

Setting up kickstart.nixvim

NOTE Backup your previous configuration (if any exists) This can be found on Linux under the path $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim or ~/.config/nvim

1. Fork this repo so that you have your own copy that you can update and version control.

NOTE This is not required but recommended so you can version control your own kickstart.nixvim configuration.

2. Clone kickstart.nixvim
   • If you created your own fork

     cd /etc/nixos/
     git clone https://github.com/<YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME>/kickstart.nixvim.git

   • If you skipped creating a fork

     cd /etc/nixos/
     git clone https://github.com/JMartJonesy/kickstart.nixvim.git

3. Import nixvim.nix into your .nix configuration file
   • Example of the line to add into your configuration.nix file (or home.nix if you are using home-manager)

     imports = [
       ./kickstart.nixvim/nixvim.nix
     ];

4. Open nixvim.nix and uncomment one of the nixvim module imports at the top of the file. Choose the module depending on which module installation method you use from the Installing Nixvim Module section above (Home-Manager module, NixOS module, or Darwin Module).
   • The module should be passed into your configuration through the inputs nixos param

   # Uncomment if you are using the home-manager module
   #inputs.nixvim.homeManagerModules.nixvim
   # Uncomment if you are using the nixos module
   #inputs.nixvim.nixosModules.nixvim
   # Uncomment if you are using the nix-darwin module
   #inputs.nixvim.nixDarwinModules.nixvim

5. Rebuild your NixOS configuration
   • Without using Flake

     nixos-rebuild switch

6. Confirm your init.lua file has been created and loads without errors
   • Open the generated init.lua file and confirm no error dialog appears when opening

     nvim ~/.config/nvim/init.lua

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.nixvim?
  • Yes! You can use NVIM_APPNAME=nvim-NAME to maintain multiple configurations. For example, move your old configuration to ~/.config/nvim-backup and create an alias:

    alias nvim-backup='NVIM_APPNAME="nvim-backup" nvim'
    

    When you run Neovim using nvim-backup alias it will use the alternative config directory and the matching local directory ~/.local/share/nvim-backup.
• What if I want to "uninstall" kickstart.nixvim:
  1. Remove nixvim.nix import from your configuration.nix file (or home.nix if you are using home-manager)
  2. Remove the kickstart.nixvim directory rm -r /etc/nixos/kickstart.nixvim
  3. Remove any .local nvim files rm -rf ~/.local/share/nvim/
  4. Optional: Move your previously backed up lua configuration files to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim or ~/.config/nvim
  5. Rebuild your NixOS configuration nixos-rebuild switch