kickstart.nvim

Introduction

A starting point for Neovim that is:

• Small
• Single-file
• 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

NOTE Backup your previous configuration (if any exists)

External Requirements:

• Basic utils: git, make, unzip, C Compiler (gcc)
• ripgrep
• A Nerd Font: optional, provides various icons
  • if you have it set vim.g.have_nerd_font in init.lua to true
• Language Setup:
  • If want to write Typescript, you need npm
  • If want to write Golang, you will need go
  • etc.

NOTE See Windows Installation to double check any additional Windows notes

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)	%userprofile%\AppData\Local\nvim\
Windows (powershell)	$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\nvim\

Install Kickstart

Clone kickstart.nvim:

Linux and Mac

HTTPS:

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

SSH:

git clone [email protected]:Martin-G-H/kickstart.nvim.git "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/nvim

Windows

If you're using cmd.exe:

HTTPS:

git clone https://github.com/Martin-G-H/kickstart.nvim.git %userprofile%\AppData\Local\nvim\

SSH:

git clone [email protected]:Martin-G-H/kickstart.nvim.git %userprofile%\AppData\Local\nvim\

If you're using powershell.exe HTTPS:

git clone https://github.com/Martin-G-H/kickstart.nvim.git $env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\nvim\

SSH:

git clone [email protected]:Martin-G-H/kickstart.nvim.git $env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\nvim\

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
• Why is the kickstart init.lua a single file? Wouldn't it make sense to split it into multiple files?
  • The main purpose of kickstart is to serve as a teaching tool and a reference configuration that someone can easily use to git clone as a basis for their own. As you progress in learning Neovim and Lua, you might consider splitting init.lua into smaller parts. A fork of kickstart that does this while maintaining the same functionality is available here:
    • kickstart-modular.nvim
  • Discussions on this topic can be found here:
    • Restructure the configuration
    • Reorganize init.lua into a multi-file setup

Windows Installation

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' }

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 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

Then, continue with the Install Kickstart step.