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https://github.com/konradmalik/neovim-flake

standalone neovim flake with my configuration
https://github.com/konradmalik/neovim-flake

development dotfiles neovim nix

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standalone neovim flake with my configuration

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# Neovim Flake



Neovim in nix.



Try it out:



```bash

$ nix run github:konradmalik/neovim-flake

```



## Assumptions



-   keeps all Neovim config in lua as it's supposed to be

-   uses nix for system dependencies, plugins and packaging



That way nix is a layer on top, just used for packaging and reproducibility. It does not interfere with the standard way

to configure Neovim.



## Things to note



-   Uses `NVIM_APPNAME` to differentiate from other Neovim instances. It's set to `neovim-pde` or `neovim-pde-hm` for

    home-manager or `native` when running in "dev mode" (configurable).



### Home Manager



There is a home-manager module provided, which links the configuration to your `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` folder and loads it from there.



This is the recommended way to use this flake "day-to-day" in your NixOS system.



### Self-contained mode



When running/using `neovim-pde` from the flake directly it runs in `self-contained` mode.



This means that it appends its config in nix store to your `$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS` and use `-u` flag to force-load this specific `init.lua`.

This means that any `init.lua` in your local `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/$NVIM_APPNAME` won't be loaded, even if `$NVIM_APPNAME` is `neovim-pde`

(I think that `after` folders and others that don't need to be required explicitly will be loaded, so those should work if put to the proper `$NVIM_APPNAME` folder, but I've never tested this).



That also means that `exrc` functionality won't work (e.g. local `.nvim.lua` files won't be loaded automatically).

If you rely on that feature (I sometimes do) then consider using the provided home-manager module.



## Experimentation



One of the cons of using Neovim in nix is - no "dirty" modifications to Neovim to try something out quickly. Experimentation becomes harder.

You always need to rebuild it, but `nix build` and then `./result/bin/nvim` is quick and easy enough for it to not be a deal-breaker.



Another solution implemented in this repo is `nvim-dev` command that becomes available inside devShell here.

It runs the neovim package defined in the repo with plugins and `nix`-generated lua files provided, but the native lua

config gets read "live" from `./config/native` here in the repo. This allows for instant feedback and dynamic

development just like when using neovim without nix.



## Notes



> composed of my reddit posts



What's great in using Neovim through nix is a way to generate lua files from nix. It allows configuring LSP to use binaries directly from nix store as opposed to getting them from PATH, especially useful for the most common LSPs that I always expect to have.



What I don't like in those "nixvim" flakes is that people most often use only nix for everything. While most certainly you can generate all of your config, all of your lua files from nix, I think it's a bad idea since you lose all completion, diagnostics, and all neodev niceness for lua.



## Credits



Inspired by:



-   https://primamateria.github.io/blog/neovim-nix/