asvetliakov/vscode-neovim

VSCode Neovim

VSCode Neovim Integration

Neovim is a fork of VIM to allow greater extensibility and integration. This extension uses a fully embedded Neovim instance, no more half-complete VIM emulation! VSCode's native functionality is used for insert mode and editor commands, making the best use of both editors.

• 🎉 Almost fully feature-complete VIM integration by utilizing Neovim as a backend.
• 🔧 Supports custom init.vim and many VIM plugins.
• 🥇 First-class and lag-free insert mode, letting VSCode do what it does best.
• 🤝 Complete integration with VSCode features (lsp/autocompletion/snippets/multi-cursor/etc).

Table of Contents

• 🧰 Getting Started
  • Installation
  • Neovim configuration
  • VSCode configuration
  • Adding keybindings
• 💡 Tips and Features
  • VSCode specific differences
  • Troubleshooting
    • Performance problems
  • Composite escape keys
  • Jumplist
  • Wildmenu completion
  • Multiple cursors
  • Invoking VSCode actions from neovim
    • Examples
• ⌨️ Bindings
  • VSCode specific bindings
    • Editor command
    • Explorer/list navigation
    • Explorer file manipulation
  • File management
  • Tab management
  • Buffer/window management
  • Insert mode special keys
  • Normal mode control keys
  • Cmdline special keys
• 🔧 Build
• 📑 How it works
• ❤️ Credits & External Resources

🧰 Getting Started

Installation

• Install the vscode-neovim extension.
• Install Neovim 0.8.0 or greater.
  • Set the Neovim path in the extension settings. You must specify full path to Neovim, like "C:\Neovim\bin\nvim.exe" or "/usr/local/bin/nvim".
  • The setting id is "vscode-neovim.neovimExecutablePaths.win32/linux/darwin", respective to your system.
• If you want to use Neovim from WSL, set the useWSL configuration toggle and specify Linux path to nvim binary. wsl.exe Windows binary and wslpath Linux binary are required for this. wslpath must be available through $PATH Linux env setting. Use wsl --list to check for the correct default Linux distribution.
• Add to your settings.json:

"extensions.experimental.affinity": {
    "asvetliakov.vscode-neovim": 1
},

Neovim configuration

Since many VIM plugins can cause issues in VSCode, it is recommended to start from an empty init.vim. For a guide for which types of plugins are supported, see troubleshooting.

Before creating an issue on Github, make sure you can reproduce the problem with an empty init.vim and no VSCode extensions.

To determine if Neovim is running in VSCode, add to your init.vim:

if exists('g:vscode')
    " VSCode extension
else
    " ordinary Neovim
endif

Or to your init.lua:

if vim.g.vscode then
    -- VSCode extension
else
    -- ordinary Neovim
end

To conditionally activate plugins, vim-plug has a few solutions. packer.nvim and lazy.nvim have built-in support for cond = vim.g.vscode. See plugins in the wiki for tips on configuring VIM plugins.

VSCode configuration

• On a Mac, the h, j, k and l movement keys may not repeat when held, to fix this open Terminal and execute the following command: defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false.
• To fix remapped escape key not working in Linux, set "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode"

Adding keybindings

Every special (control/alt) keyboard shortcut must be explicitly defined in VSCode to send to neovim. By default, only bindings that are included by Neovim by default are sent.

To pass custom bindings to Neovim, for example C-h in normal mode, add to your keybindings.json:

{
    "command": "vscode-neovim.send",
    // the key sequence to activate the binding
    "key": "ctrl+h",
    // don't activate during insert mode
    "when": "editorTextFocus && neovim.mode != insert",
    // the input to send to Neovim
    "args": "<C-h>"
}

To disable an existing shortcut, for example C-a, add to your keybindings.json:

{
    "command": "-vscode-neovim.send",
    "key": "ctrl+a"
}

The VSCode keybindings editor provides a good way to delete keybindings.

💡 Tips and Features

VSCode specific differences

• File and editor management commands such as :e/:w/:q/:vsplit/:tabnext/etc are mapped to corresponding VSCode commands and behavior may be different (see below). Do not use vVIM commands like :w in scripts/keybindings, they won't work. If you're using them in some custom commands/mappings, you might need to rebind them to call VSCode commands from Neovim with VSCodeCall/VSCodeNotify (see below).
• When you type some commands they may be substituted for the another, like :write will be replaced by :Write.
• Scrolling is done by VSCode. C-d/C-u/etc are slightly different.
• Editor customization (relative line number, scrolloff, etc) is handled by VSCode.
• Dot-repeat (.) is slightly different - moving the cursor within a change range won't break the repeat. sequence. In Neovim, if you type abc<cursor> in insert mode, then move cursor to a<cursor>bc and type 1 here the repeat sequence would be 1. However in VSCode it would be a1bc. Another difference is that when you delete some text in insert mode, dot repeat only works from right-to-left, meaning it will treat Del key as BS keys when running dot repeat.

Troubleshooting

If you get "Unable to init vscode-neovim: command 'type' already exists" message, uninstall other VSCode extensions that register the type command (like VSCodeVim or Overtype).

Performance problems

Make sure you have the extension running in its own thread using affinity (see installation).

If you have any performance problems (cursor jitter usually) make sure you're not using these kinds of extensions:

• Anything that renders decorators very often:
  • Line number extensions (VSCode has built-in support for normal/relative line numbers)
  • Indent guide extensions (VSCode has built-in indent guides)
  • Brackets highlighter extensions (VSCode has built-in feature)
• VSCode extensions that delay the extension host like "Bracket Pair Colorizer"
• VIM plugins that increase latency and cause performance problems.
  • Make sure to disable unneeded plugins, as many of them don't make sense with VSCode and may cause problems.
  • You don't need any code, highlighting, completion, LSP plugins as well any plugins that spawn windows/buffers (nerdtree and similar), fuzzy-finders, etc.
  • Many navigation/textobject/editing plugins should be fine.

If you're not sure, disable all other extensions, reload VSCode window, and see if the problem persists before reporting it.

Composite escape keys

Since VSCode is responsible for insert mode, custom insert-mode VIM mappings don't work. To map composite escape keys, put into your keybindings.json:

for jj

{
    "command": "vscode-neovim.compositeEscape1",
    "key": "j",
    "when": "neovim.mode == insert && editorTextFocus",
    "args": "j"
}

to enable jk add also:

{
    "command": "vscode-neovim.compositeEscape2",
    "key": "k",
    "when": "neovim.mode == insert && editorTextFocus",
    "args": "k"
}

Currently, there is no way to map both jk and kj, or to map jk without also mapping jj.

Jumplist

VSCode's jumplist is used instead of Neovim's. This is to make VSCode native navigation (mouse click, jump to definition, etc) navigable through the jumplist.

Make sure to bind to workbench.action.navigateBack / workbench.action.navigateForward if you're using custom mappings. Marks (both upper & lowercased) should work fine.

Wildmenu completion

Command menu has the wildmenu completion on type. The completion options appear after 1.5s (to not bother you when you write :w or :noh). Up/Down selects the option and Tab accepts it. See the gif:

Multiple cursors

Multiple cursors work in:

1. Insert mode
2. Visual line mode
3. Visual block mode

To spawn multiple cursors from visual line/block modes type ma/mA or mi/mI (by default). The effect differs:

• For visual line mode, mi will start insert mode on each selected line on the first non whitespace character and ma will on the end of line.
• For visual block mode, mi will start insert on each selected line before the cursor block and ma after.
• mA/mI versions accounts for empty lines (only for visual line mode, for visual block mode they're same as ma/mi).

See gif in action:

Invoking VSCode actions from neovim

There are a few helper functions that are used to invoke VSCode commands from Neovim. Note that the commands that start with require("vscode-neovim") are lua variants.

💡 Functions with Notify in their name are non-blocking, the ones with Call are blocking. Generally use Notify unless you really need a blocking call. One example of a blocking call is wanting VSCode to process a visual selection when running a command before exiting visual mode.

Examples

Format selection (default binding):

xnoremap = <Cmd>call VSCodeCall('editor.action.formatSelection')<CR>
nnoremap = <Cmd>call VSCodeCall('editor.action.formatSelection')<CR><Esc>
nnoremap == <Cmd>call VSCodeCall('editor.action.formatSelection')<CR>

Open definition aside (default binding):

nnoremap <C-w>gd <Cmd>call VSCodeNotify('editor.action.revealDefinitionAside')<CR>

Find in files for word under cursor:

nnoremap ? <Cmd>call VSCodeNotify('workbench.action.findInFiles', { 'query': expand('<cword>')})<CR>

More advanced examples can be found here.

⌨️ Bindings

These are the default commands and bindings available for file/scroll/window/tab management.

• See vscode-scrolling.vim for scrolling commands reference
• See vscode-file-commands.vim for file commands reference
• See vscode-tab-commands.vim for tab commands reference
• See vscode-window-commands.vim for window commands reference

💡 "With bang" refers to adding a "!" to the end of a command.

VSCode specific bindings

Editor command

💡 To specify the default peek mode, modify editor.peekWidgetDefaultFocus in your settings.

Explorer/list navigation

Explorer file manipulation

File management

Tab management

Buffer/window management

💡 Split size distribution is controlled by workbench.editor.splitSizing setting. By default, it's distribute, which is equal to VIM's equalalways and eadirection = 'both' (default).

To use VSCode command 'Increase/decrease current view size' instead of separate bindings for width and height:

• workbench.action.increaseViewSize
• workbench.action.decreaseViewSize

function! s:manageEditorSize(...)
    let count = a:1
    let to = a:2
    for i in range(1, count ? count : 1)
        call VSCodeNotify(to ==# 'increase' ? 'workbench.action.increaseViewSize' : 'workbench.action.decreaseViewSize')
    endfor
endfunction

" Sample keybindings. Note these override default keybindings mentioned above.
nnoremap <C-w>> <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'increase')<CR>
xnoremap <C-w>> <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'increase')<CR>
nnoremap <C-w>+ <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'increase')<CR>
xnoremap <C-w>+ <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'increase')<CR>
nnoremap <C-w>< <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'decrease')<CR>
xnoremap <C-w>< <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'decrease')<CR>
nnoremap <C-w>- <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'decrease')<CR>
xnoremap <C-w>- <Cmd>call <SID>manageEditorSize(v:count, 'decrease')<CR>

Insert mode special keys

Enabled by useCtrlKeysForInsertMode (default true).

Refer to VIM's manual for their use.

• C-c
• C-o
• C-u
• C-w
• C-h
• C-t
• C-d
• C-j
• C-a
• C-r

Normal mode control keys

Enabled by useCtrlKeysForNormalMode (default true).

Refer to VIM's manual for their use.

• C-a
• C-b
• C-c
• C-d
• C-e
• C-f
• C-i
• C-o
• C-r
• C-u
• C-v
• C-w
• C-x
• C-y
• C-z
• C-]
• C-j
• C-k
• C-l
• C-h
• C-/

Cmdline special keys

Always enabled.

Refer to VIM's manual for their use.

• C-h
• C-w
• C-u
• C-r (including C-rC-w and others)
• C-n
• C-p
• C-l
• C-g
• C-t
• Tab

🔧 Build

How to build (and install) from source:

1. Clone the repo locally.

   git clone https://github.com/vscode-neovim/vscode-neovim
   

2. Install the dependencies.

   npm install
   

3. Build the VSIX package:

   npx vsce package -o vscode-neovim.vsix
   

4. From VSCode, use the Extensions: Install from VSIX command to install the package.

How to develop:

1. Open the repo in VSCode.
2. Go to debug view and click Run Extension (F5).

How to run tests:

1. Open the repo in VSCode.
2. Go to debug view and click Extension Tests (F5).
3. To run individual tests, modify grep: ".*" in src/test/suite/index.ts.

📑 How it works

• VScode connects to Neovim instance.
• When opening a file, a scratch buffer is created within Neovim and being initialized with text content from VSCode.
• Normal/visual mode commands are being sent directly to Neovim. The extension listens for buffer events and applies edits from Neovim.
• When entering the insert mode, the extensions stops listen for keystroke events and delegates typing mode to VSCode. Changes are synced to neovim in periodic intervals.
• After pressing escape key from the insert mode, extension sends changes obtained from the insert mode to Neovim.

❤️ Credits & External Resources

• vim-altercmd - Used for rebinding default commands to call VSCode command.
• neovim nodejs client - NodeJS library for communicating with Neovim.
• VSCodeVim - Used for various inspiration.