neovim-client

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Currently tested for node >= 8

Installation

Install the neovim package globally using npm.

npm install -g neovim

Usage

This package exports a single attach() function which takes a pair of write/read streams and invokes a callback with a Nvim API object.

attach

const cp = require('child_process');
const attach = require('neovim').attach;

const nvim_proc = cp.spawn('nvim', ['-u', 'NONE', '-N', '--embed'], {});

// Attach to neovim process
(async function() {
  const nvim = await attach({ proc: nvim_proc });
  nvim.command('vsp');
  nvim.command('vsp');
  nvim.command('vsp');
  const windows = await nvim.windows;

  // expect(windows.length).toEqual(4);
  // expect(windows[0] instanceof nvim.Window).toEqual(true);
  // expect(windows[1] instanceof nvim.Window).toEqual(true);

  nvim.window = windows[2];
  const win = await nvim.window;

  // expect(win).not.toEqual(windows[0]);
  // expect(win).toEqual(windows[2]);

  const buf = await nvim.buffer;
  // expect(buf instanceof nvim.Buffer).toEqual(true);

  const lines = await buf.lines;
  // expect(lines).toEqual(['']);

  await buf.replace(['line1', 'line2'], 0);
  const newLines = await buf.lines;
  // expect(newLines).toEqual(['line1', 'line2']);

  nvim.quit();
  nvim_proc.disconnect();
})();

Writing a Plugin

If you are a plugin developer, I'd love to hear your feedback on the plugin API.

A plugin can either be a file or folder in the rplugin/node directory. If the plugin is a folder, the main script from package.json will be loaded.

The plugin should export a function which takes a NvimPlugin object as it's only parameter. You may then register autocmds, commands and functions by calling methods on the NvimPlugin object. You should not do any heavy initialisation or start any async functions at this stage, as nvim may only be collecting information about your plugin without wishing to actually use it. You should wait for one of your autocmds, commands or functions to be called before starting any processing.

console has been replaced by a winston interface and console.log will call winston.info.

API (Work In Progress)

  NvimPlugin.nvim

This is the nvim api object you can use to send commands from your plugin to vim.

  NvimPlugin.setOptions(options: NvimPluginOptions);

  interface NvimPluginOptions {
    dev?: boolean;
    alwaysInit?: boolean;
  }

Set your plugin to dev mode, which will cause the module to be reloaded on each invocation. alwaysInit will always attempt to attempt to re-instantiate the plugin. e.g. your plugin class will always get called on each invocation of your plugin's command.

  NvimPlugin.registerAutocmd(name: string, fn: Function, options: AutocmdOptions): void;
  NvimPlugin.registerAutocmd(name: string, fn: [any, Function], options: AutocmdOptions): void;

  interface AutocmdOptions {
    pattern: string;
    eval?: string;
    sync?: boolean;
  }

Registers an autocmd for the event name, calling your function fn with options. Pattern is the only required option. If you wish to call a method on an object you may pass fn as an array of [object, object.method].

By default autocmds, commands and functions are all treated as asynchronous and should return Promises (or should be async functions).

  NvimPlugin.registerCommand(name: string, fn: Function, options?: CommandOptions): void;
  NvimPlugin.registerCommand(name: string, fn: [any, Function], options?: CommandOptions): void;

  interface CommandOptions {
    sync?: boolean;
    range?: string;
    nargs?: string;
  }

Registers a command named by name, calling function fn with options. This will be invoked from nvim by entering :name in normal mode.

  NvimPlugin.registerFunction(name: string, fn: Function, options?: NvimFunctionOptions): void;
  NvimPlugin.registerFunction(name: string, fn: [any, Function], options?: NvimFunctionOptions): void;

  interface NvimFunctionOptions {
    sync?: boolean;
    range?: string;
    eval?: string;
  }

Registers a function with name name, calling function fn with options. This will be invoked from nvim by entering eg :call name() in normal mode.

Examples

Functional style

function onBufWrite() {
  console.log('Buffer written!');
}

module.exports = (plugin) => {
  plugin.registerAutocmd('BufWritePre', onBufWrite, { pattern: '*' });
};

Class style

class MyPlugin {
  constructor(plugin) {
    this.plugin = plugin;

    plugin.registerCommand('SetMyLine', [this, this.setLine]);
  }

  setLine() {
    this.plugin.nvim.setLine('A line, for your troubles');
  }
}

module.exports = (plugin) => new MyPlugin(plugin);

// Or for convenience, exporting the class itself is equivalent to the above

module.exports = MyPlugin;

Prototype style

function MyPlugin(plugin) {
  this.plugin = plugin;
  plugin.registerFunction('MyFunc', [this, MyPlugin.prototype.func]);
}

MyPlugin.prototype.func = function() {
  this.plugin.nvim.setLine('A line, for your troubles'); 
};

export default MyPlugin;

// or

export default (plugin) => new MyPlugin(plugin);

Decorator style

The decorator api is still supported. The NvimPlugin object is passed as a second parameter in case you wish to dynamically register further commands in the constructor.

import { Plugin, Function, Autocmd, Command } from 'neovim';

// If `Plugin` decorator can be called with options
@Plugin({ dev: true })
export default class TestPlugin {
  constructor(nvim, plugin) {
  }

  @Function('Vsplit', { sync: true })
  splitMe(args, done) {
    this.nvim.command('vsplit');
  }

  @Command('LongCommand')
  async longCommand(args) {
    console.log('Output will be routed to $NVIM_NODE_LOG_FILE');
    const bufferName = await this.nvim.buffer.name;
    return bufferName;
  }

  @Command('UsePromises')
  promiseExample() {
    return this.nvim.buffer.name.then((name) => {
      console.log(`Current buffer name is ${name}`);
    });
  }
}

Debugging / troubleshooting

Here are a few env vars you can set while starting neovim, that can help debugging and configuring logging:

NVIM_NODE_HOST_DEBUG

Will spawn the node process that calls neovim-client-host with --inspect-brk so you can have a debugger. Pair that with this Node Inspector Manager Chrome plugin

Logging

Logging is done using winston through the logger module. Plugins have console replaced with this interface.

NVIM_NODE_LOG_LEVEL

Sets the logging level for winston. Default is debug, available levels are { error: 0, warn: 1, info: 2, verbose: 3, debug: 4, silly: 5 }

NVIM_NODE_LOG_FILE

Sets the log file path

Usage through node REPL

NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS

First, start Nvim with a known address (or use the $NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS of a running instance):

$ NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS=/tmp/nvim nvim In another terminal, connect a node REPL to Nvim

let nvim;
// `scripts/nvim` will detect if `NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS` is set and use that unix socket
// Otherwise will create an embedded `nvim` instance
require('neovim/scripts/nvim').then((n) => nvim = n);

nvim.command('vsp');

The tests and scripts can be consulted for more examples.

Contributors

• @billyvg for rewrite
• @mhartington for TypeScript rewrite
• @fritzy for transferring over the npm package repo neovim!
• @rhysd, @tarruda, @nhynes on work for the original node-client