nvim-nix

nvim-nix is a modular, declarative Neovim distribution built specifically for NixOS, leveraging the power of Nix flakes for fast, efficient, and reproducible setups.

Rather than building a configuration from scratch or relying on bloated, opinionated setups, this project offers a clean and extensible starting point with sane defaults, essential LSP and plugin support, and tight integration with Nix.

Designed for developers who want a Neovim setup that just works with Nix’s declarative nature — no manual plugin management, no broken dependencies, just a reliable, reproducible, and high-performance editing experience.

Features

• Modular & Declarative: Organize config using Nix and Lua, with nixcats to keep things clean and separated.
• Lazy Loading with lazy.nvim: Fast startup times and smarter plugin loading.
• Performance-First: Startup times under 40ms on modern machines.
• NixOS Native: Built from the ground up to work seamlessly with Nix and NixOS.
• Treesitter Support: Syntax-aware highlighting, folding, and selection for many common languages, with sane, intuitive keybindings.
• Autocomplete: Smooth, responsive, and minimal autocompletion powered by the modern blink.cmp engine.
• Code Formatting: Out-of-the-box support for popular formatters like prettier, stylua, shfmt, and more — declaratively managed.
• Markdown Support + Preview: Seamless Markdown editing experience, including live preview support for content creators and note-takers.
• Beautiful ColorSchemes: Built-in support for popular themes:
  • Catppuccin
  • Gruvbox
  • Rose Pine (Default)
  • Tokyo Night

Languages Support

Language	Tree Sitter	Formatter	Formatter Name	LSP Server	LSP Server Name
Bash	✅	✅	shfmt	❌	None
C	✅	❌	None	❌	None
C#	✅	❌	None	❌	None
CPP	✅	❌	None	❌	None
CSS	✅	❌	None	❌	None
CSV	✅	❌	None	❌	None
HTML	✅	❌	None	❌	None
Java Script	✅	✅	prettierd	✅	typescript-language-server
JSX	✅	✅	prettierd	✅	typescript-language-server
Lua	✅	✅	stylua	✅	lua-language-server
Markdown	✅	❌	None	✅	marksman
Nix	✅	✅	alejandra	✅	nixd
Python	✅	✅	ruff	✅	basedpyright
Rust	✅	✅	rust-fmt	✅	rust-analyzer
SQL	✅	❌	None	❌	None
TOML	✅	❌	None	❌	None
TSX	✅	✅	prettierd	✅	typescript-language-server
Type Script	✅	✅	prettierd	✅	typescript-language-server
XML	✅	❌	None	❌	None
YAML	✅	❌	None	❌	None
Zig	✅	✅	zls	✅	zls

TLDR;

Formatter and LSP Servers listed above are provided with nix packaged with Neovim. Note: To enable Extra tree-sitter grammer support add the language to flake.nix tree-sitter packages.

Installation

Requirements

Make sure you have Nix with the following enabled:

• Either NixOS or the Nix package manager (on any OS)

• Enable nix-command and flakes For Nix Package Manager

  • Add the following to your ~/.config/nix/nix.conf or /etc/nix/nix.conf:
  • experimental-features = nix-command flakes

• Enable nix-command and flakes For NixOS Config

  • Add the following to your /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

  • nix = {
      settings = {
        experimental-features = ["nix-command" "flakes"];
      };
    };

Installation Methods

1. NixOS Configuration (Recommended for system-wide use)

• Add the following to your configuration.nix

TODO!();

2. Directly via nix profile (flake url)

• Install from GitHub using flake Url:

nix profile install github:johsve-source/nvim-nix

3. Run Temporary | Test Neovim before Installing

• Install from GitHub using flake Url:

nix flake run github:johsve-source/nvim-nix

Visuals

Repository Structure

 nvim-nix
├──  lua
│   ├──  johsve-source # Main Neovim Lua configuration namespace
│   │   ├──  lsp # LSP-related configs
│   │   │   ├──  config # Per-language LSP server configurations
│   │   │   └──  init.lua # LSP setup entry point
│   │   ├──  plugins # Plugin definitions and configurations
│   │   │   ├──  init.lua # Central plugin loader
│   │   │   └──  *plugin*.lua # Individual plugin configuration files
│   │   ├──  autocmds.lua # Autocommands setup
│   │   ├──  init.lua # Main entry point for Lua config
│   │   ├──  keymaps.lua # Keybindings
│   │   └──  options.lua # Neovim options/settings
│   └──  nixCatsUtils # Utility functions used for nixcats integration
├──  flake.lock # Nix flake lockfile (frozen dependency versions)
├──  flake.nix # Main Nix flake definition
├──  init.lua # Entry point for Neovim when launched (delegates to Lua/)
├──  LICENSE # MIT license file
└── 󰂺 README.md # Project documentation

Similar Projects

This project draws inspiration from other great Neovim and Nix-based configurations:

• nixcats
  • A key influence on the architecture of this project — particularly the clean separation of Nix (for managing plugins and packages) and Lua (for Neovim configuration).
• LazyVim
• Inspiration for many keybindings, autocommands, and plugin choices, especially the use of lazy.nvim for fast and flexible plugin loading.

Contributors

Licence

This project is licensed under the MIT License (Free as in Freedom). See the LICENSE file for details.