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 VSCode commands, making the best use of both editors.

• 🎉 Feature-complete Vim integration (except insert-mode and some Nvim UI plugins) by utilizing Nvim as a backend.
• 🔧 Supports custom init.lua and most Nvim 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 Settings & Commands
• 💡 Tips and Features
  • VSCode specific differences
  • Troubleshooting
  • Performance
  • Composite escape keys
  • Jumplist
  • Multiple cursors
  • Remote development
• ⚡️ API
  • vscode.action(name, opts)
  • vscode.call(name, opts, timeout)
  • vscode.on(event, callback)
  • vscode.has_config(name)
  • vscode.get_config(name)
  • vscode.update_config(name, value, target)
  • vscode.notify(msg)
  • vscode.eval(code[, opts, timeout])
  • vscode.eval_async(code[, opts])
  • vscode.with_insert(callback)
  • Builtin module overrides
  • VimScript
• ⌨️ Keybindings (shortcuts)
  • Keybinding Passthroughs
    • Insert mode control keys passthrough
    • Normal mode control keys passthrough
    • Cmdline mode special keys passthrough
    • Disable passthrough for certain filetypes
    • Remove other vscode or passthrough keybindings
  • Code navigation bindings
  • Explorer/list navigation bindings
  • Explorer file manipulation bindings
  • Hover widget manipulation bindings
• 📟 Neovim Commands
  • File management
  • Tab management
  • Buffer/window management
• 🎨 Highlights
• 🧰 Developing
• ❤️ Credits & External Resources

Install the vscode-neovim extension.

Install Neovim 0.10.0 or greater.

Note: Though the extension strives to be as compatible as possible with older versions of Neovim, some older versions may have quirks that are not present anymore. In light of this, certain configuration settings are recommended in some older versions for the best experience. These can be found on the wiki.

[Optional] Set the Neovim path in the extension settings under "vscode-neovim.neovimExecutablePaths.win32/linux/darwin", respective to your system. For example, "C:\Neovim\bin\nvim.exe" or "/usr/local/bin/nvim".

WSL Users: If you want to use Neovim from WSL, set the useWSL configuration toggle and specify the Linux path to the 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.

Snap Users: If you want to use Neovim from Snap, the Neovim path must be resolved to the snap binary location. On some systems it might be "/snap/nvim/current/usr/bin/nvim". To check if you're running as a snap package, see if which nvim resolves to /usr/bin/snap.

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

In lua:

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

To conditionally activate plugins, the best solution is to use the LazyVim VSCode extra. However, packer.nvim and lazy.nvim have built-in support for cond = vim.g.vscode and vim-plug has a few solutions. See plugins in the wiki for tips on configuring Vim plugins.

You can view all available settings and commands by opening the vscode-neovim extension details pane, and navigating to the features tab.

• File and editor management commands such as :e/:q/:vsplit/:tabnext/etc are mapped to corresponding VSCode commands and behavior may be different (see below).
  • Do not use vim commands like :e 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 require('vscode').call() (see API).
  • Since version 1.18.0, :w, :wa and :sav commands are supported and no longer alias to VSCode commands. You can use them as you would in Neovim.
• When you type some commands they may be substituted for another, check AlterCommand for the list of substitutions.
• 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 the 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.

• View the logs via Output: Focus on Output View and select vscode-neovim.
  • To enable debug logs, click the "gear" icon and select Debug, then click it again and choose Set As Default.
• Enable vscode-neovim.neovimClean in VSCode settings, which starts Nvim without your plugins (nvim --clean). Nvim plugins can do anything. Visual effects in particular can cause visual artifacts. vscode-neovim does its best to merge the visual effects of Nvim and VSCode, but it's far from perfect. You may need to disable some Nvim plugins that cause visual effects.
• If you encounter rendering issues (visual artifacts), try CTRL-L to force Nvim to redraw.
• If you get the Unable to init vscode-neovim: command 'type' already exists message, uninstall other VSCode extensions that use registerTextEditorCommand("type", …) (like VSCodeVim or Overtype).
• 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 the remapped escape key not working in Linux, set "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode".

If you have any performance problems (cursor jitter usually) make sure you're not using 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. Specifically, you don't need any code highlighting, completion, LSP plugins, or plugins that spawn windows/buffers (nerdtree , fuzzy-finders, etc). Most navigation/textobject/editing plugins should be fine.

For example, make sure you're not using 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)

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

Set with compositeKeys and tweak with compositeTimeout.

Examples: add to your settings.json:

jj to escape

{
    "vscode-neovim.compositeKeys": {
        "jj": {
            "command": "vscode-neovim.escape",
        },
    },
}

jk to escape and save

{
    "vscode-neovim.compositeKeys": {
        "jk": {
            // Use lua to execute any logic
            "command": "vscode-neovim.lua",
            "args": [
                [
                    "local code = require('vscode')",
                    "code.action('vscode-neovim.escape')",
                    "code.action('workbench.action.files.save')",
                ],
            ],
        },
    },
}

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.

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:

Note: The built-in multi-cursor support may not meet your needs. Please refer to the plugin vscode-multi-cursor.nvim for more multi-cursor features

We intend to use vscode-neovim as a UI extension, so when you're using remote development, vscode-neovim is enabled in the Local Extension Host, and it should work out of the box.

If you prefer to use the remote environment's copy of Neovim, rather than the locally installed one, vscode-neovim should be installed in the Remote Extension Host. You can set the following in your VSCode settings.json:

{
    "remote.extensionKind": {
        "asvetliakov.vscode-neovim": ["workspace"]
    }
}

Note: You will need to install neovim in the remote environment.

For more information:

• Remote Development
• Extension Host
• Remote Extensions

Load the module:

local vscode = require('vscode')

1. vscode.action(): asynchronously executes a vscode command.
2. vscode.call(): synchronously executes a vscode command.
3. vscode.on(): defines a handler for some Nvim UI events.
4. vscode.has_config(): checks if a vscode setting exists.
5. vscode.get_config(): gets a vscode setting value.
6. vscode.update_config(): sets a vscode setting.
7. vscode.notify(): shows a vscode message (see also Nvim's vim.notify).
8. vscode.to_op(): A helper for map-operator. See code_actions.lua for the usage
9. g:vscode_clipboard: Clipboard provider using VSCode's clipboard API. Used by default when in WSL. See :h g:clipboard for more details. Usage: vim.g.clipboard = vim.g.vscode_clipboard
10. vscode.eval(): evaluate javascript synchronously in vscode and return the result
11. vscode.eval_async(): evaluate javascript asynchronously in vscode
12. vscode.with_insert(): perform operations in insert mode.

Asynchronously executes a vscode command.

Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the action, generally a vscode command.
• opts (table): Map of optional parameters:
  • args (table): List of arguments passed to the vscode command. If the command only requires a single object parameter, you can directly pass in a map-like table.
    • Examples:
      • action('foo', { args = { 'foo', 'bar', … } })
      • action('foo', { args = { foo = bar, … } })
  • range (table): Specific range for the action. Implicitly passed in visual mode. Has three possible forms (all values are 0-indexed):
    • [start_line, end_line]
    • [start_line, start_character, end_line, end_character]
    • {start = { line = start_line, character = start_character}, end = { line = end_line, character = end_character}}
  • restore_selection (boolean): Whether to preserve the current selection. Only valid when range is specified. Defaults to true.
  • callback: Function to handle the action result. Must have this signature: function(err: string|nil, ret: any):
    • err is the error message, if any
    • ret is the result
    • If no callback is provided, error will be shown as a VSCode notification.

Example: open definition aside (default binding):

nnoremap <C-w>gd <Cmd>lua require('vscode').action('editor.action.revealDefinitionAside')<CR>

Example: find in files for word under cursor (see the vscode command definition for the expected parameter format):

nnoremap ? <Cmd>lua require('vscode').action('workbench.action.findInFiles', { args = { query = vim.fn.expand('<cword>') } })<CR>

Example: use in lua script:

-- Format current document
vscode.action("editor.action.formatDocument")

do -- Comment the three lines below the cursor
  local curr_line = vim.fn.line(".") - 1  -- 0-indexed
  vscode.action("editor.action.commentLine", {
    range = { curr_line + 1, curr_line + 3 },
  })
end

do -- Comment the previous line
  local curr_line = vim.fn.line(".") - 1 -- 0-indexed
  local prev_line = curr_line - 1
  if prev_line >= 0 then
    vscode.action("editor.action.commentLine", {
      range = { prev_line , prev_line },
    })
  end
end

do -- Find in files for word under cursor
  vscode.action("workbench.action.findInFiles", {
    args = { query = vim.fn.expand('<cword>') }
  })
end

Currently, two built-in actions are provided for testing purposes:

1. _ping returns "pong"
2. _wait waits for the specified milliseconds and then returns "ok"

do -- Execute _ping asynchronously and print the result
  vscode.action("_ping", {
    callback = function(err, res)
      if err == nil then
        print(res) -- outputs: pong
      end
    end,
  })
end

Synchronously executes a vscode command.

Parameters:

• name (string): The name of the action, generally a vscode command.
• opts (table): Same as vscode.action().
• timeout (number): Timeout in milliseconds. The default value is -1, which means there is no timeout.

Returns: the result of the action

Example: format selection (default binding):

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

Example: use in lua script:

-- Execute _ping synchronously and print the result
print(vscode.call("_ping")) -- outputs: pong

-- Wait for 1 second and print the return value 'ok'
print(vscode.call("_wait", { args = { 1000 } })) -- outputs: ok

-- Wait for 2 seconds with a timeout of 1 second
print(vscode.call("_wait", { args = { 2000 } }), 1000)
-- error: Call '_wait' timed out

Currently no available events for user use.

Check if configuration has a certain value.

Parameters:

• name (string|string[]): The configuration name or an array of configuration names.

Returns:

• boolean|boolean[]: Returns true if the configuration has a certain value, false otherwise. If name is an array, returns an array of booleans indicating whether each configuration has a certain value or not.

Examples:

-- Check if the configuration "not.exist" exists
print(vscode.has_config("not.exist"))
-- Should return: false

-- Check multiple configurations
vim.print(vscode.has_config({ "not.exist", "existing.config" }))
-- Should return: { false, true }

Get configuration value.

Parameters:

• name (string|string[]): The configuration name or an array of configuration names.

Returns:

• unknown|unknown[]: The value of the configuration. If name is an array, returns an array of values corresponding to each configuration.

Examples:

-- Get the value of "editor.tabSize"
print(vscode.get_config("editor.tabSize")) -- a number

-- Get multiple configurations
vim.print(vscode.get_config({ "editor.fontFamily", "editor.tabSize" }))
-- Should return: { "the font family", "the editor tabSizse" }

Update configuration value.

Parameters:

• name (string|string[]): The configuration name or an array of configuration names.
• value (unknown|unknown[]): The new value for the configuration.
• target ("global"|"workspace"): The configuration target. Optional

Examples:

-- Update the value of "editor.tabSize"
vscode.update_config("editor.tabSize", 16, "global")

-- Update multiple configurations
vscode.update_config({ "editor.fontFamily", "editor.tabSize" }, { "Fira Code", 14 })

Show a vscode notification

You can set vscode.notify as your default notify function.

vim.notify = vscode.notify

Evaluate javascript inside vscode and return the result. The code is executed in an async function context (so await can be used). Use a return statement to return a value back to lua. Arguments passed from lua are available as the args variable. The evaluated code has access to the VSCode API through the vscode global.

Tips:

• Make sure to await on asynchronous functions when accessing the API.
• Use the global logger (e.g. logger.info(...)) to log messages to the output of vscode-neovim.
• JSON serializable values (primitives and simple objects) can be returned and will be automatically serialized then deserialized to an equivalent lua value. If the return value is not JSON serializable then an error will be raised.
• globalThis['some_name'] = ... can be used to persist values between calls.

Parameters:

• code (string): The javascript to execute.
• opts (table): Map of optional parameters:
  • args (any): a value to make available as the args variable in javascript. Can be a single value such as a string or a table of multiple values.
• timeout (number): The number of milliseconds to wait for the evalution to complete before cancelling. By default there is no timeout.

Returns:

• The result of executing the provided code.

Examples:

local current_file = vscode.eval("return vscode.window.activeTextEditor.document.fileName")
local current_tab_is_pinned = vscode.eval("return vscode.window.tabGroups.activeTabGroup.activeTab.isPinned")
vscode.eval("await vscode.env.clipboard.writeText(args.text)", { args = { text = "some text" } })

Like vscode.eval() but returns immediately and evaluates in the background instead.

Parameters:

• code (string): The javascript to execute.
• opts (table): Map of optional parameters:
  • args (any): a value to make available as the args variable in javascript. Can be a single value such as a string or a table of multiple values.
  • callback: Function to handle the eval result. Must have this signature: function(err: string|nil, ret: any):
    • err is the error message, if any
    • ret is the result
    • If no callback is provided, error will be shown as a VSCode notification.

Perform operations in insert mode. If in visual mode, this function will preserve the selection after switching to insert mode.

Parameters:

• callback (function): Callback function to run after switching to insert mode

Example: make editor.action.addSelectionToNextFindMatch work correctly in any mode.

vim.keymap.set({ "n", "x", "i" }, "<C-d>", function()
  vscode.with_insert(function()
    vscode.action("editor.action.addSelectionToNextFindMatch")
  end)
end)

Example: make "editor.action.refactor" work correctly on the selection and support snippet manipulation after entering VSCode snippet mode.

vim.keymap.set({ "n", "x" }, "<leader>r", function()
  vscode.with_insert(function()
    vscode.action("editor.action.refactor")
  end)
end)

1. vim.ui: use VSCode's UI components.
2. vim.lsp.buf: execute corresponding VSCode LSP commands.

Note: Since 1.0.0, vimscript functions are deprecated. Use the Lua api instead.

• VSCodeNotify()/VSCodeCall(): deprecated, use Lua require('vscode').call() instead.
• VSCodeNotifyRange()/VSCodeCallRange(): deprecated, use Lua require('vscode').call(…, {range:…}) instead.
• VSCodeNotifyRangePos()/VSCodeCallRangePos(): deprecated, use Lua require('vscode').call(…, {range:…}) instead.

You can also use v:lua.require("vscode") to access the API from VimScript.

There are three types of default/user keybindings in vscode-neovim:

• Neovim keybindings: These are the keybindings that are defined in the extension's vimscript files or the user's init.vim file. These provide code navigation, buffer management, and other neovim-specific overrides.
• VSCode keybindings: These are the keybindings that are defined in the extension's package.json or the user's keybindings.json file. These provide the ability to interact with VSCode's built-in features, and are used to make VSCode more Vim-like.
• VSCode passthrough keybindings: These are the keybindings that are defined in the extension's package.json or the user's keybindings.json file, but simply pass the keypress through to Neovim. These are used to allow Neovim to handle certain keypresses that would otherwise be handled by VSCode.

This document only mentions some special cases, it is not an exhaustive list of keybindings and commands. Use VSCode and Nvim features to see documentation and all defined shortcuts:

• Run the Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts vscode command and search for "neovim" to see all vscode and passthrough keybindings.
• Use the Nvim :help command to see the documentation for a given neovim command or keybinding. For example try :help :split or :help zo.
  • Note that :help for <C-…> bindings is spelled CTRL-…. For example to see the help for <c-w>, run :help CTRL-W.
• Search the online Nvim documentation: https://neovim.io/doc/user/

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

Note: if you want to pass additional control keys without adding a custom passthrough, see below.

To add a custom passthrough, for example A-h in normal mode, add to your keybindings.json:

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

Set by vscode-neovim.ctrlKeysForInsertMode.

Default: ["a", "d", "h", "j", "m", "o", "r", "t", "u", "w"]

Set by ctrlKeysForNormalMode.

Default: ["a", "b", "d", "e", "f", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "o", "r", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z", "/", "]"]

Always enabled.

• Tab, Up, Down
• Ctrl keys: <C-h> <C-w> <C-u> <C-n> <C-p> <C-l> <C-g> <C-t>
• All <C-r> prefixed keys

Set by editorLangIdExclusions.

Disable keybindings defined by this extension in certain filetypes. Please note that this will not affect all keybindings.

If the above configuration flags do not provide enough control, you can remove the keybindings by editing your keybindings.json or using the VSCode keybindings editor:

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

Default commands and bindings are available for file/scroll/window/tab management.

See vscode-file-commands.vim for file commands reference.

The extension aliases various Nvim commands (:edit, :enew, :find, :quit, etc.) to equivalent vscode commands. Also their normal-mode equivalents (where applicable) such as C-w q, etc.

See vscode-tab-commands.vim for tab commands reference.

The extension aliases various Nvim tab commands (:tabedit, :tabnew, :tabfind, :tabclose, :tabnext, :tabprevious, :tabfirst, :tablast) to equivalent vscode commands. Also their normal-mode equivalents (where applicable) such as gt, etc.

See vscode-window-commands.vim for file commands reference.

The extension aliases various Nvim buffer/window commands (:split, :vsplit, :new, :vnew, :only) to equivalent vscode commands. Also their normal-mode equivalents (where applicable) such as C-w s, etc.

💡 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>

There are two ways to customize highlight colors:

1. Set colors in nvim

   Note: Due to the support for the syntax option requiring processing of syntax highlights, all built-in highlight groups may be overridden or cleared. Therefore, please do not link any highlights to the built-in highlight groups.

2. Set colors in vscode

   • vscode-neovim.highlightGroups.highlights
   • ThemeColor

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details on how to contribute to this project.

• 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.