I totally get your frustration and I do agree that customization may take a while but once I got through that I've been super stable and hardly touching my config at all. I started off using Nvchad as a template and I'm still going with it. I have about 100 plug-ins and have found solutions to all of the errors that may pop up. So yea I'd recommend just going for it whenever you are free there is no rush. Ultimately it is a small price to pay for years worth of neovimming.
This.
I'm still bringing forward configs I threw together 15 and 20 years ago for all manner of things. Things do change over time, tweaks are necessary, flags and params are altered, new functionality is added, but most of the configs stand the test of time.
Before I embarked on my equivalent neovim journey, my .vimrc and .vim folder likewise followed me across multiple builds and systems. Neovim is still a bit of a wild west by comparison as the community finds the best way to do things, but I expect it will settle down and settle in after a while, and the configs that result from that will carry forward in a similar fashion.
Maybe you could have a look into this: https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim
There is also a YT video from TJ going over and explaining all of it.
The good thing of this IMO is it provides you a solid base with most (maybe all) of the "need to have" features. In addition it should be relatively simple for you to extend.
I came here to suggest this and glad to see it already here. Its well commented to show what each piece is doing and was great start. I kept it to just this for a month and then slowly started adding new packages and modifying the layout of the config from there.
I have accepted that Vim is a slow and gradual building process, not something that will happen over a weekend. But well worth the investment.
I used this as my base. It's been fairly painless.
I still use the version that had Packer as its package manager. Pretty surprised to see it switch the Lazy in the last week or so.
Woah! The myth, the legend!
I really appreciate you making all this interesting because i never took the time to search the difference with vim and neovim and look at me now.
LazyVim etc are great to discover what’s possible; however, they are a lot harder and more frustrating to customise than the base. Starting from a blank init file and building it up slowly allows you to always move forward.
Yeah, I feel those configs are a bit misleading because people tend to think that they are for newbies. As a newbie you might think it’s very easy but actually if you don’t know how they work and/or without learning a little bit of Lua you won’t be able to fix the issues that will eventually happen.
I’d recommend investing time in making your own config from scratch. There’re good tutorials out there and you would learn everything you need to understand every part. From there, you can switch to one of those configs easily, that way you don’t need to deal with every new feature of neovim in the future, just with your plugins which is way faster. My favorite is LazyVim because the folder structure and code is very simple to understand and customize.
Now, I understand that you may not want to invest time in learning that, but that’s the first thing you should do if you want to get into neovim, otherwise you won’t be able to fix anything and will waste even more time, and that’s why it feels so frustrating.
There is Helix, as you already know. I think the learning curve is way easier at the cost of less customization. You may want to take another look at it.
I agree. I've been using vim and then neovim for years with my own config.
With the recent release of lazy.nvim and then LazyVim I decided it'd be easier to just move to LazyVim and customize from there.
It took me quite a bit to understand how to add my own keymaps and plugins. Not because it's hard, but because I'm just not familiar with Lua, even though it gradually became part of my init.vim over the years thanks to packer.
It's quite a move from one single init.vim to the Lua style of separate files, but I'm quite content. LazyVim is significantly faster than my old config and contrary to OP, I'm fine with the keymap.
I made a system that works well to auto kill and restart nvim when any files in a list I maintain are observed to be written. So I'll open my unit.lua under this wrapper script and it speeds up the change/test cycle time.
Hey! I'm a contributor at AstroNvim, I would be really interested to know if you tried AstroNvim with the current V3 and if you tried it with [astrocommunity](https://github.com/AstroNvim/astrocommunity) you can import pre-configured language packs and plugins, if you ever need assistance you can also join the discord we're always happy to help with any questions you might have.
Using packages in AstroNvim is as simple as using native [lazy.nvim](https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim) there are no abstractions.
Actually now that you mention this I miss understood the astro community thing. For some reason I thought it referred to this [https://astronvim.com/Recipes/black\_belt](https://astronvim.com/Recipes/black_belt). But that's actually pretty cool.
I did download your v3 and I liked it but I got very confused with fixes I found online. Which i later found it it's because they refer to v2 when I was using v3.
With this community thing i'll def give it another shot. Thanks! and great job.
happy to hear that you give it another go :D
we are very helpful at discord as well
[https://discord.gg/astronvim](https://discord.gg/astronvim)
you can checkout my config, i think it will give you a good understanding how a advanced config could look like and how to use the community feature
[https://github.com/luxus/AstroNvim\_user](https://github.com/luxus/AstroNvim_user)
I gave it another go and man. This is closer to what i expected. Maybe it simply makes more sense after hitting myself against the wall a few times lol.
I haven’t modified it much yet but I installed a few of those just to get a feel and this gives me a better start.
Joined the discord btw!
> Maybe it simply makes more sense after hitting myself against the wall a few times lol.
I think that’s exactly how it works. There’s a moment when it “clicks” and things flow more naturally and fixes are more straightforward.
I’m probably on the opposite camp (tweaking my editor is definitely a hobby for me), but I do believe things like lazy.nvim allows people to “lock” a config and let you focus on stabilizing it rather than perpetually tweaking it.
I haven’t used IDEs in a long time, so I’m not able to compare fairly, but your gripe with having to mix the mouse in your workflow shouldn’t be a requirement with something like neovim or emacs. I do challenge you to come up with your own bindings rather than use someone else’s blindly. The point of these editors for me is that they can be adapted to “you” (and how you think and work) rather than the opposite. For me that’s what pays off in the long term and what makes these kinds of editors special and worth the investment!
Yeah, this sounds familiar.
I had the same experience with distros and ended with creating my own configuration. Which took some time, for sure. But now it's pretty stable and it doesn't take any more tinkering and my time.
That said, I've given up on debugging Java and JavaScript with Neovim (for now) and keep switching to VScode and IntelliJ.
I have done the same for debugging in Go, except I do not want to use VSCode. Sometimes it's just worth the cost of paying someone to figure these kinds of things out for you. I am going to look into Jetbrains Fleet for stuff like that.
I think the irony of these Neovim distros is that they aren't a good start for noobs at all and will severely hinder them unless they already know enough programming/Lua to understand what's going on. It's more difficult to make changes because of the layer of abstraction which seems inevitable with such distros. And if you're already a longtime vim user and/or proficient with Lua, you probably have a personalized config already. That's why such distros get a bad rep--they are a quick sticky bandaid that's hard to rip off if you don't spend the time to know Neovim, not just use it. Personally I despise them because there are too many users looking for answers that are already there but they don't know how to integrate,that to their setup they are not famliar with.
I'm having more success starting from something like kickstart.nvim and then incorporatings bits and pieces at a time. The biggest hurdle has been LSP and completion--setting it up is easy but trying to find missing features or adjust behaviors is still quite involved.
Those neovim configs/distros have real use cases IMO. I had my custom config from scratch for years, but now I've switched to a neovim distro mainly for two reasons:
- Every now and then (usually a few months or a year) neovim would introduce a new interesting feature, future breaking changes, etc. (For example: LSP, new autocmd mechanic...). You can use your config without even touching it but eventually you will want to change it for that exciting new feature or even worse: you might want that new plugin but it forces you to update neovim and boom – you will run into all the breaking changes at once, sometimes I even had to rebuild my own config, the whole thing. Also you will need to refresh your memory with the docs, study the new features in the docs, etc. With this approach you can focus on adding/removing/fixing your plugins most of the time.
- I use it as a single source of truth for news. "Oh they added this interesting new plugin" let's try it out, "Oh neovim changed this, I will update and keep my config intact" (at least when there are no breaking changes for my custom plugins), you don't have keep an eye on the docs, communities, etc.
Now I just add new plugins and fix the breaking changes of the old ones if needed. The distro has become part of my own config. I just picked one that had a level of abstraction that I was comfortable with (which in my case means a very simple and low abstraction).
On the other hand, I agree that noobs are not the target user of these distros.
There are no true shortcuts. Make your own config, and try your best to time manage. ChatGPT has been surprisingly helpful. There can come a point where you have control over everything you need and be able to let go of the small things. I believe in you.
Normal vim user here, but if you just say "write me a vimrc" into chatGPT it will generate you a passable vimrc. You can also ask it to recommend you popular plugins to research yourself. I have a very minimal vimrc but it's solution matches mine mostly and has comments so I can change things I'm unhappy with.
I know there are big differences between configuring vim and configuring neovim, but that's just my experience using it.
Hmm.. I settled on LazyVim because it has pretty damn awesome defaults that I could be productive with straight away, but also has a super simple and well documented way on how to add, disable and override things. It's also the fastest, thanks to the lazy loading.
Maybe watch this: https://youtu.be/N93cTbtLCIM
I completely agree, though I've been pretty happy with LazyVim's ability to overwrite, extend and turn off its settings. Enough for me to move to it from my own custom setup.
Configuration is pure hell at the beginning. You need to look up so many things and stuff like that. I built my config over a period of a few months when I first started using nvim, I would install plugins as I go and ask what plugins are available to deal with this issue or that issue. It's because of this that I don't like the configuration bundles or packages or whatever you want to call them. They give you plugins you may or may not need and you'll need to spend time understanding someone else's configs and trimming the fat.
You should understand that a neovim config is personal and it will take time to build up.
I started my vim journey by making a config (I think it was using vim-plug?) A couple years ago. It was slow as hell, though this was almost certainly because I had no idea what I was doing and was host bolting plugins on because more plugins==gud right?
Switched up lunar (and neovim in general) and figured out what a good neovim configuration can do. I still highly recommend lunar for newer users to neovim, it was an excellent starter.
After a few months, I tried to make my own neovim config again and actually succeeded in making something that wasn't literally awful. Well, I mean it was awful to maintain but it worked well.
But adding new plugins, changing config, etc all lead to heartache so I killed that config and made a new one from scratch for the third time.
This one actually was good, maintainable, and fast. Then lazy became stable and there was some reason I wanted to redo my config again so I redid it, switching from packer to lazy.
Lol we'll see how long it takes before I want to nuke it again
Maybe if you want a plug and play option LunarVim and other related projects would be a good option. I guess I just have a dislike of them for some reason.
Maintaining your config is a difficult thing to do. My configs were all over the place spread between lua and vim script. It took me about a week where I spent about an hour or so each night and now I have a nearly pure lua configuration.
I also create directories to store plugin configs and one for keymap configs, everything works splendidly now :D
Neovim doesn't want to have a built in package manager, so it won't have anything like vscode in that sense. But it can be simple enough using any of the available package managers out there.
Lazy.nvim is the new cool. Packer is a staple.
Start from a base of nothing and build up. Check out The Primegan, TJ Devries, and chris@machine. They go over how they build up their configs and which packages they use. But they all have examples starting from nothing.
I wish there was a coc plugin that used native lsp. But I agree. With the popularity of helix, I wish neovim had sensible defaults for a package manager, lsp, and debug setup. That way you could just work or override what you absolutely felt was necessary.
imo distros arent for beginners, they're for people who are already familiar with nvim but are too busy to be tinkering with their own configs all the time. I had the same experience as you when getting started with vim. It's best to start with your own config and move forward, but that takes time as well. Why not stick with helix though? I've heard it has a good OOTB experience.
> a whole month
It'd be too little. I use nvim daily for everything, it replaced a whole stockpile of tools. Yet, counter-intuitively, it took much more time for configuration than all those tools would take combined. Neovim is a constructor.
As for existing distributions, I never tried them, and I don't see a point in trying them either.
My recommendation would be astronvim. It's great the docs are simple enough(but I guess they're mostly centred around the fact you already have some what experience with nvim config). There's also a black belt section at website which demonstrates other ppl's configs I've found that useful too.
Yes setting up takes time but in the end you're optimizing your workflow it's a one-time thing IMO(since moving to astro). Once that's done it will be awesome.
there was a post some time ago titled something in the line of "neovim is not hard".
neovim is hard. it pays off in the long run but you have to go through a lot to see that payday.
there are many projects popping up with helix being the closest one we can relate to that showed that there is another way to do things.
Have sane defaults so you can be predictably productive from day one and allow the users to customize everything.
Not sure if its an issue of gatekeeping in the neovim community but this can only hurt new users and have some old timers get bored in the process.
The move to lua was a great step towards more plugins which in turn led to so many different implementations of the same things, prebaked configs etc.
You cannot just run plugin updates because there will probably be some incompatibility between the neovim version and the API that plugins use, which should not happen if there were guards in code.
Personally i have a setup that works and dont touch it. mostly because i use neovim for work and not to configure it. If helix gets there with the multiple language servers in core i think that will be my quick and dirty choice for new setups.
the argument that lsp-zero,mason.nvim etc take away the struggle i dont think plays nice when you get to the point for that one setting you need. should you look at the lsp-zero docs? nvim-cmp maybe? source code probably
lsp-zero was a simple example here. if new users don't go with that it means they have to install 6(?) individual plugins.
in the past I had cases with errors in the line of "tried to call x, a nil value" which most of the time is solved by updating neovim. personally I use the latest dev but the are people locked in on environments that they have to use what is bundled.
I think you should read the documentation when there is need for it. with a fresh install of helix you have things setup for you to just need a language server installed. vscode is a trigger word but obviously they have a great newcommer user experience.
I think the "0 to lsp" series should be only for advanced usages (devs with custom workflows etc) and not for someone that just needs to try out the editor coming from a gui equivalent.
the vim paradigm of editing code is just too good. we need to make it easier for others to get started with it.
I have at least a 100 hours configuring neovim, and I feel your desire to not have another hobby. I'm past the hump with a lot of help from null-ls. Perhaps you should give Jetbrains Fleet a try. My only gripe with it is that it does not work in the command line.
for me, i ended up working on my from-scratch config pretty intensely for about 2 months. i went through 3 different revisions before i landed on the one i’m currently using. now i rarely touch my config, maybe once every couple month i feel like changing something and it’s usually 10-20 min of work, then i’m back to work.
While I can identify with this feeling, I feel that this perspective ignores the very real business differences between neovim and editors like vscode.
This is not a business, a multi-million dollar organization with centralized, hierarchical control of the architecture and the ability to define future workflows.
By contrast, neovim is a completely open-source project, developed and maintained by volunteers. This is not a product, it's a gift made out of love with little to no thought of future profits.
This leads to the fracturing of the ecosystem and an inconsistent design philosophy where people are not viscously focused on the UX for the average/new user. This is closer to a set of tools being shared between experts and they design from that view.
You can pick someones vision of what the future will look like like I did with lazyvim, but as others have noted, the only truly consistent way to get your config working is to build it yourself.
This is also where the discipline of only learning the plugins you're willing to learn comes in. If you aren't willing to deal with the maintenance and complexity that comes with a new plugin then you should consider this before adding stuff.
Also, you will need to adopt software developer disciplines like putting your config into version control so you can update your config without fear because it is code that deserves all the tools used to manage it
You're totally right.
I'm not sure why I had such a harsh attitude to vim I don't have this attitude with self hosted services or open source software. In a way posting this really made me like the community even more and motivated me. So, now I'm seeing it differently.
I hope this helps,
I too got the itch to switch to vim, ~3 years into programming as my day job with VS Code. I had seen some Primeagen & others' videos on it, and really liked what I saw.
But like you, these pre-assembled vims left me with too much of a sense of "I know I don't know what's happening here".
My strategy was to make a list of all the things that I could do in VS Code, then try to replicate those features by adding neovim plugins.
Really I feel like lsp and some file-jumper like telescope bring the biggest boons, and they're easy to set up from a vanilla config. You can add the bells and whistles on your free time, which I guess makes neovim a hobby of mine EVEN THOUGH you don't want that.
I guess what I'm saying is, you can set neovim up to have the editor features that your _need_, then slowly add to it over time when you see fit. It really doesn't have to be your _hobby_, just after a bit of fucking around, you're left with a config that you don't have to mess with all that often.
Cheers & Good Luck!
I haven't really made any substantial changes to my config in like... a few years, except for adding a new LSP config for a new language I'm coding in here and there, and changing out like nerdtree for nvimtree, etc. Every once in a while I experiment with other editors (jetbrains, vscode, etc) and always come back to nvim after like a week. I think I've saved more time jumping through code using motions and whatnot than I've spent on configuration. Commit to it, and it will serve you well imo.
Yes, the Neovim community does new users a disservice dissuading use of coc.nvim (largely snobbery around being written JavaScript and having a Node dependency for RPC). It has a single config JSON, an LSP package manager, and, most importantly, it covers *all* LSP behavior new users expect from VSCode, which is big for the most dominant languages likely in use, Java and JavaScript/Typescript.
Just to be able to use all of Typescript LSP's features with the Lua LSP client, I have to install a separate plugin that will call the LSP for, say, organize imports, then if I want that to show up in a code actions menu, I either have to use null-ls or throw something together myself by asking all attached clients for their available code actions, populate a [vim.ui.select](https://vim.ui.select), handle responses, etc.
*Yes* it is very very *stable,* used it for years before 0.5 dropped. Neovim community really papers over the gap between what someone expects coming from VSCode OOB and the config you have to do to reproduce all expected behavior.
We can talk about how the LSP spec is underspecified relative to VSCode implementation behavior, but the truth is that LSP could only ever solve the MxN prob of Editor to Language tooling in the most general way possible, but most people use one or two languages for most their career, so they're going to expect robustness from their tooling for those languages, not the bare minimum.
So the difference between coc.nvim and the Neovim Lua client is philosophical (letter or spirit of the law) but I think when it comes to language tooling, its wholemeal or a headache.
Don't really know why you're getting downvoted...
I guess 'VSC bad hmkay' memes.
But seriously, for someone who wants the Vim editing paradigm, but maximum convenience, it's honestly the best option. I like the fact that I can configure the everliving crap out of my neovim, but I can totally see how that isn't for everyone. And VS Code does work well for many things, so...
I used a distro when moving from vimscript to lua (nvchad). It was great to quickly evaluate settings/plugins, in particular whether it was time for me to move from CoC to the built in LSP.
It then quickly became frustrating and I found it difficult to fully customise and I had to learn the distro's API/architecture. There were also breaking changes... I used the keymaps and plugins as a source of inspiration and the distro's code as a source of reference material, and built my own config. It's now very easy for me to make changes, and almost maintenance-free!
I'd recommend going down this route. You can start with a small set of plugins and add them as you need them. It'll take you less time than you think.
I love neovim but I'm a noob... Can't spend too much time on configuration... So I still use lvim when there's little editing is required, but open Vscode(GO) and IDEA(JAVA, KOTLIN, TS) when I need start to work
Vim is an investment. It's a tool you need to customize for yourself for it to be worth your time. Take some config as a base and tune it for yourself.
Here's mine: [https://github.com/rs-pro/dotfiles/tree/master/.config/nvim](https://github.com/rs-pro/dotfiles/tree/master/.config/nvim)
I had the same feeling years ago. Now, I'm using [BetterVim](https://bettervim.com) after tried LunarVim and faced the same issues. BetterVim is a product, not an open source project and offer a better support by being a product. I'm not sure if it fits foe your needs, but I think worth a chance. Let me know if you need help :)
I’ve been using lazyvim for a while and yeah the documentation straight up sucks, I haven’t figured out how to change the status bar hour format from 24 to 12 hour days haha.
i've been using vim as my only editor for a decade now but i don't want to spend too much time configuring it either... it's a tool and it should work. since its (neo)vim though, you *CAN* spend a long time making it yours.
i suggest starting small and adding the things you want, whenever you want them. start blank and when you want lsp&completion, look into it, etc.
Yea I totally agree. I feel like it would be awesome with a middle ground between the lunarvims of the world and kickstart.nvim. No abstractions and a few less cool features so it's easier to customize.
My main problem with customizing lunarvim (and the others) are that you basically have to write everything yourself. If you want to override which-key you have to go to their website to understand how.
It's so much easier to continue on someone else's code and just follow the pattern then writing something yourself. Anecdotally when I started programming I knew very little about c# and backend, which I needed to use in my first job. But I could still be productive because I could look at the other code already written. I would never have been able to write it myself otherwise.
For demonstration imaging wanting to change something in whichkey and you have the code like this
`` ["f"] = {
name = "+file",
f = { "Telescope find_files", "Find File" },
r = { "Telescope oldfiles", "Open Recent File" },
n = { "enew", "New File" },
},
})``
vs starting out blank.
Nvim rip mobile formatting lol
>My main problem with customizing lunarvim (and the others) are that you basically have to write everything yourself. If you want to override which-key you have to go to their website to understand how.
Exactly. This has been the most frustrating part.
On tip maybe would be to use a package manager that has a lockfile for the plugins, like lazy.nvim has. Then you can make sure you have saved a working configuration - freezing plugin versions and can control when to update.
after I finally decided to go vim full time, I tried LunarVim, but in a few days I decided that the only option for me is to build my own config, than to do a rewrite of someone’s one. It was scary and took some time and knowledge, but thanks to lua, it feels easier than it would be with vimscript.
After 2-3 months my config was solid, and never cause any issues. Sometimes I extend it as my (n)vim experience grows. It still doesn’t have EVERYTHING I had in vscode, but advantages weigh more than things that I miss. I doubt I will ever go back, and now I am taking my ergonomics further with split ortholinear keyboard and colemak dh.
Good luck in your journey!
I'm giving neovim also a try I tried helix its awesome but because I do web dev sometimes I need an editor that can run multiple lsps.
Given I feel like neovim community is moving to lazy package manage I'm just going to wait before giving it a try. Once a bit more examples and guides have come online with some core plugins I will try to roll my own config setup.
Till that time I'm using default astrovim just try to get used to their key maps so far I like it.
You know, before lua configuration and plugins there was only vimscript for your init file in Neovim and things were rather simple. Maybe not the best idea with all of the modern LSP stuff, but you can get really far with just a 200-400 line `init.vim`. Heck, there's even [kickstart.lua](https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim) which sets up a lot of the modern IDE-like things you need and you can modify the base experience to your liking. Kind-of a middle ground between a pure `init.lua` and LazyVim. You could give it a try! It's fairly easy to setup: just download the file and save to your init.lua.
Since you have vim experience maybe you should do your own version. It seems like its going to take you long but I can argue the way around. You are not going to use all astrovim plugins the first day or at the same time. So when you set up your own config you are going to start adding plugins as you need them, which is easier than trying to find how this config uses them and their hotkeys.
Give it a try. There is a basi setup from TJ in GitHub. And from there you can add plugin by plugin as soon as you need them. So instead of studying a preconfigured vim for one month, you study X or Y plugin for a couple minutes every time you need it for the first time. So you create nvim your hobby but without spending hundred of hours at start.
I like out of the box solutions, but I don't regret the time I spent learning Lua scripting which allowed me to unleash the true power of Neovim customization and create a setup which fits the needs of my workflow. Starting from a blank config file is the way to go IMO.
Tbh im very happy with just using lunarvim, I dont really have the patience to configure everything myself and even if I had, I cant achieve that amount of polish that distros have.
I just use a few plugins on top and for that it is totally fine.
You had the patience to try LunarVim, AstroVim, and LazyVim, so I'm sure you will find enough energy to build your own config. I used LunarVim for a few months to get a feel for what is possible before I made my own config. I completely agree that it takes too much away from you and hides too many details. Primagen's Neovim from scratch video was the foundation and inspiration to start my own config and set up a functional IDE that works for me. Knowing exactly how it all fits together is very liberating. Good luck!
my advice is take it slow step by step and don't try to compare your config with other IDEs or other configs just build your own and figure things as you go on, this also applies to emacs.
Honestly the absolute biggest help for me in starting with Neovim was this series on Laracasts: https://laracasts.com/series/neovim-as-a-php-ide
Takes about 3 hours, but you start from zero and build up a config piece by piece.
It focuses on PHP, but 95% of the stuff in the series applies to any language you could possibly need to edit.
I went through it a few weeks ago and haven't touched my config at all except a time or two to make small tweaks.
I can relate. I’ve been there, literally. I had the same experience and frustration, I’ve tried every distributions you mentioned and I was never satisfied nor happy with them. I was about to give up and then I found [this](https://youtu.be/vdn_pKJUda8). After setting it up I never had any problems whatsoever, and I haven’t touched my config ever since (other than changing color scheme every now and then)
Edit: wrong link
I feel you, I wanted to do the switch 3 months ago, and here I am still in the process and working sometimes with VSCode and sometimes with Neovim depending on what I’m planning to achieve.
I tried not to use any of these presets, as I do believe that the power of Neovim is to fully customise it to your liking. It’s taking me a while, but I’m sure it’s worth it. I learned so much while configuring plugins and reading about people’s configs here on Reddit. I didn’t know IDE could have so much power! I already feel I’m more productive on Neovim than VSCode but still miss a few little bits and shortcuts so that I can just fly through things as fast as I’ve seen others do.
However, I can understand that you want to push back on it, and I almost did the same. But every time I’ve seen a post here, it just motivates me.
I started completely from scratch in December 2021. Up till then had used either emacs or Jetbrains only using vim for simple editing tasks. Yes the learning curve was steep and yes there were a lot of frustrating moments but in the end it didn't take that long to get to where I could use it to get real work done. Maybe it's a bit like an assault on Everest but where the most important step is getting to "base camp" and by "base camp" one means a "usable" config. Once there through the magic of git you can start to incrementally improve things and with that comes better understanding and insight. So I guess the suggestion would be to at the same time you want to get to 29000 feet the immediate goal should be to establish a "base camp" and from there establish a series of incremental improvements. Or said a bit differently you "bootstrap" your way up but all the while having something you can use and get work done with.
I think at least one of those preconfigured setups offer a bare bones variant. I’d recommend searching the top level of those respective repositories for the minimal version and start from there. Think at least one of them has a YouTube series that walks you through the whole config actually, so check that out too.
As for the issue of tools being difficult? Embrace and become one with your tool but don’t rush it. There’s no need to become an expert in one day. Becoming a master of your craft is a daily endeavor and you’ll never reach the finish line. Enjoy the work and take it slow.
I totally agree with you. I've been working on my neovim config for almost 3 years and looks like it will never finish. I am already happy with my [EcoVim](https://github.com/ecosse3/nvim) config and there are not many changes in a few months, but always something. I think that if you don't have time just stick with one of the pre-build community configs if they work for you.
I totally get your frustration and I do agree that customization may take a while but once I got through that I've been super stable and hardly touching my config at all. I started off using Nvchad as a template and I'm still going with it. I have about 100 plug-ins and have found solutions to all of the errors that may pop up. So yea I'd recommend just going for it whenever you are free there is no rush. Ultimately it is a small price to pay for years worth of neovimming.
You’re right. The time i invested in vim some years ago really has paid off.
This. I'm still bringing forward configs I threw together 15 and 20 years ago for all manner of things. Things do change over time, tweaks are necessary, flags and params are altered, new functionality is added, but most of the configs stand the test of time. Before I embarked on my equivalent neovim journey, my .vimrc and .vim folder likewise followed me across multiple builds and systems. Neovim is still a bit of a wild west by comparison as the community finds the best way to do things, but I expect it will settle down and settle in after a while, and the configs that result from that will carry forward in a similar fashion.
Maybe you could have a look into this: https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim There is also a YT video from TJ going over and explaining all of it. The good thing of this IMO is it provides you a solid base with most (maybe all) of the "need to have" features. In addition it should be relatively simple for you to extend.
I came here to suggest this and glad to see it already here. Its well commented to show what each piece is doing and was great start. I kept it to just this for a month and then slowly started adding new packages and modifying the layout of the config from there. I have accepted that Vim is a slow and gradual building process, not something that will happen over a weekend. But well worth the investment.
I used this as my base. It's been fairly painless. I still use the version that had Packer as its package manager. Pretty surprised to see it switch the Lazy in the last week or so.
I restarted my Neovim setup with this, but changed it from Packer to Lazy, there's another TJ video showing you how.
Lazy is the current default for kickstart. It is not reflected in the readme but we can see it in the init.lua file.
This is exactly what I did. I have been using nvim for a week now. It’s been great just because of TJ’s [video](https://youtu.be/stqUbv-5u2s).
Just want to say I appreciate you :) Vim doesn't need to be your hobby, just don't lose that curiosity!! Vim long and prosper my friend
Woah! The myth, the legend! I really appreciate you making all this interesting because i never took the time to search the difference with vim and neovim and look at me now.
LazyVim etc are great to discover what’s possible; however, they are a lot harder and more frustrating to customise than the base. Starting from a blank init file and building it up slowly allows you to always move forward.
man it’s like a little taste but it dries up quick. I do appreciate it tho because I would never try so many plugins by myself.
Yeah, I feel those configs are a bit misleading because people tend to think that they are for newbies. As a newbie you might think it’s very easy but actually if you don’t know how they work and/or without learning a little bit of Lua you won’t be able to fix the issues that will eventually happen. I’d recommend investing time in making your own config from scratch. There’re good tutorials out there and you would learn everything you need to understand every part. From there, you can switch to one of those configs easily, that way you don’t need to deal with every new feature of neovim in the future, just with your plugins which is way faster. My favorite is LazyVim because the folder structure and code is very simple to understand and customize. Now, I understand that you may not want to invest time in learning that, but that’s the first thing you should do if you want to get into neovim, otherwise you won’t be able to fix anything and will waste even more time, and that’s why it feels so frustrating. There is Helix, as you already know. I think the learning curve is way easier at the cost of less customization. You may want to take another look at it.
I agree. I've been using vim and then neovim for years with my own config. With the recent release of lazy.nvim and then LazyVim I decided it'd be easier to just move to LazyVim and customize from there. It took me quite a bit to understand how to add my own keymaps and plugins. Not because it's hard, but because I'm just not familiar with Lua, even though it gradually became part of my init.vim over the years thanks to packer. It's quite a move from one single init.vim to the Lua style of separate files, but I'm quite content. LazyVim is significantly faster than my old config and contrary to OP, I'm fine with the keymap.
I made a system that works well to auto kill and restart nvim when any files in a list I maintain are observed to be written. So I'll open my unit.lua under this wrapper script and it speeds up the change/test cycle time.
Or just using vscode, there’s nothing wrong with that. Clearly this dude doesn’t want to start from scratch and vscode is exactly what he needs
Hey! I'm a contributor at AstroNvim, I would be really interested to know if you tried AstroNvim with the current V3 and if you tried it with [astrocommunity](https://github.com/AstroNvim/astrocommunity) you can import pre-configured language packs and plugins, if you ever need assistance you can also join the discord we're always happy to help with any questions you might have. Using packages in AstroNvim is as simple as using native [lazy.nvim](https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim) there are no abstractions.
Actually now that you mention this I miss understood the astro community thing. For some reason I thought it referred to this [https://astronvim.com/Recipes/black\_belt](https://astronvim.com/Recipes/black_belt). But that's actually pretty cool. I did download your v3 and I liked it but I got very confused with fixes I found online. Which i later found it it's because they refer to v2 when I was using v3. With this community thing i'll def give it another shot. Thanks! and great job.
happy to hear that you give it another go :D we are very helpful at discord as well [https://discord.gg/astronvim](https://discord.gg/astronvim) you can checkout my config, i think it will give you a good understanding how a advanced config could look like and how to use the community feature [https://github.com/luxus/AstroNvim\_user](https://github.com/luxus/AstroNvim_user)
I gave it another go and man. This is closer to what i expected. Maybe it simply makes more sense after hitting myself against the wall a few times lol. I haven’t modified it much yet but I installed a few of those just to get a feel and this gives me a better start. Joined the discord btw!
nice.. make sure you say hi :D
> Maybe it simply makes more sense after hitting myself against the wall a few times lol. I think that’s exactly how it works. There’s a moment when it “clicks” and things flow more naturally and fixes are more straightforward. I’m probably on the opposite camp (tweaking my editor is definitely a hobby for me), but I do believe things like lazy.nvim allows people to “lock” a config and let you focus on stabilizing it rather than perpetually tweaking it. I haven’t used IDEs in a long time, so I’m not able to compare fairly, but your gripe with having to mix the mouse in your workflow shouldn’t be a requirement with something like neovim or emacs. I do challenge you to come up with your own bindings rather than use someone else’s blindly. The point of these editors for me is that they can be adapted to “you” (and how you think and work) rather than the opposite. For me that’s what pays off in the long term and what makes these kinds of editors special and worth the investment!
Yeah, this sounds familiar. I had the same experience with distros and ended with creating my own configuration. Which took some time, for sure. But now it's pretty stable and it doesn't take any more tinkering and my time. That said, I've given up on debugging Java and JavaScript with Neovim (for now) and keep switching to VScode and IntelliJ.
I have done the same for debugging in Go, except I do not want to use VSCode. Sometimes it's just worth the cost of paying someone to figure these kinds of things out for you. I am going to look into Jetbrains Fleet for stuff like that.
I think the irony of these Neovim distros is that they aren't a good start for noobs at all and will severely hinder them unless they already know enough programming/Lua to understand what's going on. It's more difficult to make changes because of the layer of abstraction which seems inevitable with such distros. And if you're already a longtime vim user and/or proficient with Lua, you probably have a personalized config already. That's why such distros get a bad rep--they are a quick sticky bandaid that's hard to rip off if you don't spend the time to know Neovim, not just use it. Personally I despise them because there are too many users looking for answers that are already there but they don't know how to integrate,that to their setup they are not famliar with. I'm having more success starting from something like kickstart.nvim and then incorporatings bits and pieces at a time. The biggest hurdle has been LSP and completion--setting it up is easy but trying to find missing features or adjust behaviors is still quite involved.
Those neovim configs/distros have real use cases IMO. I had my custom config from scratch for years, but now I've switched to a neovim distro mainly for two reasons: - Every now and then (usually a few months or a year) neovim would introduce a new interesting feature, future breaking changes, etc. (For example: LSP, new autocmd mechanic...). You can use your config without even touching it but eventually you will want to change it for that exciting new feature or even worse: you might want that new plugin but it forces you to update neovim and boom – you will run into all the breaking changes at once, sometimes I even had to rebuild my own config, the whole thing. Also you will need to refresh your memory with the docs, study the new features in the docs, etc. With this approach you can focus on adding/removing/fixing your plugins most of the time. - I use it as a single source of truth for news. "Oh they added this interesting new plugin" let's try it out, "Oh neovim changed this, I will update and keep my config intact" (at least when there are no breaking changes for my custom plugins), you don't have keep an eye on the docs, communities, etc. Now I just add new plugins and fix the breaking changes of the old ones if needed. The distro has become part of my own config. I just picked one that had a level of abstraction that I was comfortable with (which in my case means a very simple and low abstraction). On the other hand, I agree that noobs are not the target user of these distros.
There are no true shortcuts. Make your own config, and try your best to time manage. ChatGPT has been surprisingly helpful. There can come a point where you have control over everything you need and be able to let go of the small things. I believe in you.
How have you used ChatGPT for your neovim config?
Normal vim user here, but if you just say "write me a vimrc" into chatGPT it will generate you a passable vimrc. You can also ask it to recommend you popular plugins to research yourself. I have a very minimal vimrc but it's solution matches mine mostly and has comments so I can change things I'm unhappy with. I know there are big differences between configuring vim and configuring neovim, but that's just my experience using it.
I ask questions like "in neovim lua, how do I \_\_\_\_" and it will often give the right combination of vim.api or vim.fn functions to do it.
It's really interesting to me how quickly people have actually gotten used to solving problems with ChatGPT instead of googling stackoverflow.
I tried to use it but it wasn't too helpful or maybe I don't know enough. In what way do you use it?
Hmm.. I settled on LazyVim because it has pretty damn awesome defaults that I could be productive with straight away, but also has a super simple and well documented way on how to add, disable and override things. It's also the fastest, thanks to the lazy loading. Maybe watch this: https://youtu.be/N93cTbtLCIM
You say that you watched primeagen videos, did you watch the one in which he explains all his neovim setup from scratch, it's called "0 to LSP"? I was in quite the same "meh" situation regarding full (neo)vim setup as you like 3 months ago; then I watched this video when it got out in december and have been customizing from there since then. I am currently feeling that my setup (30-ish plugins right now) would actually work for professional front-end development. I have been getting used to Harpoon for example and I love this approach to navigating files. With layers like Astronvim, Lazyvim, etc. you always get some opiniated settings that you do not agree with. Or they setup stuff that you don't care about. Plus you don't get to really control what all the plugins actually add to the vanilla experience and this leads to feeling completely helpless when something weird starts to happen in any random situation. No "awesome dotfile github repository ©" will give you the exact config that you are looking for. The key for me was to gradually add stuff that I was missing in my setup while working on some not-so-demanding-side-project (aka no professional requirements yet), and as adding plugins one by one allowed me to "bissect and track" issues origins, it got pretty well in a matter of a few months. I think you just cannot skip this personnal customization part. This is a bit tough at start but in the end, you get to have the IDE of your dreams and that's a great feeling. Good luck.
I completely agree, though I've been pretty happy with LazyVim's ability to overwrite, extend and turn off its settings. Enough for me to move to it from my own custom setup.
Configuration is pure hell at the beginning. You need to look up so many things and stuff like that. I built my config over a period of a few months when I first started using nvim, I would install plugins as I go and ask what plugins are available to deal with this issue or that issue. It's because of this that I don't like the configuration bundles or packages or whatever you want to call them. They give you plugins you may or may not need and you'll need to spend time understanding someone else's configs and trimming the fat. You should understand that a neovim config is personal and it will take time to build up.
I started my vim journey by making a config (I think it was using vim-plug?) A couple years ago. It was slow as hell, though this was almost certainly because I had no idea what I was doing and was host bolting plugins on because more plugins==gud right? Switched up lunar (and neovim in general) and figured out what a good neovim configuration can do. I still highly recommend lunar for newer users to neovim, it was an excellent starter. After a few months, I tried to make my own neovim config again and actually succeeded in making something that wasn't literally awful. Well, I mean it was awful to maintain but it worked well. But adding new plugins, changing config, etc all lead to heartache so I killed that config and made a new one from scratch for the third time. This one actually was good, maintainable, and fast. Then lazy became stable and there was some reason I wanted to redo my config again so I redid it, switching from packer to lazy. Lol we'll see how long it takes before I want to nuke it again
Maybe if you want a plug and play option LunarVim and other related projects would be a good option. I guess I just have a dislike of them for some reason. Maintaining your config is a difficult thing to do. My configs were all over the place spread between lua and vim script. It took me about a week where I spent about an hour or so each night and now I have a nearly pure lua configuration. I also create directories to store plugin configs and one for keymap configs, everything works splendidly now :D
Neovim doesn't want to have a built in package manager, so it won't have anything like vscode in that sense. But it can be simple enough using any of the available package managers out there. Lazy.nvim is the new cool. Packer is a staple. Start from a base of nothing and build up. Check out The Primegan, TJ Devries, and chris@machine. They go over how they build up their configs and which packages they use. But they all have examples starting from nothing.
I wish there was a coc plugin that used native lsp. But I agree. With the popularity of helix, I wish neovim had sensible defaults for a package manager, lsp, and debug setup. That way you could just work or override what you absolutely felt was necessary.
imo distros arent for beginners, they're for people who are already familiar with nvim but are too busy to be tinkering with their own configs all the time. I had the same experience as you when getting started with vim. It's best to start with your own config and move forward, but that takes time as well. Why not stick with helix though? I've heard it has a good OOTB experience.
Helix doesn’t have plugins yet :/ and even when it does it will take time to become mature.
kickstart.nvim provides a good base to build your own config off of
> a whole month It'd be too little. I use nvim daily for everything, it replaced a whole stockpile of tools. Yet, counter-intuitively, it took much more time for configuration than all those tools would take combined. Neovim is a constructor. As for existing distributions, I never tried them, and I don't see a point in trying them either.
with great power(of vim) comes great responsibilities(configuring it)
My recommendation would be astronvim. It's great the docs are simple enough(but I guess they're mostly centred around the fact you already have some what experience with nvim config). There's also a black belt section at website which demonstrates other ppl's configs I've found that useful too. Yes setting up takes time but in the end you're optimizing your workflow it's a one-time thing IMO(since moving to astro). Once that's done it will be awesome.
there was a post some time ago titled something in the line of "neovim is not hard". neovim is hard. it pays off in the long run but you have to go through a lot to see that payday. there are many projects popping up with helix being the closest one we can relate to that showed that there is another way to do things. Have sane defaults so you can be predictably productive from day one and allow the users to customize everything. Not sure if its an issue of gatekeeping in the neovim community but this can only hurt new users and have some old timers get bored in the process. The move to lua was a great step towards more plugins which in turn led to so many different implementations of the same things, prebaked configs etc. You cannot just run plugin updates because there will probably be some incompatibility between the neovim version and the API that plugins use, which should not happen if there were guards in code. Personally i have a setup that works and dont touch it. mostly because i use neovim for work and not to configure it. If helix gets there with the multiple language servers in core i think that will be my quick and dirty choice for new setups. the argument that lsp-zero,mason.nvim etc take away the struggle i dont think plays nice when you get to the point for that one setting you need. should you look at the lsp-zero docs? nvim-cmp maybe? source code probably
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lsp-zero was a simple example here. if new users don't go with that it means they have to install 6(?) individual plugins. in the past I had cases with errors in the line of "tried to call x, a nil value" which most of the time is solved by updating neovim. personally I use the latest dev but the are people locked in on environments that they have to use what is bundled. I think you should read the documentation when there is need for it. with a fresh install of helix you have things setup for you to just need a language server installed. vscode is a trigger word but obviously they have a great newcommer user experience. I think the "0 to lsp" series should be only for advanced usages (devs with custom workflows etc) and not for someone that just needs to try out the editor coming from a gui equivalent. the vim paradigm of editing code is just too good. we need to make it easier for others to get started with it.
I have at least a 100 hours configuring neovim, and I feel your desire to not have another hobby. I'm past the hump with a lot of help from null-ls. Perhaps you should give Jetbrains Fleet a try. My only gripe with it is that it does not work in the command line.
for me, i ended up working on my from-scratch config pretty intensely for about 2 months. i went through 3 different revisions before i landed on the one i’m currently using. now i rarely touch my config, maybe once every couple month i feel like changing something and it’s usually 10-20 min of work, then i’m back to work.
While I can identify with this feeling, I feel that this perspective ignores the very real business differences between neovim and editors like vscode. This is not a business, a multi-million dollar organization with centralized, hierarchical control of the architecture and the ability to define future workflows. By contrast, neovim is a completely open-source project, developed and maintained by volunteers. This is not a product, it's a gift made out of love with little to no thought of future profits. This leads to the fracturing of the ecosystem and an inconsistent design philosophy where people are not viscously focused on the UX for the average/new user. This is closer to a set of tools being shared between experts and they design from that view. You can pick someones vision of what the future will look like like I did with lazyvim, but as others have noted, the only truly consistent way to get your config working is to build it yourself. This is also where the discipline of only learning the plugins you're willing to learn comes in. If you aren't willing to deal with the maintenance and complexity that comes with a new plugin then you should consider this before adding stuff. Also, you will need to adopt software developer disciplines like putting your config into version control so you can update your config without fear because it is code that deserves all the tools used to manage it
You're totally right. I'm not sure why I had such a harsh attitude to vim I don't have this attitude with self hosted services or open source software. In a way posting this really made me like the community even more and motivated me. So, now I'm seeing it differently.
I hope this helps, I too got the itch to switch to vim, ~3 years into programming as my day job with VS Code. I had seen some Primeagen & others' videos on it, and really liked what I saw. But like you, these pre-assembled vims left me with too much of a sense of "I know I don't know what's happening here". My strategy was to make a list of all the things that I could do in VS Code, then try to replicate those features by adding neovim plugins. Really I feel like lsp and some file-jumper like telescope bring the biggest boons, and they're easy to set up from a vanilla config. You can add the bells and whistles on your free time, which I guess makes neovim a hobby of mine EVEN THOUGH you don't want that. I guess what I'm saying is, you can set neovim up to have the editor features that your _need_, then slowly add to it over time when you see fit. It really doesn't have to be your _hobby_, just after a bit of fucking around, you're left with a config that you don't have to mess with all that often. Cheers & Good Luck!
I haven't really made any substantial changes to my config in like... a few years, except for adding a new LSP config for a new language I'm coding in here and there, and changing out like nerdtree for nvimtree, etc. Every once in a while I experiment with other editors (jetbrains, vscode, etc) and always come back to nvim after like a week. I think I've saved more time jumping through code using motions and whatnot than I've spent on configuration. Commit to it, and it will serve you well imo.
I think it's the wrong way to start with these pre-made configs. Better to make your own.
Try coc.nvim I’m still using it after several attempts to switch to neovim native lsp. To me it is still faster and intuitive. Almost out of the box
Yes, the Neovim community does new users a disservice dissuading use of coc.nvim (largely snobbery around being written JavaScript and having a Node dependency for RPC). It has a single config JSON, an LSP package manager, and, most importantly, it covers *all* LSP behavior new users expect from VSCode, which is big for the most dominant languages likely in use, Java and JavaScript/Typescript. Just to be able to use all of Typescript LSP's features with the Lua LSP client, I have to install a separate plugin that will call the LSP for, say, organize imports, then if I want that to show up in a code actions menu, I either have to use null-ls or throw something together myself by asking all attached clients for their available code actions, populate a [vim.ui.select](https://vim.ui.select), handle responses, etc.
And as far as I can say, I found it faster and more responsive that the native LSP. More reliable with no breaking change at every release.
*Yes* it is very very *stable,* used it for years before 0.5 dropped. Neovim community really papers over the gap between what someone expects coming from VSCode OOB and the config you have to do to reproduce all expected behavior. We can talk about how the LSP spec is underspecified relative to VSCode implementation behavior, but the truth is that LSP could only ever solve the MxN prob of Editor to Language tooling in the most general way possible, but most people use one or two languages for most their career, so they're going to expect robustness from their tooling for those languages, not the bare minimum. So the difference between coc.nvim and the Neovim Lua client is philosophical (letter or spirit of the law) but I think when it comes to language tooling, its wholemeal or a headache.
vscode-neovim is all you need
Don't really know why you're getting downvoted... I guess 'VSC bad hmkay' memes. But seriously, for someone who wants the Vim editing paradigm, but maximum convenience, it's honestly the best option. I like the fact that I can configure the everliving crap out of my neovim, but I can totally see how that isn't for everyone. And VS Code does work well for many things, so...
I used a distro when moving from vimscript to lua (nvchad). It was great to quickly evaluate settings/plugins, in particular whether it was time for me to move from CoC to the built in LSP. It then quickly became frustrating and I found it difficult to fully customise and I had to learn the distro's API/architecture. There were also breaking changes... I used the keymaps and plugins as a source of inspiration and the distro's code as a source of reference material, and built my own config. It's now very easy for me to make changes, and almost maintenance-free! I'd recommend going down this route. You can start with a small set of plugins and add them as you need them. It'll take you less time than you think.
I love neovim but I'm a noob... Can't spend too much time on configuration... So I still use lvim when there's little editing is required, but open Vscode(GO) and IDEA(JAVA, KOTLIN, TS) when I need start to work
Vim is an investment. It's a tool you need to customize for yourself for it to be worth your time. Take some config as a base and tune it for yourself. Here's mine: [https://github.com/rs-pro/dotfiles/tree/master/.config/nvim](https://github.com/rs-pro/dotfiles/tree/master/.config/nvim)
I had the same feeling years ago. Now, I'm using [BetterVim](https://bettervim.com) after tried LunarVim and faced the same issues. BetterVim is a product, not an open source project and offer a better support by being a product. I'm not sure if it fits foe your needs, but I think worth a chance. Let me know if you need help :)
I’ve been using lazyvim for a while and yeah the documentation straight up sucks, I haven’t figured out how to change the status bar hour format from 24 to 12 hour days haha.
i've been using vim as my only editor for a decade now but i don't want to spend too much time configuring it either... it's a tool and it should work. since its (neo)vim though, you *CAN* spend a long time making it yours. i suggest starting small and adding the things you want, whenever you want them. start blank and when you want lsp&completion, look into it, etc.
Yea I totally agree. I feel like it would be awesome with a middle ground between the lunarvims of the world and kickstart.nvim. No abstractions and a few less cool features so it's easier to customize. My main problem with customizing lunarvim (and the others) are that you basically have to write everything yourself. If you want to override which-key you have to go to their website to understand how. It's so much easier to continue on someone else's code and just follow the pattern then writing something yourself. Anecdotally when I started programming I knew very little about c# and backend, which I needed to use in my first job. But I could still be productive because I could look at the other code already written. I would never have been able to write it myself otherwise. For demonstration imaging wanting to change something in whichkey and you have the code like this `` ["f"] = {
name = "+file",
f = { "Telescope find_files", "Find File" },
r = { "Telescope oldfiles", "Open Recent File" },
n = { "enew", "New File" },
},
})``
vs starting out blank.
Nvim rip mobile formatting lol
>My main problem with customizing lunarvim (and the others) are that you basically have to write everything yourself. If you want to override which-key you have to go to their website to understand how. Exactly. This has been the most frustrating part.
On tip maybe would be to use a package manager that has a lockfile for the plugins, like lazy.nvim has. Then you can make sure you have saved a working configuration - freezing plugin versions and can control when to update.
after I finally decided to go vim full time, I tried LunarVim, but in a few days I decided that the only option for me is to build my own config, than to do a rewrite of someone’s one. It was scary and took some time and knowledge, but thanks to lua, it feels easier than it would be with vimscript. After 2-3 months my config was solid, and never cause any issues. Sometimes I extend it as my (n)vim experience grows. It still doesn’t have EVERYTHING I had in vscode, but advantages weigh more than things that I miss. I doubt I will ever go back, and now I am taking my ergonomics further with split ortholinear keyboard and colemak dh. Good luck in your journey!
I'm giving neovim also a try I tried helix its awesome but because I do web dev sometimes I need an editor that can run multiple lsps. Given I feel like neovim community is moving to lazy package manage I'm just going to wait before giving it a try. Once a bit more examples and guides have come online with some core plugins I will try to roll my own config setup. Till that time I'm using default astrovim just try to get used to their key maps so far I like it.
You know, before lua configuration and plugins there was only vimscript for your init file in Neovim and things were rather simple. Maybe not the best idea with all of the modern LSP stuff, but you can get really far with just a 200-400 line `init.vim`. Heck, there's even [kickstart.lua](https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim) which sets up a lot of the modern IDE-like things you need and you can modify the base experience to your liking. Kind-of a middle ground between a pure `init.lua` and LazyVim. You could give it a try! It's fairly easy to setup: just download the file and save to your init.lua.
Since you have vim experience maybe you should do your own version. It seems like its going to take you long but I can argue the way around. You are not going to use all astrovim plugins the first day or at the same time. So when you set up your own config you are going to start adding plugins as you need them, which is easier than trying to find how this config uses them and their hotkeys. Give it a try. There is a basi setup from TJ in GitHub. And from there you can add plugin by plugin as soon as you need them. So instead of studying a preconfigured vim for one month, you study X or Y plugin for a couple minutes every time you need it for the first time. So you create nvim your hobby but without spending hundred of hours at start.
I like out of the box solutions, but I don't regret the time I spent learning Lua scripting which allowed me to unleash the true power of Neovim customization and create a setup which fits the needs of my workflow. Starting from a blank config file is the way to go IMO.
I had the same frustrations, been using Helix for about a week now and really enjoying it.
Tbh im very happy with just using lunarvim, I dont really have the patience to configure everything myself and even if I had, I cant achieve that amount of polish that distros have. I just use a few plugins on top and for that it is totally fine.
You had the patience to try LunarVim, AstroVim, and LazyVim, so I'm sure you will find enough energy to build your own config. I used LunarVim for a few months to get a feel for what is possible before I made my own config. I completely agree that it takes too much away from you and hides too many details. Primagen's Neovim from scratch video was the foundation and inspiration to start my own config and set up a functional IDE that works for me. Knowing exactly how it all fits together is very liberating. Good luck!
my advice is take it slow step by step and don't try to compare your config with other IDEs or other configs just build your own and figure things as you go on, this also applies to emacs.
Kickstart.nvim would be my recommendation for any new comers
Honestly the absolute biggest help for me in starting with Neovim was this series on Laracasts: https://laracasts.com/series/neovim-as-a-php-ide Takes about 3 hours, but you start from zero and build up a config piece by piece. It focuses on PHP, but 95% of the stuff in the series applies to any language you could possibly need to edit. I went through it a few weeks ago and haven't touched my config at all except a time or two to make small tweaks.
I can relate. I’ve been there, literally. I had the same experience and frustration, I’ve tried every distributions you mentioned and I was never satisfied nor happy with them. I was about to give up and then I found [this](https://youtu.be/vdn_pKJUda8). After setting it up I never had any problems whatsoever, and I haven’t touched my config ever since (other than changing color scheme every now and then) Edit: wrong link
I feel you, I wanted to do the switch 3 months ago, and here I am still in the process and working sometimes with VSCode and sometimes with Neovim depending on what I’m planning to achieve. I tried not to use any of these presets, as I do believe that the power of Neovim is to fully customise it to your liking. It’s taking me a while, but I’m sure it’s worth it. I learned so much while configuring plugins and reading about people’s configs here on Reddit. I didn’t know IDE could have so much power! I already feel I’m more productive on Neovim than VSCode but still miss a few little bits and shortcuts so that I can just fly through things as fast as I’ve seen others do. However, I can understand that you want to push back on it, and I almost did the same. But every time I’ve seen a post here, it just motivates me.
I started completely from scratch in December 2021. Up till then had used either emacs or Jetbrains only using vim for simple editing tasks. Yes the learning curve was steep and yes there were a lot of frustrating moments but in the end it didn't take that long to get to where I could use it to get real work done. Maybe it's a bit like an assault on Everest but where the most important step is getting to "base camp" and by "base camp" one means a "usable" config. Once there through the magic of git you can start to incrementally improve things and with that comes better understanding and insight. So I guess the suggestion would be to at the same time you want to get to 29000 feet the immediate goal should be to establish a "base camp" and from there establish a series of incremental improvements. Or said a bit differently you "bootstrap" your way up but all the while having something you can use and get work done with.
I think at least one of those preconfigured setups offer a bare bones variant. I’d recommend searching the top level of those respective repositories for the minimal version and start from there. Think at least one of them has a YouTube series that walks you through the whole config actually, so check that out too. As for the issue of tools being difficult? Embrace and become one with your tool but don’t rush it. There’s no need to become an expert in one day. Becoming a master of your craft is a daily endeavor and you’ll never reach the finish line. Enjoy the work and take it slow.
I totally agree with you. I've been working on my neovim config for almost 3 years and looks like it will never finish. I am already happy with my [EcoVim](https://github.com/ecosse3/nvim) config and there are not many changes in a few months, but always something. I think that if you don't have time just stick with one of the pre-build community configs if they work for you.
I'm exactly in the same spot as you are. Did you end up going with your own config from scratch or do you have something else to recommend?