kickstart.nvim README

The project's README from github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim. As one markdown file: README.md.

kickstart.nvim

Introduction

A starting point for Neovim that is:

NOT a Neovim distribution, but instead a starting point for your configuration.

Installation

Install Neovim

Kickstart.nvim targets only the latest 'stable' and latest 'nightly' of Neovim. If you are experiencing issues, please make sure you have at least the latest stable version. Most likely, you want to install neovim via a package manager. To check your neovim version, run nvim --version and make sure it is not below the latest 'stable' version. If your chosen install method only gives you an outdated version of neovim, find alternative installation methods below.

Install External Dependencies

External Requirements:

[!NOTE] See Install Recipes for additional Windows and Linux specific notes and quick install snippets

Install Kickstart

[!NOTE] Backup your previous configuration (if any exists)

Neovim's configurations are located under the following paths, depending on your OS:

OS PATH
Linux, MacOS $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim, ~/.config/nvim
Windows (cmd) %localappdata%\nvim\
Windows (powershell) $env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim\

Create your own copy of this repo using GitHub's "Use this template" button so that you have your own copy that you can modify, then install by cloning your new repo to your machine using one of the commands below, depending on your OS.

Alternatively, you can fork this repo if you prefer an easy upstream sync path (e.g., keeping your config on a separate branch and fast-forwarding master from upstream). See the discussion in #1740 for the tradeoffs between the two approaches.

[!NOTE] Your repo's URL will be something like this: https://github.com/<your_github_username>/kickstart.nvim.git

You likely want to remove nvim-pack-lock.json from your repo's .gitignore file too - it's ignored in the kickstart repo to make maintenance easier, but it's recommended to track it in version control (see :help vim.pack-lockfile).

Clone kickstart.nvim

[!NOTE] If following the recommended step above (i.e., creating your own repo from the template or fork), replace nvim-lua with <your_github_username> in the commands below

Linux and Mac 
git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/nvim
Windows

If you're using cmd.exe:

git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "%localappdata%\nvim"

If you're using powershell.exe

git clone https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim.git "${env:LOCALAPPDATA}\nvim"

Post Installation

Start Neovim

nvim

That's it! vim.pack will install all the plugins from your config. Use :lua vim.pack.update(nil, { offline = true }) to inspect plugin state and :lua vim.pack.update() to fetch updates (:write applies updates, :quit cancels them).

Read The Friendly Documentation

Read through the init.lua file in your configuration folder for more information about extending and exploring Neovim. That also includes examples of adding popularly requested plugins.

[!NOTE] For more information about a particular plugin check its repository's documentation.

Getting Started

The Only Video You Need to Get Started with Neovim

FAQ

Install Recipes

Below you can find OS specific install instructions for Neovim and dependencies.

After installing all the dependencies continue with the Install Kickstart step.

Windows Installation

Windows with Microsoft C++ Build Tools and CMake Kickstart's default config is make-only for `telescope-fzf-native.nvim`. If `make` is unavailable, the plugin is skipped.

Recommended: install make (see the chocolatey section below).

If you want a CMake-only setup, customize init.lua in two places:

  1. Include telescope-fzf-native.nvim when cmake is available:
if vim.fn.executable 'make' == 1 or vim.fn.executable 'cmake' == 1 then
  table.insert(plugins, gh 'nvim-telescope/telescope-fzf-native.nvim')
end
  1. In the PackChanged hook, use CMake when make is unavailable:
if name == 'telescope-fzf-native.nvim' then
  if vim.fn.executable 'make' == 1 then
    run_build(name, { 'make' }, ev.data.path)
  elseif vim.fn.executable 'cmake' == 1 then
    run_build(name, { 'cmake', '-S.', '-Bbuild', '-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release' }, ev.data.path)
    run_build(name, { 'cmake', '--build', 'build', '--config', 'Release', '--target', 'install' }, ev.data.path)
  end
  return
end

See telescope-fzf-native documentation for build details.

Windows with gcc/make using chocolatey Alternatively, one can install gcc and make which don't require changing the config, the easiest way is to use choco:
  1. install chocolatey either follow the instructions on the page or use winget, run in cmd as admin:
winget install --accept-source-agreements chocolatey.chocolatey
  1. install all requirements using choco, exit the previous cmd and open a new one so that choco path is set, and run in cmd as admin:
choco install -y neovim git ripgrep wget fd unzip gzip mingw make tree-sitter
WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) 
wsl --install
wsl
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neovim-ppa/unstable -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep fd-find tree-sitter-cli unzip git xclip neovim

Linux Install

Ubuntu Install Steps 
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neovim-ppa/unstable -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep fd-find tree-sitter-cli unzip git xclip neovim
Debian Install Steps 
sudo apt update
sudo apt install make gcc ripgrep fd-find tree-sitter-cli unzip git xclip curl

# Now we install nvim
curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/latest/download/nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo mkdir -p /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo chmod a+rX /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64
sudo tar -C /opt -xzf nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

# make it available in /usr/local/bin, distro installs to /usr/bin
sudo ln -sf /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64/bin/nvim /usr/local/bin/
Fedora Install Steps 
sudo dnf install -y gcc make git ripgrep fd-find tree-sitter-cli unzip neovim
Arch Install Steps 
sudo pacman -S --noconfirm --needed gcc make git ripgrep fd tree-sitter-cli unzip neovim
Alpine Install Steps

[!CAUTION] Neovim works fine on Alpine, but some tooling appears incompatible with musl (lua-language-server, etc., check :Mason or :MasonLog). Quickfix Lua-LSP-Support: :%s/lua_ls/emmylua_ls

sudo apk add gcc make git fd ripgrep tree-sitter-cli unzip bash gzip curl musl-dev neovim-doc neovim

Alternative neovim installation methods

For some systems it is not unexpected that the package manager installation method recommended by neovim is significantly behind. If that is the case for you, pick one of the following methods that are known to deliver fresh neovim versions very quickly. They have been picked for their popularity and because they make installing and updating neovim to the latest versions easy. You can also find more detail about the available methods being discussed here.

Bob

Bob is a Neovim version manager for all platforms. Simply install rustup, and run the following commands:

rustup default stable
rustup update stable
cargo install bob-nvim
bob use stable
Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager popular on Mac and Linux. Simply install using brew install.

Flatpak

Flatpak is a package manager for applications that allows developers to package their applications just once to make it available on all Linux systems. Simply install flatpak and setup flathub to install neovim.

asdf and mise-en-place

asdf and mise are tool version managers, mostly aimed towards project-specific tool versioning. However both support managing tools globally in the user-space as well:

mise

Install mise, then run:

mise plugins install neovim
mise use neovim@stable
asdf

Install asdf, then run:

asdf plugin add neovim
asdf install neovim stable
asdf set neovim stable --home
asdf reshim neovim

kickstart.nvim (nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim)

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31.6K ·GitHub
Kickstart.nvim
What is this?A launch point for your personal Neovim configuration: a small, single-file, fully documented init.lua you clone and make your own. Explicitly not a Neovim distribution.
So is it a ready-made setup, or a config I'm expected to edit myself?A config you own and edit. The recommended path is copying the repo via GitHub's 'Use this template' button and cloning your copy, so every line of init.lua is yours to change.
How do I get it running?Install the latest stable Neovim, clone the repo into ~/.config/nvim (Linux/macOS) or %localappdata%\nvim (Windows), then run nvim — vim.pack installs all plugins from the config on first start.
What do I need to install besides Neovim itself?git, make, unzip, a C compiler, ripgrep, fd-find, tree-sitter CLI and a clipboard tool (xclip/xsel/win32yank). A Nerd Font is optional for icons, plus per-language tooling: npm for TypeScript, go for Go, etc.
Is the Windows experience as smooth as on Linux and macOS?Not quite: the default config is make-only, so without make the telescope-fzf-native plugin is skipped. Easiest fix is gcc and make via chocolatey; alternatives are MS C++ Build Tools with two init.lua tweaks for CMake, or WSL.
Is this meant for learning Neovim, or as a daily-driver config?Both — a teaching tool and reference config to clone as the base of your own. Once comfortable, split init.lua into modules; the kickstart-modular.nvim fork already does that with the same functionality.
Why is everything in a single init.lua file?On purpose: one documented file is easy to read top to bottom and use as a reference while learning Neovim and Lua. If you outgrow it, the README points to the kickstart-modular.nvim fork, which splits the same functionality across files.
I already have a Neovim config. Can I try kickstart without nuking it?Yes. The FAQ recommends backing up your old config first, and NVIM_APPNAME lets you keep several configs in parallel — for example clone into ~/.config/nvim-kickstart and launch it with an nvim-kickstart alias.
How do plugin updates work once it's installed?vim.pack handles it: :lua vim.pack.update() fetches updates, then :write applies them or :quit cancels. :lua vim.pack.update(nil, { offline = true }) just inspects plugin state without fetching.
Which Neovim version do I need?Only the latest 'stable' or 'nightly' — run nvim --version to check. If your package manager ships something older, the README lists fast channels like Bob, Homebrew, Flatpak, asdf and mise.
What are similar projects?LazyVim, NvChad, LunarVim, nvim-lspconfig, nvim-treesitter, awesome-neovim, telescope.nvim, AstroNvim
Which topics is it in?neovim-config, starter-kit, tree-sitter, neovim, dotfiles, configuration, lua, vim, template, editor, documentation, learning
Creator
nvim-lua
Size
1 MB
Stars
31.6K
Updated
CommitOct 03
Age
4y
Commits · 90 Days