Neovim (I use Neovim btw)

I mainly started using Neovim because I wanted to look like a cool hacker. (Don’t worry, I’m not much of a danger)

After getting over how cool it looked and spending days configuring it, I discovered that it’s actually a really nice workflow.

nvim

Setup

editor

For anyone just starting out, I’d recommend checking out kickstart nvim.
It’s a great minimal starter config.

There’s also this video that I really wish I’d found earlier.

My Neovim setup has gone through a few iterations, but I’ve restructured it for my needs mainly for embedded electronics and markdown. I now use my own custom setup, inspired by Kickstart and a few other configs I’ve found along the way.

What I’m Using

✅ Neovim 0.12 (manually installed from official tarball)
✅ Lazy as plugin manager
✅ Modular Lua config under ~/.config/nvim/lua/hanndoddi
✅ Custom dashboard with personal shortcuts
✅ Treesitter, Mason, LSP, formatting, linting all working
✅ Micropython and Platform.io
✅ Transparent theme + icons
✅ Lazy Git

Structure

I split things into modular Lua files for easier organization and customization.

My config is split into:

~/.config/nvim/
├── init.lua
├── lua/
│   └── hanndoddi/
│       ├── core/       -- Basic options, keymaps
│       ├── plugins/    -- Plugin configs
│       ├── lazy.lua    -- Lazy plugin setup
│       └── init.lua    -- Main entry point

Notable Plugins

lualine - statusline
telescope - fuzzy finder
nvim-tree - file explorer
vim-visual-multi - multi-cursor
todo-comments - highlight and search TODOs
surround, substitute, comment - editing helpers
formatter, linter, gitsigns
leap - moving around fast

My favorite vim motions and keybinds

gcc - convert to comment and uncomment
space+x - Check tasks

Update Process

I use two options for updating Neovim depending on whether it’s a big update or it’s been a while since I last updated.

Option 1 - Quick Test (AppImage)

I use this to test a new version safely before installing system-wide to check if anything breaks.

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/latest/download/nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage

chmod +x nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage
./nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage

Notes:

Runs Neovim without installing anything
Uses my existing config (~/.config/nvim)
Good for testing compatibility before upgrading
Does not affect your system version

Option 2 - System-wide Install (/opt)

This is the main installation/update method if I'm sure nothing critical will break. This replaces the existing Neovim binary but keeps my config and plugins intact.

cd /tmp
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 tar -C /opt -xzf nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Symlink (only needed once):

sudo ln -sf /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64/bin/nvim /usr/local/bin/nvim

Verify Installation

I use this to make sure everything works like before. I also run :checkhealth before and after updating and compare the results.

which nvim
nvim --version
ls -l /usr/local/bin/nvim

Expected:

nvim → /usr/local/bin/nvim
version matches installed release
symlink points to /opt/nvim-linux-x86_64/bin/nvim

Thoughts

You’re more than welcome to explore (or fork) my Neovim config.
But I highly recommend customizing it to suit your needs. I'm Still exploring deeper workflows like native multi-cursor editing, but happy with the current state.

My take: - Don’t force Neovim to act like VS Code. - If you’re happy with your current editor - keep using it!

Neovim is awesome if it works for you.
Happens to work for me.

Note

My jouney to Nvim post

Info

My Dotfiles