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A modern approach to Neovim plugin management!
π
- Automatic dependency and build script management.
- True semantic versioning!
Cargo
-likerocks.toml
file for declaring all your plugins.- Name-based installation
(
"nvim-neorg/neorg"
becomes:Rocks install neorg
instead). - Supports multiple versions of the same dependency.
- Minimal, non-intrusive UI.
- Async execution.
- Extensible, with a Lua API.
rocks-git.nvim
for installing from git repositories.rocks-config.nvim
for plugin configuration.rocks-lazy.nvim
for lazy-loading.rocks-treesitter.nvim
for automatic tree-sitter parser management.- And more...
- Command completions for plugins and versions on luarocks.org.
- Binary rocks pulled from rocks-binaries so you don't have to compile them.
rocks.nvim revolutionizes Neovim plugin management by streamlining the way users
and developers handle plugins and dependencies.
Integrating directly with luarocks
,
this plugin offers an automated approach that shifts the responsibility
of specifying dependencies and build steps from users to plugin authors.
The traditional approach to Neovim plugin management often places an unjust burden on users, by requiring them to declare dependencies and build instructions manually.
This comes with several pain points:
- Breaking changes: Updates to a plugin's dependencies or build instructions can lead to breaking changes for users.
- Platform-specific complexity: Both dependencies and build instructions may vary by platform, adding complexity for users.
- Poor user experience: Because of this horrible UX, plugin authors have been reluctant to add dependencies, preferring to copy/paste Lua code instead, often reinventing the wheel in a suboptimal manner.
Other more modern approaches rely on plugin authors providing this information in their source repositories. We have a detailed article explaining why we chose a different approach here.
With rocks.nvim, installing a plugin is as simple as entering the command:
:Rocks install foo.nvim
Welcome to a new era of Neovim plugin management - where simplicity meets efficiency!
rocks.nvim itself is designed based on the UNIX philosophy: Do one thing well.
It doesn't dictate how you as a user should configure your plugins.
But there's an optional module for those seeking
additional configuration capabilities: rocks-config.nvim
.
We have packaged many Neovim plugins and tree-sitter parsers
for luarocks, and an increasing number of plugin authors
have been publishing themselves.
Additionally, rocks-git.nvim
ensures you're covered even when a plugin isn't directly available on LuaRocks.
Warning
We are not affiliated with the nvim-treesitter maintainers. If you are facing issues with tree-sitter support in rocks.nvim, please don't bug them.
We're revolutionizing the way Neovim users and plugin developers interact with tree-sitter parsers. With the introduction of the Neovim User Rocks Repository (NURR), we have automated the packaging and publishing of many plugins and curated1 tree-sitter parsers for luarocks, ensuring a seamless and efficient user experience.
When installing, rocks.nvim will also search our rocks-binaries (dev) server, which means you don't even need to compile any parsers on your machine.
If you need a tree-sitter parser for syntax highlighting or other features,
you can easily install them with rocks.nvim: :Rocks install tree-sitter-<lang>
.
They come bundled with queries, so once installed,
all you need to do is run vim.treesitter.start()
to enable syntax highlighting2.
Or, you can use our rocks-treesitter.nvim
module, which can automatically install parsers and enable syntax highlighting for you.
Tip
Bonus: With rocks.nvim, you can pin and roll back each tree-sitter parser individually!
For plugin developers, specifying a tree-sitter parser as a dependency is now as straightforward as including it in their project's rockspec3. This eliminates the need for manual parser management and ensures that dependencies are automatically resolved and installed.
Example rockspec dependency specification:
dependencies = {
"neotest",
"tree-sitter-haskell"
}
- An up-to-date
Neovim >= 0.10
installation. - The
git
command line utility. wget
orcurl
(if running on a UNIX system) - required for the remote:source
command to work.make
andunzip
(if you want the install/bootstrap script to install luarocks).netrw
enabled in your Neovim configuration - enabled by default but some configurations manually disable the plugin.- A
lua 5.1
orluajit
installation, including headers (for luarocks). Note that Lua must be executable using thelua
command.
Important
If you are running on an esoteric architecture (i.e. something different to
Linux, Windows or MacOS), rocks.nvim
will attempt to compile its
dependencies instead of pulling a pre-built binary. For the process to succeed
you must have a C++17 parser and Rust toolchain installed on your
system.
The days of bootstrapping and editing your configuration are over.
rocks.nvim
can be installed directly through an interactive installer within Neovim.
We suggest starting nvim without loading RC files, such that already installed plugins do not interfere with the installer:
nvim -u NORC -c "source https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvim-neorocks/rocks.nvim/master/installer.lua"
Important
For security reasons, we recommend that you read :help :source
and the installer code before running it so you know exactly what it does.
Tip
To configure the luarocks installation to use a specific lua install,
use environment variables LUA_BINDIR=<Directory of lua binary>
and LUA_BINDIR_SET=yes
.
For example:
LUA_BINDIR="${XDG_BIN_DIR:-$HOME/.local/bin}" LUA_BINDIR_SET=yes nvim -u NORC -c "source ...
For those who want rocks.nvim
to automatically install itself whenever it isn't installed
one may use the bootstrapping script. Place the following script into your init.lua
:
Lua Script
do
-- Specifies where to install/use rocks.nvim
local install_location = vim.fs.joinpath(vim.fn.stdpath("data"), "rocks")
-- Set up configuration options related to rocks.nvim (recommended to leave as default)
local rocks_config = {
rocks_path = vim.fs.normalize(install_location),
}
vim.g.rocks_nvim = rocks_config
-- Configure the package path (so that plugin code can be found)
local luarocks_path = {
vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_config.rocks_path, "share", "lua", "5.1", "?.lua"),
vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_config.rocks_path, "share", "lua", "5.1", "?", "init.lua"),
}
package.path = package.path .. ";" .. table.concat(luarocks_path, ";")
-- Configure the C path (so that e.g. tree-sitter parsers can be found)
local luarocks_cpath = {
vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_config.rocks_path, "lib", "lua", "5.1", "?.so"),
vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_config.rocks_path, "lib64", "lua", "5.1", "?.so"),
}
package.cpath = package.cpath .. ";" .. table.concat(luarocks_cpath, ";")
-- Load all installed plugins, including rocks.nvim itself
vim.opt.runtimepath:append(vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_config.rocks_path, "lib", "luarocks", "rocks-5.1", "rocks.nvim", "*"))
end
-- If rocks.nvim is not installed then install it!
if not pcall(require, "rocks") then
local rocks_location = vim.fs.joinpath(vim.fn.stdpath("cache"), "rocks.nvim")
if not vim.uv.fs_stat(rocks_location) then
-- Pull down rocks.nvim
vim.fn.system({
"git",
"clone",
"--filter=blob:none",
"https://github.com/nvim-neorocks/rocks.nvim",
rocks_location,
})
end
-- If the clone was successful then source the bootstrapping script
assert(vim.v.shell_error == 0, "rocks.nvim installation failed. Try exiting and re-entering Neovim!")
vim.cmd.source(vim.fs.joinpath(rocks_location, "bootstrap.lua"))
vim.fn.delete(rocks_location, "rf")
end
Upon running nvim
the bootstrapping script should engage!
Note
If you would like to break down this snippet into separate files, make sure
that the runtimepath and configuration snippet (the do .. end
block) executes
before the actual bootstrapping logic. You will get errors if you do it the other
way around!
For manual installation, see this tutorial.
See also :h rocks-nvim
.
You can install rocks with the :Rocks install {rock} {version?} {args[]?}
command.
Arguments:
rock
: The luarocks package.version
: Optional. Used to pin a rock to a specific version. If omitted, rocks.nvim will install (or update to) the latest version.args[]
: Optional arguments, e.g.opt=true
, to prevent rocks.nvim from automatically sourcing a rock at startup.
Examples:
:Rocks install neorg
:Rocks install neorg 8.0.0
:Rocks install tree-sitter-toml dev
:Rocks install kanagawa.nvim opt=true
Note
- The command provides fuzzy completions for rocks and versions on luarocks.org.
- Installs the latest version if
version
is omitted. - This plugin keeps track of installed plugins in a
rocks.toml
file, which you can commit to version control. - If you specify
dev
orscm
as the version, luarocks will search thedev
manifest. This has the side-effect that it will prioritisedev
versions of any dependencies that aren't declared with version constraints.
-
Running the
:Rocks update
command will update every available rock that is not pinned. -
:Rocks update {rock}
will update{rock}
to the latest version. The command provides completions for outdated luarocks packages andscm
/dev
rocks.
The :Rocks sync
command synchronizes the installed rocks with the rocks.toml
.
Note
- Installs missing rocks.
- Ensures that the correct versions are installed.
- Uninstalls unneeded rocks.
To uninstall a rock and any of its dependencies,
that are no longer needed, run the :Rocks prune {rock}
command.
Note
- The command provides fuzzy completions for rocks that can safely be pruned without breaking dependencies.
The :Rocks edit
command opens the rocks.toml
file for manual editing.
Make sure to run :Rocks sync
when you are done.
Tip
If you want more advanced lazy-loading capabilities,
try out the rocks-lazy.nvim
module.
By default, rocks.nvim
will source all plugins at startup.
To prevent it from sourcing a plugin, you can specify opt = true
in the rocks.toml
file.
For example:
[plugins]
neorg = { version = "1.0.0", opt = true }
or
[plugins.neorg]
version = "1.0.0"
opt = true
You can then load the plugin with Neovim's built-in :packadd {rock}
command4.
Note
Luarocks packages are installed differently than you are used to from Git repositories.
Specifically, luarocks
installs a rock's Lua API to the package.path
and the package.cpath
It does not have to be added to Neovim's runtime path
(e.g. using :packadd
), for it to become available.
This does not impact Neovim's startup time.
Runtime directories (:h runtimepath
),
on the other hand, are installed to a separate location.
Plugins that utilise these directories may impact startup time
(if it has ftdetect
or plugin
scripts), so you may or may
not benefit from loading them lazily.
Tip
Making sure a plugin doesn't unnecessarily impact startup time should be the responsibility of plugin authors, not users. As is the case with dependencies, a plugin's functionality may evolve over time, potentially leading to breakage if it's the user who has to worry about lazy loading.
A plugin that implements its own lazy initialization properly will likely have less overhead than the mechanisms used by a plugin manager or user to load that plugin lazily.
If you find a plugin that takes too long to load,
or worse, forces you to load it manually at startup with a
call to a heavy setup
function,
consider opening an issue on the plugin's issue tracker.
You can pin plugins with the pin
field, so that they are skipped
by :Rocks update
.
For example:
[plugins.neorg]
version = "7.0.0"
pin = true
Or
:Rocks install neorg 7.0.0 pin=true
You can also pin/unpin installed plugins with:
:Rocks [pin|unpin] {rock}
For :h User
events that rocks.nvim will trigger, see :h rocks.user-event
.
This plugin provides a Lua API for extensibility.
See :h rocks-api
for details.
Following are some examples:
rocks-git.nvim
: Adds the ability to install plugins from git.rocks-config.nvim
: Adds an API for safely loading plugin configurations.rocks-lazy.nvim
: Adds lazy-loading abstractions and integrates with rocks-config.nvim.rocks-dev.nvim
: Adds an API for developing and testing luarocks plugins locally.rocks-treesitter.nvim
Automatic highlighting and installation of tree-sitter parsers.- And more...
To extend rocks.nvim
, simply install a module with :Rocks install
,
and you're good to go!
The :Rocks log
command opens a log file for the current session,
which contains the luarocks
stderr output, among other logs.
- luarocks-tag-release: A GitHub action that automates publishing to luarocks.org
- NURR: A repository that publishes Neovim plugins and tree-sitter parsers to luarocks.org
- luarocks.nvim: Adds basic support for installing lua rocks to lazy.nvim
rocks.nvim
is licensed under GPLv3.
Contributions are more than welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for a guide.
Footnotes
-
We only upload parsers which we can install in the NURR CI (tested on Linux). β©
-
You can put this in a
ftplugin/<filetype>.lua
, for example. β© -
rocks.nvim
maintains symlinks to installed rocks' plugin directories in asite/pack/luarocks/opt/{rock}
directory, so colorschemes, etc., are available beforerocks.nvim
initializes. See also:h packadd
. β©