packer.nvim

use-package inspired plugin/package management for Neovim.

Have questions? Start a discussion.

Have a problem or idea? Make an issue or a PR.

Table of Contents

1. Notices
2. Features
3. Requirements
4. Quickstart
5. Bootstrapping
6. Usage
   1. The startup function
   2. Custom Initialization
   3. Specifying Plugins
   4. Performing plugin management operations
   5. Extending packer
   6. Compiling Lazy-Loaders
7. Debugging
8. Status
9. Contributors

Notices

• 2021-02-18: Having trouble with Luarocks on macOS? See this issue.
• 2021-01-19: Basic Luarocks support has landed! Use the rocks key with a string or table to specify packages to install.
• 2020-12-10: The disable_commands configuration flag now affects non-startup use as well. This means that, by default, packer will create commands for basic operations for you.
• 2020-11-13: There is now a default implementation for a floating window open_fn in packer.util.
• 2020-09-04: Due to changes to the Neovim extmark api (see: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/commit/3853276d9cacc99a2698117e904475dbf7033383), users will need to update to a version of Neovim after the aforementioned PR was merged. There are currently shims around the changed functions which should maintain support for earlier versions of Neovim, but these are intended to be temporary and will be removed by 2020-10-04. Therefore Packer will not work with Neovim v0.4.4, which was released before the extmark change.

Features

• Declarative plugin specification
• Support for dependencies
• Support for Luarocks dependencies
• Expressive configuration and lazy-loading options
• Automatically compiles efficient lazy-loading code to improve startup time
• Uses native packages
• Extensible
• Written in Lua, configured in Lua
• Post-install/update hooks
• Uses jobs for async installation
• Support for git tags, branches, revisions, submodules
• Support for local plugins

Requirements

• You need to be running Neovim v0.5.0+; packer makes use of extmarks and other newly-added Neovim features.
• If you are on Windows 10, you need developer mode enabled in order to use local plugins (packer needs to use mklink, which requires admin privileges - credit to @TimUntersberger for this note)

Quickstart

To get started, first clone this repository to somewhere on your packpath, e.g.:

git clone https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim\
 ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim

Then you can write your plugin specification in Lua, e.g. (in ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins.lua):

-- This file can be loaded by calling `lua require('plugins')` from your init.vim

-- Only required if you have packer in your `opt` pack
vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]
-- Only if your version of Neovim doesn't have https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/12632 merged
vim._update_package_paths()

return require('packer').startup(function()
  -- Packer can manage itself as an optional plugin
  use {'wbthomason/packer.nvim', opt = true}

  -- Simple plugins can be specified as strings
  use '9mm/vim-closer'

  -- Lazy loading:
  -- Load on specific commands
  use {'tpope/vim-dispatch', opt = true, cmd = {'Dispatch', 'Make', 'Focus', 'Start'}}

  -- Load on an autocommand event
  use {'andymass/vim-matchup', event = 'VimEnter'}

  -- Load on a combination of conditions: specific filetypes or commands
  -- Also run code after load (see the "config" key)
  use {
    'w0rp/ale',
    ft = {'sh', 'zsh', 'bash', 'c', 'cpp', 'cmake', 'html', 'markdown', 'racket', 'vim', 'tex'},
    cmd = 'ALEEnable',
    config = 'vim.cmd[[ALEEnable]]'
  }

  -- Plugins can have dependencies on other plugins
  use {
    'haorenW1025/completion-nvim',
    opt = true,
    requires = {{'hrsh7th/vim-vsnip', opt = true}, {'hrsh7th/vim-vsnip-integ', opt = true}}
  }

  -- Plugins can also depend on rocks from luarocks.org:
  use {
    'my/supercoolplugin',
    rocks = {'lpeg', {'lua-cjson', version = '2.1.0'}}
  }

  -- You can specify rocks in isolation
  use_rocks 'penlight'
  use_rocks {'lua-resty-http', 'lpeg'}

  -- Local plugins can be included
  use '~/projects/personal/hover.nvim'

  -- Plugins can have post-install/update hooks
  use {'iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim', run = 'cd app && yarn install', cmd = 'MarkdownPreview'}

  -- Post-install/update hook with neovim command
  use { 'nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter', run = ':TSUpdate' }

  -- Post-install/update hook with call of vimscript function with argument
  use { 'glacambre/firenvim', run = function() vim.fn['firenvim#install'](0) end }

  -- Use specific branch, dependency and run lua file after load
  use {
    'glepnir/galaxyline.nvim', branch = 'main', config = function() require'statusline' end,
    requires = {'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons'}
  }

  -- Use dependency and run lua function after load
  use {
    'lewis6991/gitsigns.nvim', requires = { 'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim' },
    config = function() require('gitsigns').setup() end
  }

  -- You can specify multiple plugins in a single call
  use {'tjdevries/colorbuddy.vim', {'nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter', opt = true}}

  -- You can alias plugin names
  use {'dracula/vim', as = 'dracula'}
end)

Note that if you get linter complaints about use being an undefined global, these errors are spurious - packer injects use into the scope of the function passed to startup. If these errors bother you, the easiest fix is to simply specify use as an argument to the function you pass to startup, e.g.

packer.startup(function(use)
...your config...
end)

packer provides the following commands after you've run and configured packer with require('packer').startup(...):

-- You must run this or `PackerSync` whenever you make changes to your plugin configuration
:PackerCompile

-- Only install missing plugins
:PackerInstall

-- Update and install plugins
:PackerUpdate

-- Remove any disabled or unused plugins
:PackerClean

-- Performs `PackerClean` and then `PackerUpdate`
:PackerSync

You can configure Neovim to automatically run :PackerCompile whenever plugins.lua is updated with an autocommand:

autocmd BufWritePost plugins.lua PackerCompile

This autocommand can be placed in your init.vim, or any other startup file as per your setup.

Bootstrapping

If you want to automatically ensure that packer.nvim is installed on any machine you clone your configuration to, add the following snippet (which is due to @Iron-E) somewhere in your config before your first usage of packer:

local execute = vim.api.nvim_command
local fn = vim.fn

local install_path = fn.stdpath('data')..'/site/pack/packer/opt/packer.nvim'

if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then
  execute('!git clone https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim '..install_path)
  execute 'packadd packer.nvim'
end

Note that this will install packer as an opt plugin; if you want packer to be a start plugin, you must modify the value of install_path in the above snippet.

Usage

The above snippets give some examples of packer features and use. Examples include:

• My dotfiles:
  • Specification file
  • Loading file
  • Generated lazy-loader file
• An example using the startup method: tjdevries
  • Using this method, you do not require a "loading" file. You can simply lua require('plugins') from your init.vim

The following is a more in-depth explanation of packer's features and use.

The startup function

packer provides packer.startup(spec), which is used in the above examples.

startup is a convenience function for simple setup and can be invoked as follows:

• spec can be a function: packer.startup(function() use 'tjdevries/colorbuddy.vim' end)
• spec can be a table with a function as its first element and config overrides as another element: packer.startup({function() use 'tjdevries/colorbuddy.vim' end, config = { ... }})
• spec can be a table with a table of plugin specifications as its first element and config overrides as another element: packer.startup({{'tjdevries/colorbuddy.vim'}, config = { ... }})

Custom Initialization

You are not required to use packer.startup if you prefer a more manual setup with finer control over configuration and loading.

To take this approach, load packer like any other Lua module. You must call packer.init() before performing any operations; it is recommended to call packer.reset() if you may be re-running your specification code (e.g. by sourcing your plugin specification file with luafile).

You may pass a table of configuration values to packer.init() to customize its operation. The default configuration values (and structure of the configuration table) are:

{
  ensure_dependencies   = true, -- Should packer install plugin dependencies?
  package_root   = util.join_paths(vim.fn.stdpath('data'), 'site', 'pack'),
  compile_path = util.join_paths(vim.fn.stdpath('config'), 'plugin', 'packer_compiled.vim'),
  plugin_package = 'packer', -- The default package for plugins
  max_jobs = nil, -- Limit the number of simultaneous jobs. nil means no limit
  auto_clean = true, -- During sync(), remove unused plugins
  compile_on_sync = true, -- During sync(), run packer.compile()
  disable_commands = false, -- Disable creating commands
  opt_default = false, -- Default to using opt (as opposed to start) plugins
  transitive_opt = true, -- Make dependencies of opt plugins also opt by default
  transitive_disable = true, -- Automatically disable dependencies of disabled plugins
  auto_reload_compiled = true, -- Automatically reload the compiled file after creating it.
  git = {
    cmd = 'git', -- The base command for git operations
    subcommands = { -- Format strings for git subcommands
      update         = '-C %s pull --ff-only --progress --rebase=false',
      install        = 'clone %s %s --depth %i --no-single-branch --progress',
      fetch          = '-C %s fetch --depth 999999 --progress',
      checkout       = '-C %s checkout %s --',
      update_branch  = '-C %s merge --ff-only @{u}',
      current_branch = '-C %s branch --show-current',
      diff           = '-C %s log --color=never --pretty=format:FMT --no-show-signature [email protected]{1}...HEAD',
      diff_fmt       = '%%h %%s (%%cr)',
      get_rev        = '-C %s rev-parse --short HEAD',
      get_msg        = '-C %s log --color=never --pretty=format:FMT --no-show-signature HEAD -n 1',
      submodules     = '-C %s submodule update --init --recursive --progress'
    },
    depth = 1, -- Git clone depth
    clone_timeout = 60, -- Timeout, in seconds, for git clones
  },
  display = {
    non_interactive = false, -- If true, disable display windows for all operations
    open_fn  = nil, -- An optional function to open a window for packer's display
    open_cmd = '65vnew [packer]', -- An optional command to open a window for packer's display
    working_sym = '⟳', -- The symbol for a plugin being installed/updated
    error_sym = '✗', -- The symbol for a plugin with an error in installation/updating
    done_sym = '✓', -- The symbol for a plugin which has completed installation/updating
    removed_sym = '-', -- The symbol for an unused plugin which was removed
    moved_sym = '→', -- The symbol for a plugin which was moved (e.g. from opt to start)
    header_sym = '━', -- The symbol for the header line in packer's display
    show_all_info = true, -- Should packer show all update details automatically?
    keybindings = { -- Keybindings for the display window
      quit = 'q',
      toggle_info = '<CR>',
      prompt_revert = 'r',
    }
  },
  luarocks = {
    python_cmd = 'python' -- Set the python command to use for running hererocks
  }
}

Specifying plugins

packer is based around declarative specification of plugins. You can declare a plugin using the function packer.use, which I highly recommend locally binding to use for conciseness.

use takes either a string or a table. If a string is provided, it is treated as a plugin location for a non-optional plugin with no additional configuration. Plugin locations may be specified as

1. Absolute paths to a local plugin
2. Full URLs (treated as plugins managed with git)
3. username/repo paths (treated as Github git plugins)

A table given to use can take two forms:

1. A list of plugin specifications (strings or tables)
2. A table specifying a single plugin. It must have a plugin location string as its first element, and may additionally have a number of optional keyword elements, shown below:

use {
  'myusername/example',        -- The plugin location string
  -- The following keys are all optional
  disable = boolean,           -- Mark a plugin as inactive
  as = string,                 -- Specifies an alias under which to install the plugin
  installer = function,        -- Specifies custom installer. See "custom installers" below.
  updater = function,          -- Specifies custom updater. See "custom installers" below.
  after = string or list,      -- Specifies plugins to load before this plugin. See "sequencing" below
  rtp = string,                -- Specifies a subdirectory of the plugin to add to runtimepath.
  opt = boolean,               -- Manually marks a plugin as optional.
  branch = string,             -- Specifies a git branch to use
  tag = string,                -- Specifies a git tag to use
  commit = string,             -- Specifies a git commit to use
  lock = boolean,              -- Skip this plugin in updates/syncs
  run = string or function,    -- Post-update/install hook. See "update/install hooks".
  requires = string or list,   -- Specifies plugin dependencies. See "dependencies".
  rocks = string or list,      -- Specifies Luarocks dependencies for the plugin
  config = string or function, -- Specifies code to run after this plugin is loaded.
  -- The setup key implies opt = true
  setup = string or function,  -- Specifies code to run before this plugin is loaded.
  -- The following keys all imply lazy-loading and imply opt = true
  cmd = string or list,        -- Specifies commands which load this plugin.
  ft = string or list,         -- Specifies filetypes which load this plugin.
  keys = string or list,       -- Specifies maps which load this plugin. See "Keybindings".
  event = string or list,      -- Specifies autocommand events which load this plugin.
  fn = string or list          -- Specifies functions which load this plugin.
  cond = string, function, or list of strings/functions,   -- Specifies a conditional test to load this plugin
  module = string or list      -- Specifies patterns (e.g. for string.match) of Lua module names which, when required, load this plugin
}

Checking plugin statuses

You can check whether or not a particular plugin is installed with packer as well as if that plugin is loaded. To do this you can check for the plugin's name in the packer_plugins global table. Plugins in this table are saved using only the last section of their names e.g. tpope/vim-fugitive if installed will be under the key vim-fugitive.

if packer_plugins["vim-fugitive"] and packer_plugins["vim-fugitive"].loaded then
print("Vim fugitive is loaded")
-- other custom logic
end

Luarocks support

You may specify that a plugin requires one or more Luarocks packages using the rocks key. This key takes either a string specifying the name of a package (e.g. rocks=lpeg), or a list specifying one or more packages. Entries in the list may either be strings, a list of strings or a table --- the latter case is used to specify arguments such as the particular version of a package. all supported luarocks keys are allowed except: tree and local. Environment variables for the luarocks command can also be specified using the env key which takes a table as the value as shown below.

rocks = {'lpeg', {'lua-cjson', version = '2.1.0'}}
use_rocks {'lua-cjson', 'lua-resty-http'}
use_rocks {'luaformatter', server = 'https://luarocks.org/dev'}
use_rocks {'openssl' env = {OPENSSL_DIR = "/path/to/dir"}}

Currently, packer only supports equality constraints on package versions.

packer also provides the function packer.luarocks.install_commands(), which creates the PackerRocks <cmd> <packages...> command. <cmd> must be one of "install" or "remove"; <packages...> is one or more package names (currently, version restrictions are not supported with this command). Running PackerRocks will install or remove the given packages. You can use this command even if you don't use packer to manage your plugins. However, please note that (1) packages installed through PackerRocks will be removed by calls to packer.luarocks.clean() (unless they are also part of a packer plugin specification), and (2) you will need to manually invoke packer.luarocks.setup_paths (or otherwise modify your package.path) to ensure that Neovim can find the installed packages.

Finally, packer provides the function packer.use_rocks, which takes a string or table specifying one or more Luarocks packages as in the rocks key. You can use this to ensure that packer downloads and manages some rocks which you want to use, but which are not associated with any particular plugin.

Custom installers

You may specify a custom installer & updater for a plugin using the installer and updater keys. Note that either both or none of these keys are required. These keys should be functions which take as an argument a display object (from lua/packer/display.lua) and return an async function (per lua/packer/async.lua) which (respectively) installs/updates the given plugin.

Providing the installer/updater keys overrides plugin type detection, but you still need to provide a location string for the name of the plugin.

Update/install hooks

You may specify operations to be run after successful installs/updates of a plugin with the run key. This key may either be a Lua function, which will be called with the plugin table for this plugin (containing the information passed to use as well as output from the installation/update commands, the installation path of the plugin, etc.), or a string.

If run is a string, then either:

1. If the first character of run is ":", it is treated as a Neovim command and executed.
2. Otherwise, run is treated as a shell command and run in the installation directory of the plugin via $SHELL -c 'cd <plugin dir> && <run>'.

Dependencies

Plugins may specify dependencies via the requires key. This key can be a string or a list (table).

If requires is a string, it is treated as specifying a single plugin. If a plugin with the name given in requires is already known in the managed set, nothing happens. Otherwise, the string is treated as a plugin location string and the corresponding plugin is added to the managed set.

If requires is a list, it is treated as a list of plugin specifications following the format given above.

If ensure_dependencies is true, the plugins specified in requires will be installed.

Plugins specified in requires are removed when no active plugins require them.

Sequencing

You may specify a loading order for plugins using the after key. This key can be a string or a list (table).

If after is a string, it must be the name of another plugin managed by packer (e.g. the final segment of a plugin's path - for a Github plugin FooBar/Baz, the name would be just Baz). If after is a table, it must be a list of plugin names. If a plugin has an alias (i.e. uses the as key), this alias is its name.

The set of plugins specified in a plugin's after key must all be loaded before the plugin using after will be loaded. For example, in the specification

  use {'FooBar/Baz', ft = 'bax'}
  use {'Something/Else', after = 'Baz'}

the plugin Else will only be loaded after the plugin Baz, which itself is only loaded for files with bax filetype.

Keybindings

Plugins may be lazy-loaded on the use of keybindings/maps. Individual keybindings are specified either as a string (in which case they are treated as normal mode maps) or a table in the format {mode, map}.

Performing plugin management operations

packer exposes the following functions for common plugin management operations. In all of the below, plugins is an optional table of plugin names; if not provided, the default is "all managed plugins":

• packer.install(plugins): Install the specified plugins if they are not already installed
• packer.update(plugins): Update the specified plugins, installing any that are missing
• packer.clean(): Remove any disabled or no longer managed plugins
• packer.sync(plugins): Perform a clean followed by an update
• packer.compile(path): Compile lazy-loader code and save to path.

Extending packer

You can add custom key handlers to packer by calling packer.set_handler(name, func) where name is the key you wish to handle and func is a function with the signature func(plugins, plugin, value) where plugins is the global table of managed plugins, plugin is the table for a specific plugin, and value is the value associated with key name in plugin.

Compiling Lazy-Loaders

To optimize startup time, packer.nvim compiles code to perform the lazy-loading operations you specify. This means that you do not need to load packer.nvim unless you want to perform some plugin management operations.

To generate the compiled code, call packer.compile(path), where path is some file path on your runtimepath, with a .vim extension. This will generate a blend of Lua and Vimscript to load and configure all your lazy-loaded plugins (e.g. generating commands, autocommands, etc.) and save it to path. Then, when you start vim, the file at path is loaded (because path must be on your runtimepath), and lazy-loading works.

If path is not provided to packer.compile, the output file will default to the value of config.compile_path.

The option compile_on_sync, which defaults to true, will run packer.compile() during packer.sync(), if set to true. Note that otherwise, you must run packer.compile yourself to generate the lazy-loader file!

Debugging

packer.nvim logs to stdpath(cache)/packer.nvim.log. Looking at this file is usually a good start if something isn't working as expected.

Status

tl;dr: Beta. Things seem to work and most features are complete, but certainly not every edge case has been tested. People willing to give it a try and report bugs/errors are very welcome!

• Basic package management works (i.e. installation, updating, cleaning, start/opt plugins, displaying results)
• Automatic generation of lazy-loading code works
• More testing is needed
• The code is messy and needs more cleanup and refactoring

Current work-in-progress

• Playing with ideas to make manual compilation less necessary

Contributors

Many thanks to those who have contributed to the project! PRs and issues are always welcome. This list is infrequently updated; please feel free to bug me if you're not listed here and you would like to be.

• @akinsho
• @nanotee
• @weilbith
• @Iron-E
• @tjdevries
• @numToStr
• @fsouza
• @gbrlsnchs
• @lewis6991
• @TimUntersberger
• @bfredl
• @sunjon
• @gwerbin
• @shadmansaleh
• @ur4ltz
• @EdenEast