Setting Up My Neovim Config with LazyVim and Tmux on macOS

As a developer, finding the right tools to streamline your workflow is crucial. Recently, I decided to dive into setting up Neovim as my primary text editor. With the powerful combination of LazyVim and Tmux, I was able to create a highly customized and efficient environment that suits my development needs. In this article, I’ll walk you through the process of setting up Neovim with LazyVim, configuring Tmux, and share the resources and GitHub repositories I used to make this happen, all tailored for macOS users.

Why Neovim?

Neovim is an extension of Vim, designed to provide a more modern, feature-rich editing experience. It offers improvements like better plugin architecture, asynchronous execution, and a built-in terminal emulator, making it a favorite among developers who appreciate the power of Vim but crave more flexibility.

Introducing LazyVim

LazyVim is a community-driven Neovim configuration framework that simplifies setting up your Neovim environment. It’s a great starting point if you want to avoid configuring everything from scratch. With LazyVim, you get a pre-configured setup that you can easily extend and customize according to your needs.

Why Tmux?

Tmux is a terminal multiplexer that allows you to manage multiple terminal sessions within a single window. It’s particularly useful when working on larger projects where you need to monitor logs, run tests, and edit code simultaneously. Integrating Tmux with Neovim enhances your productivity by allowing seamless navigation between different panes and windows.

Step 1: Setting Up Neovim with LazyVim on macOS

1. Install Homebrew: If you haven’t installed Homebrew yet, you can do so by running:

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
   

2. Install Neovim: Install Neovim using Homebrew:

    brew install neovim
   

3. Clone LazyVim: Next, clone the LazyVim configuration into your Neovim configuration directory:

    git clone https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git ~/.config/nvim
   

4. Open Neovim: Simply launch Neovim:

    nvim
   

   LazyVim will automatically install the necessary plugins. After the installation is complete, run a health check to ensure everything is set up correctly:

    :checkhealth
   

   This command will verify that all dependencies and configurations are in place.

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This version guides the user to open Neovim directly, allowing LazyVim to handle plugin installation automatically, and then perform a health check to confirm the setup.

Step 2: Configuring Tmux on macOS

1. Install Tmux: Install Tmux using Homebrew:

    brew install tmux
   

2. Create a Tmux Configuration File: Create a .tmux.conf file in your home directory:

    touch ~/.tmux.conf
   

3. Basic Tmux Configurations: Add basic configurations to improve your Tmux experience. For example:

    # Use vim keybindings in Tmux
    setw -g mode-keys vi
   
    # Set prefix key to Ctrl-a instead of Ctrl-b
    unbind C-b
    set-option -g prefix C-a
    bind-key C-a send-prefix
   
    # Enable mouse mode
    set -g mouse on
   

4. Neovim and Tmux Integration: To make Neovim and Tmux work seamlessly together, you can install the vim-tmux-navigator plugin:

    git clone https://github.com/christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator ~/.config/nvim/pack/plugins/start/vim-tmux-navigator
   

   Add the following to your init.lua:

    vim.g.tmux_navigator_no_mappings = 1
   

Step 3: Putting It All Together

With Neovim configured through LazyVim and Tmux up and running, you’re ready to boost your productivity. Open Tmux, start a new session, and launch Neovim inside it. You can now effortlessly switch between multiple terminal windows and panes, all while enjoying a fully customized Neovim experience.

Resources and Repositories

Here are the resources and repositories I found helpful during this setup:

• LazyVim GitHub Repo: LazyVim

• Tmux Cheat Sheet: Tmux Cheat Sheet

• Vim Cheat Sheet: Vim Cheat Sheet

• vim-tmux-navigator Plugin: vim-tmux-navigator

• My Neovim Config Repo: My Neovim Config

• My Tmux Config Repo: My Tmux Config

Conclusion

Setting up Neovim with LazyVim and integrating it with Tmux has significantly improved my workflow. The combination of a powerful text editor with a robust terminal multiplexer makes for a highly efficient development environment. I encourage you to try this setup and tweak it to match your needs.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out or check out my configuration on GitHub. Happy coding!