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.
Packer is built on native packages. You may wish to read :h packages before continuing
Table of Contents
- Features
- Requirements
- Quickstart
- Bootstrapping
- Usage
- The startup function
- Custom Initialization
- Specifying Plugins
- Performing plugin management operations
- Extending packer
- Compiling Lazy-Loaders
- User autocommands
- Using a floating window
- Profiling
- Debugging
- Compatibility and known issues
- Contributors
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+
- If you are on Windows 10, you need developer mode enabled in order to use local plugins (creating
symbolic links requires admin privileges on Windows - credit to @TimUntersberger for this note)
Quickstart
To get started, first clone this repository to somewhere on your packpath, e.g.:
Unix, Linux Installation
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim\
~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
If you use Arch Linux, there is also an AUR
package.
Windows Powershell Installation
git clone https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim-data\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 configured as `opt`
vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]
return require('packer').startup(function(use)
-- Packer can manage itself
use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim'
-- Simple plugins can be specified as strings
use 'rstacruz/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
-- Regenerate compiled loader file
:PackerCompile
-- Remove any disabled or unused plugins
:PackerClean
-- Clean, then install missing plugins
:PackerInstall
-- Clean, then update and install plugins
-- supports the `--preview` flag as an optional first argument to preview updates
:PackerUpdate
-- Perform `PackerUpdate` and then `PackerCompile`
-- supports the `--preview` flag as an optional first argument to preview updates
:PackerSync
-- Show list of installed plugins
:PackerStatus
-- Loads opt plugin immediately
:PackerLoad completion-nvim ale
You can configure Neovim to automatically run :PackerCompile whenever plugins.lua is updated with
an autocommand:
augroup packer_user_config
autocmd!
autocmd BufWritePost plugins.lua source <afile> | PackerCompile
augroup end
This autocommand can be placed in your init.vim, or any other startup file as per your setup.
Placing this in plugins.lua could look like this:
vim.cmd([[
augroup packer_user_config
autocmd!
autocmd BufWritePost plugins.lua source <afile> | PackerCompile
augroup end
]])
Bootstrapping
If you want to automatically install and set up packer.nvim on any machine you clone your configuration to,
add the following snippet (which is due to @Iron-E and @khuedoan) somewhere in your config before your first usage of packer:
local ensure_packer = function()
local fn = vim.fn
local install_path = fn.stdpath('data')..'/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim'
if fn.empty(fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then
fn.system({'git', 'clone', '--depth', '1', 'https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim', install_path})
vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]
return true
end
return false
end
local packer_bootstrap = ensure_packer()
return require('packer').startup(function(use)
use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim'
-- My plugins here
-- use 'foo1/bar1.nvim'
-- use 'foo2/bar2.nvim'
-- Automatically set up your configuration after cloning packer.nvim
-- Put this at the end after all plugins
if packer_bootstrap then
require('packer').sync()
end
end)
You can also use the following command (with packer bootstrapped) to have packer setup your
configuration (or simply run updates) and close once all operations are completed:
$ nvim --headless -c 'autocmd User PackerComplete quitall' -c 'PackerSync'
Usage
The above snippets give some examples of packer features and use. Examples include:
- My dotfiles:
- 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, config overrides as another element, and optional rock specifications as another element:
packer.startup({{'tjdevries/colorbuddy.vim'}, config = { ... }, rocks = { ... }})
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?
snapshot = nil, -- Name of the snapshot you would like to load at startup
snapshot_path = join_paths(stdpath 'cache', 'packer.nvim'), -- Default save directory for snapshots
package_root = util.join_paths(vim.fn.stdpath('data'), 'site', 'pack'),
compile_path = util.join_paths(vim.fn.stdpath('config'), 'plugin', 'packer_compiled.lua'),
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.
preview_updates = false, -- If true, always preview updates before choosing which plugins to update, same as `PackerUpdate --preview`.
git = {
cmd = 'git', -- The base command for git operations
subcommands = { -- Format strings for git subcommands
update = 'pull --ff-only --progress --rebase=false',
install = 'clone --depth %i --no-single-branch --progress',
fetch = 'fetch --depth 999999 --progress',
checkout = 'checkout %s --',
update_branch = 'merge --ff-only @{u}',
current_branch = 'branch --show-current',
diff = 'log --color=never --pretty=format:FMT --no-show-signature HEAD@{1}...HEAD',
diff_fmt = '%%h %%s (%%cr)',
get_rev = 'rev-parse --short HEAD',
get_msg = 'log --color=never --pretty=format:FMT --no-show-signature HEAD -n 1',
submodules = 'submodule update --init --recursive --progress'
},
depth = 1, -- Git clone depth
clone_timeout = 60, -- Timeout, in seconds, for git clones
default_url_format = 'https://github.com/%s' -- Lua format string used for "aaa/bbb" style plugins
},
display = {
non_interactive = false, -- If true, disable display windows for all operations
compact = false, -- If true, fold updates results by default
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?
prompt_border = 'double', -- Border style of prompt popups.
keybindings = { -- Keybindings for the display window
quit = 'q',
toggle_update = 'u', -- only in preview
continue = 'c', -- only in preview
toggle_info = '<CR>',
diff = 'd',
prompt_revert = 'r',
}
},
luarocks = {
python_cmd = 'python' -- Set the python command to use for running hererocks
},
log = { level = 'warn' }, -- The default print log level. One of: "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error", "fatal".
profile = {
enable = false,
threshold = 1, -- integer in milliseconds, plugins which load faster than this won't be shown in profile output
},
autoremove = false, -- Remove disabled or unused plugins without prompting the user
}
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
- Absolute paths to a local plugin
- Full URLs (treated as plugins managed with
git)
username/repo paths (treated as Github git plugins)
A table given to use can take two forms:
- A list of plugin specifications (strings or tables)
- 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.
bufread = boolean, -- Manually specifying if a plugin needs BufRead after being loaded
branch = string, -- Specifies a git branch to use
tag = string, -- Specifies a git tag to use. Supports '*' for "latest tag"
commit = string, -- Specifies a git commit to use
lock = boolean, -- Skip updating this plugin in updates/syncs. Still cleans.
run = string, function, or table, -- 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 code is ran even if
-- the plugin is waiting for other conditions (ft, cond...) to be met.
-- The following keys all imply lazy-loading and imply opt = true
cmd = string or list, -- Specifies commands which load this plugin. Can be an autocmd pattern.
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 Lua module names for require. When requiring a string which starts
-- with one of these module names, the plugin will be loaded.
module_pattern = string/list -- Specifies Lua pattern of Lua module names for require. When
-- requiring a string which matches one of these patterns, the plugin will be loaded.
}
For the cmd option, the command may be a full command, or an autocommand pattern. If the command contains any
non-alphanumeric characters, it is assumed to be a pattern, and instead of creating a stub command, it creates
a CmdUndefined autocmd to load the plugin when a command that matches the pattern is invoked.
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
NOTE: this table is only available after packer_compiled.vim is loaded so cannot be used till after plugins
have been loaded.
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.), a string, or a table of functions and strings.
If an element of run is a string, then either:
- If the first character of
run is ":", it is treated as a Neovim command and executed.
- Otherwise,
run is treated as a shell command and run in the installation directory of the
plugin via $SHELL -c '<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 installedpacker.update(plugins): Update the specified plugins, installing any that are missingpacker.update(opts, plugins): First argument can be a table specifying options, such as {preview_updates = true} to preview potential changes before updating (same as PackerUpdate --preview).packer.clean(): Remove any disabled or no longer managed pluginspacker.sync(plugins): Perform a clean followed by an update.packer.sync(opts, plugins): Can take same optional options as update.packer.compile(path): Compile lazy-loader code and save to path.packer.snapshot(snapshot_name, ...): Creates a snapshot file that will live under config.snapshot_path/<snapshot_name>. If snapshot_name is an absolute path, then that will be the location where the snapshot will be taken. Optionally, a list of plugins name can be provided to selectively choose the plugins to snapshot.packer.rollback(snapshot_name, ...): Rollback plugins status a snapshot file that will live under config.snapshot_path/<snapshot_name>. If snapshot_name is an absolute path, then that will be the location where the snapshot will be taken. Optionally, a list of plugins name can be provided to selectively choose which plugins to revert.packer.delete(snapshot_name): Deletes a snapshot file under config.snapshot_path/<snapshot_name>. If snapshot_name is an absolute path, then that will be the location where the snapshot will be deleted.
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!
NOTE: If you use a function value for config or setup keys in any plugin specifications, it
must not have any upvalues (i.e. captures). We currently use Lua's string.dump to compile
config/setup functions to bytecode, which has this limitation.
Additionally, if functions are given for these keys, the functions will be passed the plugin
name and information table as arguments.
User autocommands
packer runs most of its operations asyncronously. If you would like to implement automations that
require knowing when the operations are complete, you can use the following User autocmds (see
:help User for more info on how to use):
PackerComplete: Fires after install, update, clean, and sync asynchronous operations finish.PackerCompileDone: Fires after compiling (see the section on compilation)
Using a floating window
You can configure Packer to use a floating window for command outputs by passing a utility
function to packer's config:
packer.startup({function()
-- Your plugins here
end,
config = {
display = {
open_fn = require('packer.util').float,
}
}})
By default, this floating window will show doubled borders. If you want to customize the window
appearance, you can pass a configuration to float, which is the same configuration that would be
passed to nvim_open_win:
packer.startup({function()
-- Your plugins here
end,
config = {
display = {
open_fn = function()
return require('packer.util').float({ border = 'single' })
end
}
}})
Profiling
Packer has built in functionality that can allow you to profile the time taken loading your plugins.
In order to use this functionality you must either enable profiling in your config, or pass in an argument
when running packer compile.
Setup via config
config = {
profile = {
enable = true,
threshold = 1 -- the amount in ms that a plugin's load time must be over for it to be included in the profile
}
}
Using the packer compile command
:PackerCompile profile=true
" or
:PackerCompile profile=false
Profiling usage
This will rebuild your packer_compiled.vim with profiling code included. In order to visualise the output of the profile
restart your neovim and run PackerProfile. This will open a window with the output of your profiling.
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.
Compatibility and known issues
- 2021-07-31: If you're on macOS, note that building Neovim with the version of
luv from homebrew will cause any packer command to crash. More about this issue at neovim/neovim#15054.
- 2021-07-28:
packer will now highlight commits/plugin names with potentially breaking changes
(determined by looking for breaking change or breaking_change, case insensitive, in the update
commit bodies and headers) as WarningMsg in the status window.
- 2021-06-06: Your Neovim must include https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/14659;
packer uses the noautocmd key.
- 2021-04-19:
packer now provides built-in profiling for your config via the packer_compiled
file. Take a look at the docs for more information!
- 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.
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.