Neovim Bootstrap

Up: Neovim Config Tutorial Down: options, platforms, plugins

The bootstrap is a doorbell, not a cathedral. init.lua rings the right rooms in order, then gets out of the way.

Load Order

The startup path is intentionally plain:

vim.loader.enable()
 
require("user-defaults")
require("utils.globals")
require("utils")
require("keymappings")
require("user-settings")
require("settings")
 
if not vim.g.vscode then
  require("plugins")
end
 
require("autocommands")
require("colorscheme")
require("utils.after")

The order matters. Defaults exist before personal settings override them. Helpers exist before plugins call them. Keymaps and base settings exist even if Lazy.nvim fails.

Special Front Doors

The config recognizes two nonstandard entry points:

Mode	Behavior
VS Code Neovim	Skips the plugin suite so embedded Neovim stays light.
Neovide	Uses the same core but adds GUI font and scale settings.

This keeps the core editor portable. The same configuration can run in a terminal, GUI, remote shell, or constrained host without pretending every environment is identical.

Lazy.nvim Bootstrapping

lua/plugins/init.lua installs Lazy.nvim if it is missing, prepends it to the runtime path, then imports plugin families:

require("lazy").setup({
  { import = "plugins.editor" },
  { import = "plugins.ui" },
  { import = "plugins.colorschemes" },
  { import = "plugins.lsp" },
  { import = "plugins.git" },
  { import = "plugins.treesitter" },
  { import = "plugins.completion" },
  { import = "plugins.tools" },
  { import = "plugins.lang" },
  { import = "plugins.notes" },
  { import = "plugins.debug" },
  { import = "plugins.ai" },
})

That file is the switchboard. The plugin category files are the rooms.

NixOS LSP Enablement

After the normal load, NixOS gets one more explicit step. The config enables the language servers that should be available from the system or project shell:

if O.is_nixos then
  vim.lsp.enable({
    "nil_ls",
    "nixd",
    "lua_ls",
    "basedpyright",
    "ruff",
    "eslint",
    "jsonls",
    "texlab",
    "vtsls",
    "vue_ls",
    "yamlls",
  })
end

This is the key Nix idea: do not ask Neovim to download tools into its own state. Ask the project shell to provide tools, then ask Neovim to use them.

Related: platforms, LSP architecture