nvim_client_proxy

A proxy around neovim's lua client that provides an interface that matches the vim object within neovim.

local VimProxy = require('nvim_client_proxy')

-- create a proxy to the neovim running at NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS, e.g. the parent
-- neovim instance for a neovim terminal
local vim = VimProxy.new()

print(vim.o.grepprg)
--=> rg --vimgrep

The intended use case is to have convenient access to the parent neovim instance in a lua REPL, rather than using command-mode or something similar for testing neovim's API.

Install

Linux

luarocks install neovim-client-proxy

OSX

libmpack doesn't install cleanly on osx and requires the following patch:

• libmpack/libmpack-lua#31

Clone both repos and apply their respective patchs. This example uses gh.

# install patched libmpack
mkdir -p ~/src/libmpack/
gh repo clone libmpack/libmpack-lua ~/src/libmpack/libmpack-lua
cd ~/src/libmpack/libmpack-lua/ 
gh pr checkout 31
make
# install a patched libmpack-lua
luarocks make

# now nvim-client-proxy should install
luarocks install nvim-client-proxy

Build

For instructions on building locally, see CONTRIBUTING.md

Usage

Create an instance of a proxy from any of the following sources:

• default The os environment variable NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS
• A string whose value is the path to a neovim socket (e.g. the same path passed to nvim --listen <address>)
• An existing Session
• An existing SocketStream, ChildProcessStream or TcpStream

The proxy can do the following in the neovim session:

• Read strings, booleans and numbers
• Recursively read tables
• Invoke functions
• Set strings, booleans, numbers and arbitrarily nesteed tables

It cannot set any of:

• userdata
• thread
• function

local VimProxy = require('nvim_client_proxy')

-- connect to the parent neovim process listening on NVIM_LISTEN_ADDRESS
local vim = VimProxy.new()

local ChildProcessStream = require('nvim.child_process_stream')
-- create a new instance of neovim and attach a proxy to it
local child_vim = VimProxy.new(ChildProcessStream.new({
  'nvim', '-u', 'NONE', '--embed'
}))

-- read vim options
print(vim.o.filetype)
print(vim.bo.autoread)
print(vim.wo.number)

--set vim options
vim.wo.number = true

--set vim options using the options api
vim.opt.runtimepath:append('/some/path')