___           ___           ___           ___                                    ___     
     /  /\         /__/\         /  /\         /  /\          ___        ___          /__/\    
    /  /:/         \  \:\       /  /:/_       /  /::\        /__/\      /  /\        |  |::\   
   /  /:/           \__\:\     /  /:/ /\     /  /:/\:\       \  \:\    /  /:/        |  |:|:\  
  /  /:/  ___   ___ /  /::\   /  /:/ /:/_   /  /:/  \:\       \  \:\  /__/::\      __|__|:|\:\ 
 /__/:/  /  /\ /__/\  /:/\:\ /__/:/ /:/ /\ /__/:/ \__\:\  ___  \__\:\ \__\/\:\__  /__/::::| \:\
 \  \:\ /  /:/ \  \:\/:/__\/ \  \:\/:/ /:/ \  \:\ /  /:/ /__/\ |  |:|    \  \:\/\ \  \:\~~\__\/
  \  \:\  /:/   \  \::/       \  \::/ /:/   \  \:\  /:/  \  \:\|  |:|     \__\::/  \  \:\      
   \  \:\/:/     \  \:\        \  \:\/:/     \  \:\/:/    \  \:\__|:|     /__/:/    \  \:\     
    \  \::/       \  \:\        \  \::/       \  \::/      \__\::::/      \__\/      \  \:\    
     \__\/         \__\/         \__\/         \__\/           ~~~~                   \__\/    

Neovim configuration switcher written in Lua. Inspired by chemacs.

Introduction • Installation • Configuration

---

🌟 Introduction

Cheovim is a plugin designed to make your life easier by being able to manage several Neovim configurations simultaneously and allow you to fully seamlessly transition between them.

By default your configuration is stored under a static ~/.config/nvim directory. This means if you want to try out another chad's configuration you must first move away your configuration into a backup folder, install the other person's config, put it in the correct spot, clear your site/pack directory so that the plugin manager can work without conflicts, install the plugin manager, install the plugins and then start using the config. That's absolutely atrocious! Afterwards switching back is the exact same awful process.

But what if we told you all of that could be fully automated?

🕓 Installation

❗ Cheovim requires at least Neovim 0.5+ to operate, and may not work on Windows machines!

Cheovim only works with configurations that use the new init.lua configuration style. If we get enough requests we will implement init.vim support too, but for now keep up with the times!

To install cheovim, make sure to first move your configuration (located under ~/.config/nvim/) out of the way (into e.g. ~/.config/nvim.bak/). Afterwards be sure to clear everything from ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/, this is the directory where all of your current plugins are installed. Cheovim uses symlinks as part of its magic and needs this directory to be clean. Optionally, to make your life easier, remove any files inside your config that may autorun on startup and attempt to load plugins (like plugin/packer_compiled.vim) - this isn't necessary but you'll see that it makes the initial install a bunch easier in some cases.

Then we can start the installation!

git clone https://github.com/NTBBloodbath/cheovim ~/.config/nvim

Will clone cheovim into the config directory. You're almost ready to go! Now we just have to tell cheovim which configs to use: Navigate to ~/.config/nvim/ and open the profiles.lua file - this is where all the configuration resides.

This is the default file:

--[[
     /  /\         /__/\         /  /\         /  /\          ___        ___          /__/\    
    /  /:/         \  \:\       /  /:/_       /  /::\        /__/\      /  /\        |  |::\   
   /  /:/           \__\:\     /  /:/ /\     /  /:/\:\       \  \:\    /  /:/        |  |:|:\  
  /  /:/  ___   ___ /  /::\   /  /:/ /:/_   /  /:/  \:\       \  \:\  /__/::\      __|__|:|\:\ 
 /__/:/  /  /\ /__/\  /:/\:\ /__/:/ /:/ /\ /__/:/ \__\:\  ___  \__\:\ \__\/\:\__  /__/::::| \:\
 \  \:\ /  /:/ \  \:\/:/__\/ \  \:\/:/ /:/ \  \:\ /  /:/ /__/\ |  |:|    \  \:\/\ \  \:\~~\__\/
  \  \:\  /:/   \  \::/       \  \::/ /:/   \  \:\  /:/  \  \:\|  |:|     \__\::/  \  \:\      
   \  \:\/:/     \  \:\        \  \:\/:/     \  \:\/:/    \  \:\__|:|     /__/:/    \  \:\     
    \  \::/       \  \:\        \  \::/       \  \::/      \__\::::/      \__\/      \  \:\    
     \__\/         \__\/         \__\/         \__\/           ~~~~                   \__\/    

	A config switcher written in Lua by NTBBloodbath and Vhyrro.
--]]

-- Defines the profiles you want to use
local profiles = {
	--[[
	Here's an example:

		<name_of_config> = { <path_to_config>, {
				plugins = "packer", -- Where to install plugins under site/pack
				preconfigure = "packer:opt" -- Whether or not to preconfigure a plugin manager for you
			} 
		}

	More in-depth information can be found in cheovim's README on GitHub.
	--]]
	my_config = { "<path>", {
			plugins = "packer",
			preconfigure = "packer",
		}
	},
}

-- return <name_of_config>, <list_of_profiles>
return "my_config", profiles

You can tweak this file as you see fit, although we recommend reading the next section to actually know what you're doing.

🔧 Configuration

Cheovim has a fair amount of configuration that may not become apparent right off the bat. Here's the things that you can change:

local profiles = {
	my_config = { "/my/path", {
			url = false,
			setup = function()
				os.remove("some_important_file")
			end,
			config = "PackerSync",
			plugins = "<plugin_location>",
			preconfigure = "{packer|paq-nvim}:{start|opt}:<branch> | 
				doom-nvim | lunarvim | nv-ide | vapournvim | lvim",
		}
	}
}

return "my_config", profiles

Options

• plugins = "<plugin_location>" - where under ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/ to install plugins. Defaults to "packer", meaning plugins will be installed under ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer. By default different plugin managers will install themselves into different directories. Packer installs itself into packer, paq-nvim installs itself into paq-nvim, etc. There may be times where different configs install their plugin managers into different directories altogether, so you can change this value accordingly.

• preconfigure = "<config>" - preconfigure a plugin manager before switching configs. Useful for seamless config transitions. Options are divided with :, but you needn't supply all of them. For example, a value of packer:opt:fix/premature-display-opening means "preconfigure packer, install it as an opt plugin, and use the fix/premature-display-opening branch". Not supplying parts of these parameters will use the default values instead, so packer::fix/premature-display-opening will be the equivalent of packer:start:fix/premature-display-opening, packer:opt will be the equivalent of packer:opt:master and finally packer is the equivalent of packer:start:master. The same principles apply to paq-nvim. It is also possible to supply a name of a known configuration and cheovim will set up the plugin manager the way that configuration requires it, so e.g. setting preconfigure to "doom-nvim" will automatically set up packer the way doom-nvim likes it. This value can be set to nil too to perform no preconfiguration.

• url - tells cheovim whether the supplied URI is actually a link to a repository. If it is, cheovim will first grab it from the internet, then it will boot into the configuration. Note that this slightly decreases startup time for that configuration in general.

• setup - can be either a function or a string, if it is a string it will get wrapped in a vim.cmd, so be warned. Gets invoked before the new configuration gets loaded.

• config - can also be either a function or a string. Gets invoked after the configuration has been fully loaded. Designed to also work with asynchronous configurations.

• return "my_config", profiles - selects a configuration from a list of profiles. Make sure the first returned value has the same name as the key inside the profiles table (i.e. if I define a config called my_config = {} make sure to return "my_config"). Changing this will automatically switch configs the next time you launch Neovim.

Upon launching a new config that hasn't been preconfigured yet you will be greeted with a random message, can you find em' all?

The Cheovim Command

Ohoho, it doesn't stop there. Cheovim also supplies a :Cheovim command that you can use to clean up your configs, remove plugins, force reload the configuration on next boot, etc. These are the subcommands available:

• :Cheovim reload - reloads the current configuration on next boot
• :Cheovim version - prints the current version of cheovim
• :Cheovim deep-clean - cleans all the configuration's plugins, deletes the current remote config if present and force reloads on next boot
• :Cheovim force-reload - reloads the current configuration on next boot and also deletes the current remote config if present (remote configs are those that are pulled down via setting the url option to true) for a completely clean start
• :Cheovim clean-plugins - goes ahead and removes all the plugins from your current configuration
• :Cheovim clean-remote-configs - removes all of the remote configurations that aren't defined in your profiles.lua file, therefore removing unused leftover junk configs

TODO

• Add support for supplying URLs rather than regular paths to be able to check out different configurations without even needing to clone them yourself
• Add the ability to execute a lua function or some vimscript code after switching configs via the config variable (inspired by packer)
• Documentation for the above features
• Hot reloading of configs whenever a change to the profiles.lua file is detected

Made with love by NTBBloodbath and Vhyrro ❤️