nvim-mindevc

A Go CLI tool that automates the setup of Neovim inside Docker devcontainers. It downloads, configures, and compiles Neovim with all necessary development tools.

Demo:

Features

• Automated Neovim Setup: Downloads and compiles Neovim nightly builds inside devcontainers
• Tool Management: Installs essential development tools (ripgrep, fd, zig, etc.) with multi-architecture support
• devcontainer.json: Basic integration with devcontainer.json file. For now only supports configs using dockerComposeFile
• Flexible Configuration: Hierarchical configuration with multiple sources
• Cross-Platform: Supports x86_64 and aarch64 architectures

Installation

Pre-built binaries

See the releases page: https://github.com/davidrios/nvim-mindevc/releases

From Source

Prerequisites:

• Go 1.24.3 or later

git clone https://github.com/davidrios/nvim-mindevc.git
cd nvim-mindevc
go build -o nvim-mindevc
sudo mv nvim-mindevc /usr/local/bin

Quick Start

# Setup Neovim in your devcontainer
# cd to folder where there's a .devcontainer.json or .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file
nvim-mindevc setup

# Show current configuration
nvim-mindevc show-config

# Enable verbose logging
nvim-mindevc -v setup

Configuration

nvim-mindevc uses a hierarchical configuration system with the following precedence:

1. Command-line: -c path/to/config.yaml and/or -d path/to/devcontainer.json
2. Environment variables (with NVIM_MINDEVC_ prefix)
3. Configuration files:
   • ./.nvim-mindevc.yaml
   • .devcontainer/nvim-mindevc.yaml
   • ~/.config/nvim-mindevc.yaml
4. Built-in defaults (lowest priority)

Example Configuration

cacheDir: "~/.cache/nvim-mindevc"
installTools:
  - zig
  - ripgrep
  - fd

neovim:
  configURI: "file://~/.config/nvim"
  runscript: "/opt/nvim-mindevc/bin/nvim"

remote:
  workdir: "/opt/nvim-mindevc"

Usage

Basic Setup

# Setup with default configuration
nvim-mindevc setup

# Use custom config file
nvim-mindevc -c custom-config.yaml setup

# Specify devcontainer file
nvim-mindevc -d .devcontainer/devcontainer.json setup

Configuration Management

# View current configuration
nvim-mindevc show-config

# Debug configuration loading
nvim-mindevc -v show-config

Git Emulation

The tool includes built-in git commands for use within devcontainers, so no git installation is required for basic plugin managers like Lazy:

# symlink to `git`
ln -s nvim-mindevc git
./git log
./git fetch
./git checkout <branch>
./git ls-files

Key Components

• Configuration System: Uses Viper for hierarchical configuration loading
• Docker Integration: Executes commands inside devcontainers via Docker Compose
• Tool Management: Downloads, extracts, and links development tools with SHA256 verification

Development

Running Tests

# Run all tests
go test ./... -short

# Run specific package tests
go test ./setup/ -short

# Test with verbose output
go test -v ./... -short

Testing with Multiple Distributions

The project includes test containers for various Linux distributions:

• Ubuntu (16.04, 18.04, 22.04, 24.04)
• Debian (Buster, Bookworm)
• Fedora
• CentOS
• Alpine (3.20, 3.21)

Remote Tools

Tools that will be installed by default in the container:

• Neovim: Latest nightly builds, compiled from source
• Zig: Cross-platform build system
• ripgrep: Fast text search tool
• fd: Modern find replacement
• make: Static build of GNU Make

It's also possible to configure custom tools.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.