Help Wanted: Integrating todo-comments.nvim using snacks.nvim picker plugin.

[usman1515]

Hello all,

Description

I’m in the process of upgrading my Neovim configuration and replacing as many plugins as possible with the new suite of plugins provided by mini.nvim and snacks.nvim, which I find simply amazing.
Previously, I used todo-comments.nvim with telescope.nvim, and it worked great. However, in my new setup, I don’t have telescope.nvim installed since the picker in snacks.nvim should cover my needs.
The issue I’m facing is integrating todo-comments.nvim with snacks.nvim picker so that I can use keybind <leader>ft to list all my TODO, FIXME, etc., comments.

What I’m Trying to Do

I want to incorporate the following code snippet or something that provides me the same functionality into my snacks.nvim config so that <leader>ft lists all TODO comments:

-- part of the todo-comments plugin config i previously used.
keymap.set("n", "<leader>ft", "<cmd>TodoTelescope<CR>", { desc = "Find todos" })

However, since I’m not using telescope.nvim, I need an alternative way to achieve the same functionality within snacks.nvim picker.

Current Configuration

###Snacks.nvim Config

return {
    "folke/snacks.nvim",
    priority = 1000,
    lazy = false,
    --- @type snacks.Config
    opts = {
        -- your plugin configuration goes here
        animate = { enabled = true },       -- efficient animation library
        bigfile = {                         -- triggers when file is larger than configured size
            enabled = true,
            -- your bigfile configuration comes here
            notify = true, -- show notification when big file detected
            size = 1.5 * 1024 * 1024,   -- 1.5MB
            -- Enable or disable features when big file detected
            --- @param ctx {buf: number, ft:string}
            setup = function(ctx)
                if vim.fn.exists(":NoMatchParen") ~= 0 then
                    vim.cmd([[NoMatchParen]])
                end
                Snacks.util.wo(0, { foldmethod = "manual", statuscolumn = "", conceallevel = 0 })
                vim.b.minianimate_disable = true
                vim.schedule(function()
                    vim.bo[ctx.buf].syntax = ctx.ft
                end)
            end,
        },
        dashboard = {                       -- dashboard at startup
            enabled = true,
            -- your dashboard configuration comes here
            preset = {
                -- Defaults to a picker that supports `fzf-lua`, `telescope.nvim` and `mini.pick`
                pick = 'telescope.nvim',      -- nil
            },
            sections = {
                { section = "header" },
                { section = "keys", gap = 1 },
                { icon = " ", title = "Recent Files", section = "recent_files", indent = 2, padding = { 2, 2 } },
                { icon = " ", title = "Projects", section = "projects", indent = 2, padding = 2 },
                { section = "startup" },
            },
        },
        explorer = {                        -- file tree explorer
            enabled = true,
            replace_netrw = true, -- replace netrw with snacks explorer
        },
        git = {                             -- git utilities
            enabled = true,
            -- your git configuration comes here
            width = 0.6,
            height = 0.6,
            border = "rounded",
            title = " Git Blame ",
            title_pos = "center",
            ft = "git",
        },
        notifier = {                        -- notifications UI
            enabled = true,
            -- your notifier configuration goes here
            timeout = 3000, -- default timeout in ms
            sort = { "level", "added" }, -- sort by level and time
            level = vim.log.levels.TRACE,
            icons = {
                error = " ",
                warn = " ",
                info = " ",
                debug = " ",
                trace = " ",
            },
            --- @type snacks.notifier.style
            date_format = "%R", -- time format for notifications
            more_format = " ↓ %d lines ",
            refresh = 50,   -- refresh at most every 50ms
        },
        -- TODO: start from picker
        picker = {                          -- fuzzy finder
            enabled = true,
            -- your picker configuration comes here
        },
        scope = { enabled = true },         -- scope detection based on treesitter
        statuscolumn = { enabled = true },
        toggle = {                          -- toggle kepmaps
            enabled = true,
            -- your toggle configuration comes here
            map = vim.keymap.set, -- keymap.set function to use
            which_key = true, -- integrate with which-key to show enabled/disabled icons and colors
            notify = true, -- show a notification when toggling
            -- icons for enabled/disabled states
            icon = {
                enabled = " ",
                disabled = " ",
            },
            -- colors for enabled/disabled states
            color = {
                enabled = "green",
                disabled = "yellow",
            },
        },
    },
    -- optional = true,
    keys = {
        -- INFO: essential keymaps
        { "<leader>space>", function() Snacks.picker.files() end, desc = "Find Files" },
        { "<leader>,", function() Snacks.picker.buffers() end, desc = "Buffers" },
        { "<leader>/", function() Snacks.picker.grep() end, desc = "Grep" },
        { "<leader>:", function() Snacks.picker.command_history() end, desc = "Command History" },
        { "<leader>e", function() Snacks.picker.explorer() end, desc = "Toggle File Tree Explorer" },
        -- find
        { "<leader>ff", function() Snacks.picker.files() end, desc = "Find Files" },
        { "<leader>fb", function() Snacks.picker.buffers() end, desc = "Buffers" },
        { "<leader>fc", function() Snacks.picker.files({ cwd = vim.fn.stdpath("config") }) end, desc = "Find Config File" },
        { "<leader>fg", function() Snacks.picker.git_files() end, desc = "Find Git Files" },
        { "<leader>fr", function() Snacks.picker.recent() end, desc = "Recent" },
        -- git
        { "<leader>gc", function() Snacks.picker.git_log() end, desc = "Git Log" },
        { "<leader>gs", function() Snacks.picker.git_status() end, desc = "Git Status" },
        -- grep
        { "<leader>sb", function() Snacks.picker.lines() end, desc = "Buffer Lines" },
        { "<leader>sB", function() Snacks.picker.grep_buffers() end, desc = "Grep Open Buffers" },
        { "<leader>sg", function() Snacks.picker.grep() end, desc = "Grep" },
        { "<leader>sw", function() Snacks.picker.grep_word() end, desc = "Visual selection or word", mode = { "n", "x" } },
        -- search
        { '<leader>s"', function() Snacks.picker.registers() end, desc = "Registers" },
        { "<leader>sa", function() Snacks.picker.autocmds() end, desc = "Autocmds" },
        { "<leader>sc", function() Snacks.picker.command_history() end, desc = "Command History" },
        { "<leader>sC", function() Snacks.picker.commands() end, desc = "Commands" },
        { "<leader>sd", function() Snacks.picker.diagnostics() end, desc = "Diagnostics" },
        { "<leader>sh", function() Snacks.picker.help() end, desc = "Help Pages" },
        { "<leader>sH", function() Snacks.picker.highlights() end, desc = "Highlights" },
        { "<leader>sj", function() Snacks.picker.jumps() end, desc = "Jumps" },
        { "<leader>sk", function() Snacks.picker.keymaps() end, desc = "Keymaps" },
        { "<leader>sl", function() Snacks.picker.loclist() end, desc = "Location List" },
        { "<leader>sM", function() Snacks.picker.man() end, desc = "Man Pages" },
        { "<leader>sm", function() Snacks.picker.marks() end, desc = "Marks" },
        { "<leader>sR", function() Snacks.picker.resume() end, desc = "Resume" },
        { "<leader>sq", function() Snacks.picker.qflist() end, desc = "Quickfix List" },
        { "<leader>uC", function() Snacks.picker.colorschemes() end, desc = "Colorschemes" },
        { "<leader>qp", function() Snacks.picker.projects() end, desc = "Projects" },
        -- LSP
        { "gd", function() Snacks.picker.lsp_definitions() end, desc = "Goto Definition" },
        { "gr", function() Snacks.picker.lsp_references() end, nowait = true, desc = "References" },
        { "gI", function() Snacks.picker.lsp_implementations() end, desc = "Goto Implementation" },
        { "gy", function() Snacks.picker.lsp_type_definitions() end, desc = "Goto T[y]pe Definition" },
        { "<leader>ss", function() Snacks.picker.lsp_symbols() end, desc = "LSP Symbols" },
    },
}

Mini.nvim Config

return {
    'echasnovski/mini.nvim',
    version = '*',      -- stable
    event = 'VeryLazy',
    -- dependencies = {
    --     "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons",
    -- },
    config = function()
        -- load specific modules only to enable their functionality
        -- require('mini.animate').setup({})       -- animated common neovim sections
        require('mini.bracketed').setup({       -- navigate using square brackets
            buffer     = { suffix = 'b', options = {} },
            comment    = { suffix = 'c', options = {} },
            conflict   = { suffix = 'x', options = {} },
            diagnostic = { suffix = 'd', options = {} },
            file       = { suffix = 'f', options = {} },
            indent     = { suffix = 'i', options = {} },
            jump       = { suffix = 'j', options = {} },
            location   = { suffix = 'l', options = {} },
            oldfile    = { suffix = 'o', options = {} },
            quickfix   = { suffix = 'q', options = {} },
            treesitter = { suffix = 't', options = {} },
            undo       = { suffix = 'u', options = {} },
            window     = { suffix = 'w', options = {} },
            yank       = { suffix = 'y', options = {} },
        })
        require('mini.bufremove').setup({})     -- close buffers while preserving layout
        require('mini.clue').setup({            -- show next keypress clues
            -- Array of extra clues to show
            clues = {},
            -- Array of opt-in triggers which start custom key query process.
            triggers = {
                -- Leader triggers
                { mode = 'n', keys = '<Leader>' },
                { mode = 'x', keys = '<Leader>' },
                -- Built-in completion
                { mode = 'i', keys = '<C-x>' },
                -- `g` key
                { mode = 'n', keys = 'g' },
                { mode = 'x', keys = 'g' },
                -- Marks
                { mode = 'n', keys = "'" },
                { mode = 'n', keys = '`' },
                { mode = 'x', keys = "'" },
                { mode = 'x', keys = '`' },
                -- Registers
                { mode = 'n', keys = '"' },
                { mode = 'x', keys = '"' },
                { mode = 'i', keys = '<C-r>' },
                { mode = 'c', keys = '<C-r>' },
                -- Window commands
                { mode = 'n', keys = '<C-w>' },
                -- `z` key
                { mode = 'n', keys = 'z' },
                { mode = 'x', keys = 'z' },
            },
            -- Clue window settings
            window = {
                -- Floating window config
                config = {},
                -- Delay before showing clue window
                delay = 100,
                -- Keys to scroll inside the clue window
                scroll_down = '<C-d>',
                scroll_up = '<C-u>',
            },
        })
        require('mini.comment').setup({})           -- code commenting
        require('mini.completion').setup({})        -- autocompeltion and signature help
        require('mini.cursorword').setup({})        -- automatic highlighting of word under cursor
        require('mini.icons').setup({})             -- icon set
        require('mini.indentscope').setup({})       -- animated vertical tab line
        require('mini.pairs').setup({})             -- bracket autopairing
        require('mini.surround').setup({            -- add, remove, replace delimiters
            -- Add custom surroundings to be used on top of builtin ones. For more information with
            -- examples, see `:h MiniSurround.config`.
            custom_surroundings = nil,
            -- Duration (in ms) of highlight when calling `MiniSurround.highlight()`
            highlight_duration = 500,
            -- Module mappings. Use `''` (empty string) to disable one.
            mappings = {
                add = 'sa',             -- Add surrounding in Normal and Visual modes
                delete = 'sd',          -- Delete surrounding
                find = 'sf',            -- Find surrounding (to the right)
                find_left = 'sF',       -- Find surrounding (to the left)
                highlight = 'sh',       -- Highlight surrounding
                replace = 'sr',         -- Replace surrounding
                update_n_lines = 'sn',  -- Update `n_lines`
                suffix_last = 'l',      -- Suffix to search with "prev" method
                suffix_next = 'n',      -- Suffix to search with "next" method
            },
            -- Number of lines within which surrounding is searched
            n_lines = 20,
            -- Whether to respect selection type:
            -- - Place surroundings on separate lines in linewise mode.
            -- - Place surroundings on each line in blockwise mode.
            respect_selection_type = false,
            -- How to search for surrounding (first inside current line, then inside neighborhood). One
            -- of 'cover', 'cover_or_next', 'cover_or_prev', 'cover_or_nearest', 'next', 'prev',
            -- 'nearest'. For more details, see `:h MiniSurround.config`.
            search_method = 'cover',
            -- Whether to disable showing non-error feedback This also affects (purely informational)
            -- helper messages shown after idle time if user input is required.
            silent = false,
        })
        require('mini.tabline').setup({             -- tabline showing listed buffers
            -- Whether to show file icons (requires 'mini.icons')
            show_icons = true,
            -- Vim's settings for tabline (make it always shown and allow hidden buffers)
            set_vim_settings = true,
            -- Where to show tabpage section in case of multiple vim tabpages. Options: left, right, none.
            tabpage_section = 'left',
            -- Customize the tabline format
            format = function(buf_id, label)
                -- Get the buffer number
                local buf_num = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_number(buf_id)
                -- Get the buffer icon from mini.icons
                local icon = require('mini.icons').get('file', label)
                -- Format the string with icon, buffer number, and label
                return string.format(' %s %d %s ', icon, buf_num, label)
            end
        })
        require('mini.trailspace').setup({})        -- trim all trailing whitespaces
    end
}

Expected Behavior

Pressing <leader>ft should list all TODO comments within my project using snacks.nvim’s picker.

Additional Context

• snacks.nvim provides its own picker, so I’d prefer to use that instead of telescope.nvim.
• todo-comments.nvim integrates well with telescope.nvim, but I need a way to make it work with snacks.nvim.
• I have fzf, rg, and fd installed, which should be usable for searching TODO comments.

Any guidance or suggestions appreciated! 🚀

[folke]

That's very easy:

:lua Snacks.picker.todo_comments()

[folke]

todo-comments integrates with snacks as well

[usman1515]

NOTE: Issue Resolved

Hi folke,

First of all WOW. Thank you for replying to my post. I initially before trying to set the keymap did run the command :lua Snacks.picker.todo_comments() but it was returning a NIL value. I setup folke/todo-comments.nvim as a dependency but still no progress. Finally i realized that I am not loading the module properly using a require function.

I was able to fix it like so.

return {
    "folke/snacks.nvim",
    priority = 1000,
    lazy = false,
    dependencies = {
        "folke/todo-comments.nvim",
        config = function()
            require("todo-comments").setup({})
        end,
    },
    opts = {
        picker = {
            enabled = true,
        }
    }, 
    keys = {
        -- todo comments
        { "<leader>st", function () Snacks.picker.todo_comments({ keywords = { "TODO", "HACK", "WARNING", "BUG", "NOTE", "INFO", "PERF", "ERROR" } }) end, desc = "Todo Comment Tags" },
        { "<leader>sT", function() Snacks.picker.todo_comments() end, desc = "Todo" },
    },
}

[josh-nz]

It doesn't seem to be working for me. Here is my todo_comments spec file:

return {
  "folke/todo-comments.nvim",
  enabled = true,
  dependencies = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" },
  event = "VeryLazy",
  opts = {
    highlight = {
      multiline = false,
      -- vimgrep regex, supporting the pattern TODO(name):
      pattern = [[.*<((KEYWORDS)%(\(.{-1,}\))?):]],
    },
    search = {
      -- ripgrep regex, supporting the pattern TODO(name):
      pattern = [[\b(KEYWORDS)(\(\w*\))*:]],
    }
  },
}

Running :lua Snacks.picker.todo_comments() on this file returns the message "No results found for todo_comments". What am I missing or doing wrong?

A blank opts table results in the same message, so it doesn't seem to be related to the custom regex.

[usman1515]

From what I can see I think you're trying to add todo-comments independently rather than integrating it in snacks.nvim. If that is the case I suggest create a separate file todo-comments.nvim in your plugins directory with the following code snippet.

local keymap = vim.keymap

return {
    "folke/todo-comments.nvim",
    event = { "BufReadPre", "BufNewFile" },
    dependencies = {
        "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim"
    },
    config = function()
        local todo_comments = require("todo-comments")

        -- your preferred keymap here
        keymap.set("n", "]t", function() todo_comments.jump_next() end, { desc = "Next todo comment" })
        keymap.set("n", "[t", function() todo_comments.jump_prev() end, { desc = "Previous todo comment" })

        todo_comments.setup()
    end,
}

This was my previous config before incorporating todo-comments inside snacks.nvim. If you have telescope plugin setup you can add the keybinding below to grep all todo comment tags.

keymap.set("n", "<leader>ft", "<cmd>TodoTelescope<CR>", { desc = "Find todos" }),

[josh-nz]

I am trying to integrate it with snacks, specifically what looks like the picker via the command Snacks.picker.todo_comments(), which just returns the no results found message for me.

I have todo-comments defined in a separate file as a separate spec, which is the code I posted above. The plugin works on it's own. As far as I can tell from the snacks docs, there is no explicit integration required. The docs for the picker have a spec for todo-comments and a spec for trouble, for example. There is no listed integration. Even in the examples above where todo-comments are listed as a dependency of snacks, that is only to ensure they are both loaded as far as I understand it. In my setup, Snacks is loaded immediately (as per the docs) and todo-comments is loaded on the VeryLazy event, so both are loaded before I try to invoke the command. I don't see how my config, while done differently, results in any runtime differences from the other code posted in this thread.

[usman1515]

If you're trying to integrate it into snacks.nvim then don't define it in a separate file rather add it as a dependency. I initially tried setting it up independently but it wasn't working for me for some reason I couldn't understand so I did it as mentioned above and it worked out for me.

Hope this helps.

[josh-nz]

I have:
Removed my todo-comments spec.
Replaced my snacks spec with your one above, repeated here (I added the TODO comment for testing):

-- TODO: does this work?
return {
    "folke/snacks.nvim",
    priority = 1000,
    lazy = false,
    dependencies = {
        "folke/todo-comments.nvim",
        config = function()
            require("todo-comments").setup({})
        end,
    },
    opts = {
        picker = {
            enabled = true,
        }
    }, 
    keys = {
        -- todo comments
        { "<leader>st", function () Snacks.picker.todo_comments({ keywords = { "TODO", "HACK", "WARNING", "BUG", "NOTE", "INFO", "PERF", "ERROR" } }) end, desc = "Todo Comment Tags" },
        { "<leader>sT", function() Snacks.picker.todo_comments() end, desc = "Todo" },
    },
}

Restarted NeoVim.

<leader>s[t|T] do not show a picker, and instead display the message "No results found for 'todo_comments'", which is my original issue. So it is behaving exactly like my original config. I have no idea why it isn't working. There is an LSP diagnostic for the keys map that reads "Undefined field 'todo_comments'" and references the todo_comments function call from Snacks.picker.todo_comments(... for both key maps. So I'm not sure if there is something else that needs to be installed, or if the LSP just needs a hint that this function actually exists - I'm unsure if this diagnostic is trying to tell me something or is just misleading.

[josh-nz]

Looking a bit further, my todo-comment plugin is at commit 304a8d2 which is the latest, and includes support for the snacks picker.

This line

snacks.nvim/lua/snacks/picker/core/picker.lua

Line 736 in 1491b54

msg = ("No results found for `%s`"):format(self.opts.source)

is the only place in the source where my message appears, and it looks like that is shown when the picker is set to not show on zero results, and zero results are returned.

This suggests my config is correct, but the picker is failing to find anything that it is expecting for whatever is supposed to be shown in the todo-comment picker. The todo-comment plugin correctly highlights terms such as TODO: so the plugin is working.

Here is where the todo-comments snack integration does its search: https://github.com/folke/todo-comments.nvim/blob/304a8d204ee787d2544d8bc23cd38d2f929e7cc5/lua/todo-comments/snacks.lua#L17

It's using the grep finder, but defines its own source. Because of how I symlink my dotfiles by using stow I have a bunch of folders that start with . which are considered hidden. So for my snacks picker sources I include hidden = true for them so the search tools will work correctly. Adding such a hidden property for the todo-comments source makes it work!

return {
  "folke/snacks.nvim",
  priority = 1000,
  lazy = false,
  dependencies = {
    "folke/todo-comments.nvim",
    config = function()
      require("todo-comments").setup({})
    end,
  },
  opts = {
    picker = {
      enabled = true,
      sources = {
        todo_comments = { hidden = true },
      },

    },
  },
  keys = {
    -- todo comments
    { "<leader>st", function() Snacks.picker.todo_comments({ keywords = { "TODO", "HACK", "WARNING", "BUG", "NOTE", "INFO", "PERF", "ERROR" } }) end,  desc = "Todo Comment Tags" },
    { "<leader>sT", function() Snacks.picker.todo_comments() end,                                                                                      desc = "Todo" },
  },
}

Note: I was writing all the above up as I was spelunking the code, and while I could have just deleted all the above and provided the answer, I've decided to leave it in case it's helpful for anyone else in trying to learn this plugins and how to try and start debugging issues.

I have also reverted to my original config of having two separate spec files (one for snacks and one for todo-comments with no explicit dependencies) and it continues to work, which affirms my understanding on how specs are loaded and resolved.

Thanks for your input @usman1515 even though my source of issue was unrelated to any of your suggestions.