Portable NeoVIM configuration / Folder confusion

Question

I'm attempting to create a portable Neovim configuration for Windows. I'm a bit confused about all the directories. Maybe someone can shed a little light on me :)

So I downloaded a pre-built archive from https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases and extracted it.

I found that nvim will use c:\users\myname\AppDataLocal\nvim-data and c:\users\myname\AppData\Local\nvim\ for stdpath('data') and stdpath('config') by default.

But the archive contains folders like e:\Neovim\share\nvim\runtime\colors\. I can put color schemes there and into c:\users\myname\AppData\Local\nvim\colors\ and even e:\Neovim\share\nvim-qt\runtime\colors. All three will work.

Same for plugins and probably more. So it looks like Neovim is checking all these directories for files it needs. Which would help me with my plans to put a fully functional configuration on my USB thumbdrive.

Having c:\users\myname\AppData\Local\nvim\init.vim isn't very portable.

I tried to put my init.vim into e:\Neovim\share\nvim\runtime\ and e:\Neovim\share\nvim-qt\runtime\ without success although it follows the same logic as the color folder.

So I figured I can load a custom configuration using the -u parameter.

Starting F:\Neovim\bin\nvim-qt.exe -- -u ..\init.vim with F:\Neovim\init.vim is working as expected.

Is there a better/correct way?

Where should I put my init.vim so I don't need the -u option

Answer 1

Neovim supports a sysinit.vim file whose location usually is $VIM/sysinit.vim (see :help sysinit.vim). From Neovim execute :echo $VIM to get it's value, and from there construct the right path. I don't use Windows, but I'm pretty sure it will work if you put the file on e:\Neovim\share\nvim\sysinit.vim

Answer 2

You can put all your personal config under a single directory (use :echo stdpath('config') to see where that directory is on your system). On Linux and Mac, the directory is $HOME/.config/nvim, and on Windows, the directory is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\nvim. Under this directory, do whatever you want with Neovim. You might be interested in mine.

As for portability issues, you can manage your configurations using git and GitHub. So your config can be cloned and updated easily no matter where you are.

See also :h init.vim inside Neovim for more info on how Neovim finds its config files.