Vuffers.nvim

❓ What is it

Introducing a new experimental and exciting plugin for buffers! This plugin gives you a vertical overview of all your open buffers. With the added functionality of such as sorting buffers, it allows for easy navigation and organization of your workspace.

⚠️ Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that this is an early version of the plugin, and there may be some bugs or quirks. However, I'm excited to share this tool with you and I hope you'll find it useful and that it will improve your workflows.

🔋 Motivation

The motivation behind this plugin is to provide a simple and efficient way to manage buffers in Neovim. While there are already some plugins that offer similar functionality, they don't quite meet my needs. I prefer to see my buffers in a vertical list, so that I can easily view all of my files at once.

Plugins like Bufferline are helpful, but they display buffers horizontally, which limits the number of files I can see at any given time. While Telescope has a buffers picker, I prefer a list that is always visible.

Furthermore, I often work with files that have similar names, but are located in different folders. I want to be able to order my buffers in a way that groups these files together, regardless of their location. For example, foo.ts and foo.test.ts should be next to each other in the list, even if one is in foo/bar/baz/ and the other is in tests/.

With this plugin, I aim to provide a solution that addresses these specific needs, making it easier and more efficient to manage buffers in Neovim.

✨ Features

• Vertical display of open buffers for easy navigation
• Display of file names with duplicates eliminated for better readability
  • For example, foo/bar/baz.ts would be displayed simply as baz if there are no other files with that name open
• Unique naming of files with duplicates to avoid confusion
  • For example, if both a/foo/baz.ts and b/bar/baz.ts are open, they will be shown as foo/baz and bar/baz respectively
• Shortcuts for seamless navigation between buffers
• Sorting of buffers for customizable organization of your workflow
• Pinning of buffers for persistent and convenient access
  • moved to the top of the buffer list and are protected from accidentally closed
  • saved and restored per cwd
• Rename buffer "display name" (not actual filename)
  • it is persisted if you use session
• Reorder buffer
  • the order is is persisted if you use session

🔍 Demo

Unique names

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/26042720/233858903-e1186e9b-f795-4de5-9d7d-d6b8ae560de2.mp4

Sort

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/26042720/233858922-bf42c8f1-e56b-4bc5-a7af-1532826656e2.mp4

Navigation

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/26042720/233858935-e7a72733-b8aa-4cb2-ab36-9f345b9896a1.mp4

Pinned buffers

https://github.com/Hajime-Suzuki/vuffers.nvim/assets/26042720/3170217d-95ec-45dd-b3da-74b107de0da3

Rename

https://github.com/Hajime-Suzuki/vuffers.nvim/assets/26042720/f7ed8bff-42f4-4d28-8350-87291d2f55c5

Reorder

https://github.com/Hajime-Suzuki/vuffers.nvim/assets/26042720/e3a042a6-a4a3-4d91-af2b-d67f81de1ea6

❗ Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.8.0

Older versions may work without a problem but not tested

Dependencies

• nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons
• (optional) Tastyep/structlog.nvim (for logging)

⚙️ Setup

default setup with lazy.nvim

return {
  "Hajime-Suzuki/vuffers.nvim",
  dependencies = { "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons" },
  config = function()
    require("vuffers").setup({
      debug = {
        enabled = true,
        level = "error", -- "error" | "warn" | "info" | "debug" | "trace"
      },
      exclude = {
        -- do not show them on the vuffers list
        filenames = { "term://" },
        filetypes = { "lazygit", "NvimTree", "qf" },
      },
      handlers = {
        -- when deleting a buffer via vuffers list (by default triggered by "d" key)
        on_delete_buffer = function(bufnr)
          vim.api.nvim_command(":bwipeout " .. bufnr)
        end,
      },
      keymaps = {
        use_default = true,
        -- key maps on the vuffers list
        view = {
          open = "<CR>",
          delete = "d",
          pin = "p",
          unpin = "P",
          rename = "r",
          reset_custom_display_name = "R",
          reset_custom_display_names = "<leader>R",
          move_up = "U",
          move_down = "D",
          move_to = "i",
        },
      },
      sort = {
        type = "none", -- "none" | "filename"
        direction = "asc", -- "asc" | "desc"
      },
      view = {
        modified_icon = "󰛿", -- when a buffer is modified, this icon will be shown
        pinned_icon = "󰐾",
        window = {
          auto_resize= false,
          width = 35,
          focus_on_open = false,
        },
      },
    })
  end,
}

If you use session, please call on_session_loaded when a session is restored. This is required to restore renamed buffers.

Example usage for neovim-session-manager

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "User" }, {
    pattern = "SessionLoadPost",
    callback = function()
        require("vuffers").on_session_loaded()
    end,
})

or for built-in event

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("SessionLoadPost", {
    callback = function()
        require("vuffers").on_session_loaded()
    end,
})

🔫 Usage

UI actions

UI actions are available only inside the vuffers window, and the target is the buffer under the cursor. See keymaps.view in the config.

⚡ Highlight Groups

• VuffersWindowBackground

• VuffersActiveBuffer

• VuffersModifiedIcon

• VuffersPinnedIcon

• VuffersActivePinnedIcon

⬆️ Ideas for improvements

• custom order
• sort by parents
  • for example a/b/c.json and a/b/d.json are grouped and sorted by b
• toggle full path from cwd
• filter by name
• (show Git signs)
• (show LSP diagnostics)