Windows11Workflow

All my Neovim config files, using PowerShell in the Windows Terminal along with fzf and bat for fast navigation. Also a quick setup for Tridactyl on Firefox.

This setup enables you to have many buffers open in Neovim that you can easily switch between using Harpoon and Telescope, while also quickly opening entirely different directories in new tabs using fzf which you can easily switch between and close, all while having access to vim motions in your browser.

Windows11WorkflowDemo.mp4

Showcase: cw (cd directory), ew (explorer directory), nw (nvim directory), ctrl+f in Neovim (new tab + nw), ctrl+tab (switch tabs), f (open firefox with tridactyl), q or :q (close the terminal tab)

System Setup

Full Paths to Repository Folders:

• PowerShell → C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents\PowerShell.
• nvim → C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\nvim.
• scripts → C:\scripts.

Miscellaneous Prerequisites:

• Ensure "Developer Mode" is turned on in windows settings (Windows + I and then search developer).

Terminal Installation:

• Windows Terminal → Run winget install --id Microsoft.WindowsTerminal.
• PowerShell (pwsh.exe) → Run winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source winget.
• NerdFont → Download from here and put the contents in C:\Documents\Fonts, select all and right click then select "Install". You can delete the .ttf files from the folder after you've installed them.

Terminal Settings:

• Startup → Default profile = PowerShell. Default termial application = Windows Terminal. Launch size = 120x25. Launch parameters = Center on launch enabled.
• Interaction → Warn when closing more than one tab = Off.
• Appearance → Use acrylic material in the tab row = On. Use active terminal title as application title = Off.
• Actions → Add a new action Close tab assigned to ctrl+shift+d. Set Toggle fullscreen to alt+enter.
• Defaults → Appearance → Font face = CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font. Font size = 16. Background opacity = 75%.

PowerShell Settings:

• Starting directory → C:\.
• Appearance → Font face = CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font. Font size = 16. Background opacity = 75%.

Dependencies (Evironment Variables) for Neovim:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) → Download from here and run the installation wizard.
• Git → Run winget install --id Git.Git --source winget then git config --system core.longpaths true.
• MinGW → Download from here and put the contents in C:\MinGW (Most use cases are the 64-bit versions).
• Make → Run winget install make --source winget.
• Python → Run winget install --id Python.Python.3.11.
• NodeJS → Run winget install OpenJS.NodeJS and say yes to installing Chocolatey.
• ripgrep → Run winget install BurntSushi.ripgrep.MSVC.
• fd → Run winget install --id sharkdp.fd --source winget.
• Neovim → Run winget install neovim.
• Python Provider → Run pip install pynvim --upgrade.
• NodeJS Provider → Run npm install -g neovim.
• Packer → Run git clone https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim-data\site\pack\packer\start\packer.knvim".
• Paste the C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents\PowerShell folder to that location, edit Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 and remove the attend and music functions, as they are specific to me. This file is where you can see all the custom commands, you can delete the ones you don't want or add new ones.

Dependencies (Evironment Variables) for the scripts folder:

• fzf → Run winget install --id=junegunn.fzf or download the exe from here and put it in C:\Windows.
• bat → Run winget install sharkdp.bat.
• Firefox → Download from here. Install to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe.
• NirCmd → Run winget install --id NirSoft.NirCmd.
• Tridactyl → Go here on Firefox.
• Paste the C:\scripts folder to that location. Ensure you put C:\scripts\which and C:\scripts\firefox in the path.

Neovim Setup

I recommend manually recreating the nvim folder on your PC rather than just pasting it in, because this will allow you to single out any unexpected errors as they happen.

You should start with the top level init.lua, replace "connor" with "[YOUR USERNAME]" then move on to the lua\[USERNAME]\init.lua and replace my name with yours again. Then you can create lua\[USERNAME]\remap.lua and lua\[USERNAME]\set.lua and paste the config into each. Running nvim . in the nvim directory now should open Neovim and give you no errors.

Now you can create lua\[USERNAME]\packer.lua, populate it with only the following lines:

vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]
return require('packer').startup(function(use)
    use('wbthomason/packer.nvim')
end)

Run nvim . and navigate to this file, run :so and :PackerSync, then press q after packer finishes.

Now, under the line use('wbthomason\packer.nvim') you can start adding plugins, do so in the following pattern (with some exceptions):

• Add the line to lua\[USERNAME]\packer.lua and run :so then :PackerSync inside it.
• If it needs one, add an after\plugin\[PLUGIN].lua file for the plugin and run :so inside it.
• Run :q then nvim . incase the plugin needs a restart.

The following plugins require extra or different steps than those outlined above:

• Treesitter → After following the steps, you should see it compiling languages at the bottom of your screen, don't touch your keyboard until this is finished. You might get an error along the lines of [LANGUAGE].so is not a valid Win32 app, which means either your version of MinGW does not match your operating system or treesitter is using the wrong compiler. After fixing the issue you can run :TSInstall [LANGUAGE] to recompile it.
• Coc → After following the steps, run :CocInstall coc-discord-rpc coc-copilot coc-git coc-powershell coc-sh coc-html coc-tsserver coc-css coc-cssmodules coc-json coc-xml coc-sql coc-pyright coc-java coc-omnisharp coc-cmake coc-clangd and run :q to close the dialog once everything is installed and add coc-settings.json, then restart again. If you don't want discord integration with Neovim, dont include coc-discord-rpc or just run :CocUninstall coc-discord-rpc after the first command. If a language you want is missing, you can find it here.
• Copilot → If you don't have a license for Copilot then don't include this plugin. If you do, then after following the steps run :Copilot setup and follow the instructions.
• Colorscheme → You can use the one that I use, but if you don't want to you will have to change the lines in lua\[USERNAME]\packer.lua, after\plugin\colors.lua and after\plugin\lualine.lua accordingly.

After all those plugins are installed, don't forget to include after\plugin\buffers.lua and after\plugin\colors.lua, they are not related to any plugins.
colors.lua will just make everthing look slightly better, and buffers.lua is optional, as it can slow down the startup time but will open a separate buffer every file in the specified directory that has any of the file extensions specified - this can be useful because renaming symbols across multiple files can fail if you need to change words in a buffer that is not already open.

Finally, you can paste the mapping-info folder for safe keeping.

All keybinds can be edited at lua\[USERNAME]\remap.lua or the respective after\plugin\[PLUGIN].lua file, and all settings can be edited at lua\[USERNAME]\set.lua.

Firefox With Tridactyl

To use firefoxfocusfix.bat from the start menu rather than just the terminal, follow these steps:

• Go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and right click on the Firefox shortcut, then properties.
• Change the target to C:\scripts\firefox\firefoxfocusfix.bat.
• Click Change Icon and browse to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox then select the Firefox icon.
• Apply the changes.

Now make firefox your default browser. After that go to Firefox settings and change the following:

• General → Use recommended performance settings = Off.
• General → Use hardware acceleration when available = Off.
• Home → Homepage and new windows → Custom URLs... → Paste moz-extension://13a1d2f1-5f72-41ad-bbed-17d8bb8bae85/static/newtab.html → Use Current Page.
• Home → Default search engine = Google.
• Now go to this url about:config and search for full-screen-api.transition-duration.enter and full-screen-api.transition-duration.leave and change both to 0 0.
• Scan the rest of the settings and disable things you don't want that will slow down the browser.

Using Tridactyl, press : and type the following commands:

• set newtab about:blank.
• set searchengine google.
• set modeindicatorshowkeys true.
• set modeindicatormodes {"normal":"true","insert":"true","input":"true","ignore":"false","ex":"true","hint":"true","visual":"true"}.

You can go here to view all the most important bindings.

Other Useful Tools

PowerToys → Run winget install Microsoft.PowerToys --source winget - enable Run at startup - my favourite tools are:

• Run with an activation shortcut of shift+backspace, input smoothing disabled, clear previous query on launch enabled, preferred monitor primary, all plugins off except window walker - this allows switching windows by searching their name instead of alt tabbing.
• Color Picker with an activation shortcut of win+shift+c and HEX, RGB and VEC4 enabled.
• Screen Ruler with an activation shortcut of win+shift+p.
• Text Extractor with an activation shortcut of win+shift+t.
• Command Not Found enabled.

SysInternals → Download from here and choose the executables that you want - the only one I use is ZoomIt with the following settings:

• Run ZoomIt when Windows starts and Show tray icon both enabled.
• Zoom on ctrl+/ with animate zoom in and zoom out disabled.
• Draw on ctrl+'.
• Record on ctrl+;.

Visual Studio 2022 → Download from here and make sure to put the following in the path:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin for MSBuild.
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\[VSVERSION]\bin\[HOSTOSVERSION]\[OSVERSION] for cl.

Dependency Walker → Download from here and put the contents in C:\DependencyWalker.

Cutter → Download from here and put the contents in C:\Cutter.

Mp3tag → Download from here.

scc → As an admin, run choco install scc - details can be found here.

Windows11CursorConceptV2.2 → Go here for a more fitting cursor. After buying, extract the contents to a known location and go to the version you desire, right click the install.inf file, click install and accept any dialogs that appear.