keyword_length is not "number of characters that need to be typed to trigger auto-completion"

[davidq2010]

From experimentation, keyword_length seems to be the min number of characters that a word must have to appear in the auto-completion list, not the number of characters that need to be typed to trigger auto-completion (which is what the README says). My understanding seems to be consistent with

cmp-buffer/lua/cmp_buffer/buffer.lua

Line 324 in f83773e

if #word >= self.opts.keyword_length then

(although I'm a Lua beginner).

It would be really nice however if keyword_length actually was the number of chars to be typed to trigger auto-completion.

[scienceplease]

I have to concur with @davidq2010 in that this behavior is very confusing and seems unintentional. The keyword_length option in the top level of a source's table determines the number of characters that will trigger the completion menu while keyword_length within option determines the minimum length of a completion candidate. It would be best to change the latter to something more descriptive like min_candidate_length and update the documentation.

local buffer_source = {
    name = 'buffer',
    keyword_length = 5,     -- Trigger completion menu on Nth character.
    option = {
        keyword_length = 5, -- Minimum length for completion candidates.
    }
} 

Top-level keyword_length for sources is documented in nvim-cmp and parsed out here.

[adworacz]

This was massively confusing me as well, thank you @scienceplease for the example, which really cleared up my understanding.

[svenXY]

same here - I completely agree with @scienceplease that a different keyword would help here.
Perhaps - unless I missed it - it could make sense to mention in the docs that top-level nvim-cmp source options are allowed /required and where to find them

[rlopzc]

x2 on this. I just updated my config to add a root keyword_length to get the behaviour I wanted