nvim-kickstart-python

A launch point for your nvim config for python.

Similar to kickstart.nvim, but specifically for python.

• Motivation
• Philosophy & Features
• Recommendation
• Download
• Syntax Highlighting
• Additional plugins of interest
• Recommended Citation
• Credits

Motivation

While there are quite a few great nvim distros and nvim starter configs out there, one thing I somewhat missed was a base config for specific languages. I recently started to learn python and was missing a minimal example what the state-of-the-art nvim setup specifically for python is.

After figuring most of it out, I decided to publish this config for others to use. It is intended as a launch point for python devs switching to nvim, or as a reference for nvim users who want to start doing python development.

Philosophy & Features

• This is not a nvim distro, this is a minimal nvim config specifically for python. It's intended as a starting point for creating your own config.
• Requirement: nvim 0.10.
• ~15 plugins, ~350 lines, everything in one single file.
• Includes detailed comments explaining what the config does.
• The config can be fully bootstrapped: all plugins and tools are automatically installed on startup.
• Uses the current state-of-the-art of the nvim plugin ecosystem.
• Includes some common tooling for python development:
  • LSP (Completion, Typing): pyright
  • Linting (Diagnostics): ruff
  • Formatting: black & isort
  • Debugger: debugpy
  • Embedded REPL: ipython (if not installed, falls back to python3)
• In addition, this config includes editing utilities specifically for python, like for example docstrings creation, selecting virtual environments, or auto-converting f-strings.

Recommendation

Go through the kickstart-python.lua, it is commented in detail.

You can copypaste the config into you current init.lua to use it as a starting point for your regular config, or you can copypaste parts of it into your existing config.

Download

kickstart-python requires at least nvim 0.10.

Download the kickstart-python.lua file and run Neovim with it:

# download the config
curl --remote-name "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisgrieser/nvim-kickstart-python/main/kickstart-python.lua"

# start neovim with the config, opening a file `foobar.py`
# (any existing config you are using remains untouched)
nvim -u kickstart-python.lua foobar.py

The config automatically installs all the plugins and tooling needed.

Syntax Highlighting

Is provided by the nvim-treesitter plugin and/or the semshi plugin. The latter requires pynvim (python3 -m pip install pynvim) to be installed.

Both provide better highlighting, treesitter is considered the more "modern" approach. Treesitter covers some cases semshi does not and vice versa. Have a look at the comparison to decide for yourself which one to use. The config uses treesitter as the more modern approach.

Additional plugins of interest

These plugins are not included in the config, but they are worth mentioning, as some people might be interested in them:

• nvim-various-textobjs: various indentation-based text objects
• NotebookNavigator: Jupyter Notebook emulation
• magma.nvim: Jupyter Notebook integration
• ropify.nvim: ropify integration
• nvim-conda: conda environment selector
• nvim-lspimport: Automatically resolves imports for pyright.
• jupytext.nvim: Convert Jupyter Notebooks to code and back.
• py-requirements.nvim: Helps manage python requirements.
• venv-selector: switch virtual environments

Recommended Citation

You can cite this software project as:

Grieser, C. (2023). nvim-kickstart-python [Computer software]. 
https://github.com/chrisgrieser/nvim-kickstart-python

Credits

kickstart.nvim as an example how to do this.

In my day job, I am a sociologist studying the social mechanisms underlying the digital economy. For my PhD project, I investigate the governance of the app economy and how software ecosystems manage the tension between innovation and compatibility. If you are interested in this subject, feel free to get in touch.

I also occasionally blog about vim: Nano Tips for Vim

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