What is Neovim?

Neovim is a modal text editor that started in 2014 as a refactoring of Vim. The project states its goals as simpler maintenance, work split across more developers, the ability to build advanced user interfaces without changing the core, and maximum extensibility. It runs in a terminal through its built-in text UI, and separate graphical front ends can attach to the same editor core over an API. The command is nvim, not neovim.

The code is developed in the open at github.com/neovim/neovim by a community of maintainers and contributors, with the website and documentation at neovim.io. The core is written mainly in C with a Lua runtime and Vimscript compatibility, and LuaJIT is used in release builds. Source layout, build steps and supported platforms are documented in the repository and in the support page.

Neovim is distributed as pre-built archives on the GitHub releases page: .tar.gz and AppImage files for Linux x86_64 and arm64, .tar.gz files for macOS Intel and Apple silicon, and MSI and zip files for 64-bit Windows and Windows on Arm. The installation guide also lists Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Scoop, Flatpak, Snap and Linux distribution packages. The reviewed release is v0.12.6, published October 9, 2026, from the 0.12 series. A nightly prerelease is published separately for people who track development.

The 0.12 series added a built-in plugin manager, vim.pack, LSP inline completion and the :lsp command, the :restart and :connect commands for reattaching interfaces, :Undotree and :DiffTool, and an experimental redesign of messages and the command line called ui2. The maintainers publish breaking changes in :help news, and it is worth reading before upgrading across a minor version.

Contributions since a documented commit are licensed under Apache 2.0, except for code copied from Vim, which keeps the Vim license; the repository's LICENSE.txt describes the split. Neovim is an editor and an API host, not a full IDE: language support, completion sources, file trees and similar features come from the built-in LSP and Tree-sitter clients combined with plugins you choose.

Inside the application

Neovim screenshots

Explore the interface. Open a screenshot to view it at full size.

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Neovim screenshot 1

Official showcase image: pressing K with a language server attached opens hover documentation in a floating window.

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Tree-sitter syntax tree

Official showcase image: the syntax tree of a Lua buffer beside the code, with the selected node highlighted.

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ui2 floating command line

Official showcase image of the experimental ui2 command line, shown as a floating box over the buffer.

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Terminal UI with splits and live substitute preview

Official screenshot: split windows with help text and a live preview of a substitute command in the terminal UI.

Source: official Neovim project page.

Key capabilities

Modal editing compatible with Vim Neovim keeps the Vim editing model, text objects, registers, macros and Vimscript, and the project states that most Vim plugins work. Differences from Vim are listed in :help vim_diff, and :help nvim-from-vim explains how to reuse an existing vimrc.
Lua as a first-class language Configuration can live in init.lua, and plugins can be written in Lua using the vim.* standard library. The Lua reference covers the API, options, autocommands, keymaps and the engine, which is LuaJIT in official builds.
Built-in LSP client Neovim talks to Language Server Protocol servers for diagnostics, go-to-definition, hover, rename, code actions and completion. Servers are not bundled; you install the language servers you want and register them with vim.lsp.config. Release 0.12 added LSP inline completion support and an interactive :lsp command. See the LSP documentation.
Tree-sitter integration A parser interface provides incremental syntax trees used for highlighting, queries, folds and incremental node selection. Parsers are separate libraries that you install per language. Tools such as :InspectTree show the parsed tree next to the buffer. See the Tree-sitter reference.
Built-in plugin manager vim.pack was added in the 0.12 line to install and update plugins from Git sources without an external manager. It sits alongside the older native package mechanism and third-party managers, and its interface is described in the pack documentation.
RPC API and remote plugins Neovim exposes a versioned msgpack-RPC API that can be called from Lua, Vimscript or external processes. The README lists client libraries for languages such as Python, Node.js, Go, Rust and Ruby. Remote plugins and graphical front ends use the same interface. See the API reference.
Embedded terminal emulator :terminal runs a shell or program inside a buffer that can be scripted like text. Release 0.12 added support for synchronized output and shows exit status for terminated processes. On Windows, :terminal requires Windows 10 version 2004 or later. See terminal.
Asynchronous jobs and a shared data file Jobs run in the background without blocking the editor, and the shada file keeps registers, marks and history across multiple editor instances. Both features are listed in the README as part of the original design.
Attachable user interfaces The core can run headless or as a server, and a UI connects over RPC. The :connect, :detach and :restart commands let a session move between interfaces. Graphical front ends are listed on the project's related-projects wiki page, which is maintained separately from the core.
Floating windows and extmarks The API supports floating windows, virtual text, signs and decoration providers. Plugins use them for completion menus, diagnostics and previews. Release 0.12 lets floating windows show a statusline and move between tabpages.
Diagnostics framework The vim.diagnostic module collects diagnostics from LSP servers, linters and plugins and displays them as signs, virtual text or virtual lines. The 0.12 line added filtering by enabled state and a status function.
New experimental message UI ui2 redesigns messages and the command line to avoid "Press ENTER" interruptions and provide a pager as a normal buffer and window. It is documented as experimental and must be enabled explicitly, so treat it as optional.
Packages for Linux, macOS and Windows Tier 1 platforms in the support policy are Linux x86_64 and arm64, macOS x86_64 and arm64, and 64-bit Windows 10 version 2004 or later. FreeBSD, OpenBSD and MinGW are tier 2, which means supported without guaranteed CI coverage.
Source build with CMake You can build with make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo and install with sudo make install, after installing the build dependencies described in BUILD.md. An experimental Zig-based build is available in the 0.12 line as an alternative to CMake.
Security controls for local configuration Project-local exrc files and trusted directories use a trust mechanism, and the 0.12 line changed the exrc prompt so that you view a file before allowing it. Windows builds no longer search the current directory for executables, per the 0.12 release notes.
Built-in help and tutorial :help covers every option, function and event, :Tutor offers an interactive lesson for beginners, and :checkhealth reports missing providers, clipboard tools and other environment problems.

Where Neovim fits

Replacing Vim or a basic terminal editor

Install the stable release, run :checkhealth, then port a minimal init.lua or reuse vimrc following :help nvim-from-vim. Compare defaults first, because Neovim changes several defaults relative to Vim, and add only the settings you need.

Editing code with language servers

Install a language server for your language, register it with vim.lsp.config and enable it for the matching file types. Confirm that diagnostics, hover, rename and formatting work on a real project, and check :lsp or :checkhealth when something does not attach. Tree-sitter parsers are installed separately from servers.

Building a reproducible configuration

Keep the configuration in a version-controlled directory under stdpath("config"), use vim.pack or another manager with pinned revisions, and record the Neovim version in the repository. After each minor release, read the breaking changes section of :help news before upgrading plugins and run :checkhealth.

Editing over SSH and in containers

Release archives include a self-contained runtime, so you can unpack the tarball on a server without administrator rights. Check clipboard behavior, because a remote host needs a clipboard provider or a terminal-based mechanism described in the documentation, and test that your terminal passes the keys you use.

Scripting and automation

Run nvim --headless with -l to execute Lua scripts, or drive a running instance through the RPC API from another process. Pin the API level your client relies on, since the API reference marks experimental functions, and test scripts against the version used in CI.

Embedding the editor in another interface

A graphical program can start nvim --embed and render the UI events the core emits. Read the UI protocol documentation, handle multigrid and message events explicitly, and check the compatibility notes for each release because message events changed in 0.12.