Frequently Asked Questions

Commonly asked questions, or just explanations/elaborations on stuff.

How can I use cmd-c/cmd-v to copy and paste?

Neovide doesn't add or remove any keybindings to neovim, it only forwards keys. Its likely that your terminal adds these keybindings, as neovim doesn't have them by default. We can replicate this behavior by adding keybindings in neovim.

if vim.g.neovide then
  vim.keymap.set('n', '<D-s>', ':w<CR>') -- Save
  vim.keymap.set('v', '<D-c>', '"+y') -- Copy
  vim.keymap.set('n', '<D-v>', '"+P') -- Paste normal mode
  vim.keymap.set('v', '<D-v>', '"+P') -- Paste visual mode
  vim.keymap.set('c', '<D-v>', '<C-R>+') -- Paste command mode
  vim.keymap.set('i', '<D-v>', '<ESC>l"+Pli') -- Paste insert mode
end

-- Allow clipboard copy paste in neovim
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('', '<D-v>', '+p<CR>', { noremap = true, silent = true})
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('!', '<D-v>', '<C-R>+', { noremap = true, silent = true})
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('t', '<D-v>', '<C-R>+', { noremap = true, silent = true})
vim.api.nvim_set_keymap('v', '<D-v>', '<C-R>+', { noremap = true, silent = true})

How To Enable Floating And Popupmenu Transparency?

Those are controlled through the winblend and pumblend options. See their help pages for more, but for short: Both options can be values between 0 (opaque) and 100 (fully transparent), inclusively on both ends. winblend controls the background for floating windows, pumblend the one for the popup menu.

telescope.nvim is different here though. Instead of using the global winblend option, it has its own telescope.defaults.winblend configuration option, see this comment in #1626.

How Can I Dynamically Change The Scale At Runtime?

Neovide offers the setting g:neovide_scale_factor, which is multiplied with the OS scale factor and the font size. So using this could look like

VimScript:

let g:neovide_scale_factor=1.0
function! ChangeScaleFactor(delta)
  let g:neovide_scale_factor = g:neovide_scale_factor * a:delta
endfunction
nnoremap <expr><C-=> ChangeScaleFactor(1.25)
nnoremap <expr><C--> ChangeScaleFactor(1/1.25)

Lua:

vim.g.neovide_scale_factor = 1.0
local change_scale_factor = function(delta)
  vim.g.neovide_scale_factor = vim.g.neovide_scale_factor * delta
end
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-=>", function()
  change_scale_factor(1.25)
end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-->", function()
  change_scale_factor(1/1.25)
end)

Credits to BHatGuy here.

How can I Dynamically Change The Transparency At Runtime? (macOS)

VimScript:

" Set transparency and background color (title bar color)
let g:neovide_transparency=0.0
let g:neovide_transparency_point=0.8
let g:neovide_background_color = '#0f1117'.printf('%x', float2nr(255 * g:neovide_transparency_point))

" Add keybinds to change transparency
function! ChangeTransparency(delta)
  let g:neovide_transparency_point = g:neovide_transparency_point + a:delta
  let g:neovide_background_color = '#0f1117'.printf('%x', float2nr(255 * g:neovide_transparency_point))
endfunction
noremap <expr><D-]> ChangeTransparency(0.01)
noremap <expr><D-[> ChangeTransparency(-0.01)

Lua:

-- Helper function for transparency formatting
local alpha = function()
  return string.format("%x", math.floor(255 * vim.g.neovide_transparency_point or 0.8))
end
-- Set transparency and background color (title bar color)
vim.g.neovide_transparency = 0.0
vim.g.neovide_transparency_point = 0.8
vim.g.neovide_background_color = "#0f1117" .. alpha()
-- Add keybinds to change transparency
local change_transparency = function(delta)
  vim.g.neovide_transparency_point = vim.g.neovide_transparency_point + delta
  vim.g.neovide_background_color = "#0f1117" .. alpha()
end
vim.keymap.set({ "n", "v", "o" }, "<D-]>", function()
  change_transparency(0.01)
end)
vim.keymap.set({ "n", "v", "o" }, "<D-[>", function()
  change_transparency(-0.01)
end)

Neovide Is Not Picking Up Some Shell-configured Information

...aka nvm use doesn't work, aka anything configured in ~/.bashrc/~/.zshrc is ignored by Neovide.

Neovide doesn't start the embedded neovim instance in an interactive shell, so your shell doesn't read part of its startup file (~/.bashrc/~/.zshrc/whatever the equivalent for your shell is). But depending on your shell there are other options for doing so, for example for zsh you can just put your relevant content into ~/.zprofile or ~/.zlogin.

The Terminal Displays Fallback Colors/:terminal Does Not Show My Colors

Your colorscheme has to define g:terminal_color_0 through g:terminal_color_15 in order to have any effect on the terminal. Just setting any random highlights which have Term in name won't help.

Some colorschemes think of this, some don't. Search in the documentation of yours, if it's your own, add it, and if you can't seem to find anything, open an issue in the colorscheme's repo.

Compose key sequences do not work

One possible cause might be inconsistent capitalization of your locale settings, see #1896. Possibly you're also running an outdated version of Neovide.

Another possible cause is that you are using IME on X11. Dead keys with IME is not yet supported, but you can work around that either by disabling IME or configuring it to only be enabled in insert mode. See Configuration.

Font size is weird with high dpi display on x11

Winit looks in multiple locations for the configured dpi. Make sure its set in at least one of them. More details here: #2010.

How to turn off all animations?

Animations can be turned off by setting the following global variables:

vim.g.neovide_position_animation_length = 0
vim.g.neovide_cursor_animation_length = 0.00
vim.g.neovide_cursor_trail_size = 0
vim.g.neovide_cursor_animate_in_insert_mode = false
vim.g.neovide_cursor_animate_command_line = false
vim.g.neovide_scroll_animation_far_lines = 0
vim.g.neovide_scroll_animation_length = 0.00

Traditionally, Unix shells use two main configuration files that are executed before a user can interact with the shell: a profile file and an rc file.

Profile File: This file is typically executed once at login to set up the user's environment.
RC File: This file is executed every time a new shell is created to configure the shell itself.

In the case of Zsh, which has been the default shell on macOS since version 10.15, the configuration files used are .zprofile and .zshrc.

Bash Differences

Unlike Zsh, Bash behaves differently. It only reads .bashrc if the shell session is both interactive and non-login. This distinction might have been overlooked when macOS transitioned from tcsh to bash in OSX 10.2 Jaguar, leading developers to place their setup entirely in .profile since .bashrc would rarely be executed, especially when starting a new terminal.

With the shift to Zsh as the default shell, both .zprofile and .zshrc are executed when starting an interactive non-login shell.

pic alt

Regarding to the moment when Neovide launches, it does not start an interactive shell session, meaning the .bashrc file is not executed. Instead, the system reads the .bash_profile file. This behavior stems from the difference in how interactive and login shells process configuration files.

macOS Specifics

On macOS, the graphical user interface used for system login does not execute .zprofile, as it employs a different method for loading system-level global settings. This means that terminal emulators must run shells as login shells to ensure that new shells are properly configured, avoiding potential issues from missing setup processes in .zprofile. This necessity arises because there is no .xsession or equivalent file on macOS to provide initial settings or global environment variables to terminal sessions¹.

Why are interactive shells on OSX login shells by default?