Do you want to test this but not spend time configuring it?
My entire neobean setup is in my github repo, so you can grab it from there
I have a video in which I show you how to download and setup my neobean config, but also other neovim distributions, so I highly recommend you check it out:
If you don’t want to watch the video above, and you already have your own neovim config, and want to quickly get started and follow along in this tutorial
Run the git clone commands below to clone my dotfiles in your .config directory and we will run my config below
I demo auto-format in the video, but if you want to have a visual representation on what auto-format does
auto format turns this:
auto format not applied YET as I’m in insert mode
Into this without you doing anything
In my case when I go from insert mode to normal mode:
auto-save will kick in after 2 seconds
that auto-save will trigger auto-format
auto format after auto save triggered by normal mode
This is very important for you to keep in mind related to my config
Every time I auto-save a file, it is auto-formatted
This is configurable and can be disabled, you can auto-save but not auto-format, and then format when you desire
I like auto-formatting because it keeps my markdown documents on point and uniform, also if editing lua files usually related to my neovim config, auto-formatting helps me quickly see if I made a mistake and keep indentation uniform
I deal with a lot of .yml files at work (kubernetes related) and auto-formatting also helps me make less mistakes and keep things uniform
In the section below I’ll demo how I use auto-formatting
Auto-format features and demo
I use the LazyVim distro, and I basically use the default config with a few tweaks
I want to auto-format when the focus is lost or I leave a buffer
DEMOFocusLost used when switching from skitty-notes
DEMOBufLeave is used when switching between 2 buffers
To see what formatter is applied to a file, run
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:ConformInfo
What auto-formats my markdown .md files is prettier
What auto-formats my markdown .yml files is prettier
See this one for example ~/github/dotfiles-latest/alacritty/themes/dracula/dracula.yml
What auto-formats my markdown .lua files is stylua
See this one for example ~/github/dotfiles-latest/neovim/neobean/lua/plugins/render-markdown.lua
That stylua config comes from the lazyvim distro see here
I install prettier as a :LazyExtra in the lazyvim distro
I install it through ~/github/dotfiles-latest/neovim/neobean/lua/config/lazy.lua
It basically installs prettier through Mason, you can see that here
-- Auto-format when focus is lost or I leave the buffer-- Useful if on skitty-notes or a regular buffer and switch somewhere else the-- formatting doesn't stay all messed up-- I found this autocmd example in the readme-- https://github.com/stevearc/conform.nvim/blob/master/README.md#setup-- "FocusLost" used when switching from skitty-notes-- "BufLeave" is used when switching between 2 buffersvim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({"FocusLost","BufLeave"},{pattern="*",callback=function(args)localbuf=args.buforvim.api.nvim_get_current_buf()-- Only format if the current mode is normal mode-- Only format if autoformat is enabled for the current buffer (if-- autoformat disabled globally the buffers inherits it, see :LazyFormatInfo)ifLazyVim.format.enabled(buf)andvim.fn.mode()=="n"then-- Add a small delay to the formatting so it doesn’t interfere with-- CopilotChat’s or grug-far buffer initialization, this helps me to not-- get errors when using the "BufLeave" event above, if not using-- "BufLeave" the delay is not neededvim.defer_fn(function()ifvim.api.nvim_buf_is_valid(buf)thenrequire("conform").format({bufnr=buf})endend,100)endend,})
I don’t like my lines to be longer than 80 characters, helps me with readability and overall consistency of my files.
If I open an obsidian markdown file in neovim, line lengths are all over the place, so I prefer to follow the markdown guidelines.
Set the option vim.opt.textwidth = 80 in ~/github/dotfiles-latest/neovim/neobean/lua/config/options.lua
When text reaches this textwidth limit, it automatically wraps to the next line.
This will automatically switch to the line below as you are typing and reach the 80 characters
This will NOT auto wrap:
Existing lines in a document after you enable the option
Long lines that you paste into a file
This is handled by prettier as seen below
Configure prettier
Remember that prettier is one of the formatters that conform.nvim uses, if you use a different formatter for a different type of file, and want to update the formatting rules, you have to update that other formatter.
In this video I will quickly show you how it’s done for prettier so you can get the idea
ProseWrap
This will autoformat existing lines over 80 characters and also long lines that you paste that exceed the 80 characters
We configure it in the .prettierrc.yaml file, see below
.prettierrc.yaml
Remember that I install prettier as a :LazyExtra
This is the file in which you configure the different formatting rules for prettier, not only for markdown but for other file types
Do you like indenting with tabs instead of spaces?
Do you want to set the indentation to 4 spaces for a specific project?
The configuration file will be resolved starting from the location of the file being formatted, and searching up the file tree until a config file is (or isn’t) found.
Prettier intentionally doesn’t support any kind of global configuration. This is to make sure that when a project is copied to another computer, Prettier’s behavior stays the same. Otherwise, Prettier wouldn’t be able to guarantee that everybody in a team gets the same consistent results.
Disable autoformatting in certain sections
Prettier is enabled and will autoformat your file, but there are some times that you don’t need prettier to autoformat, example below:
Notice that I’m also disabling markdownlint
DEMO so you see what happens when I remove this
This is a message that renders correctly in the page because it’s not autoformatted
After enabling this formatting for markdown files, since lines are broken at 80 characters, you’re going to notice that when you copy text from a markdown file into slack, all the lines are going to be broken, and your messages will be formatted like crap, and we don’t want that
I shared this solution in the neovim subreddit but it was too advanced for MFs to understand, so they didn’t get it, but if you follow my config, you’ll understand what I’m talking about
I came up with a solution and I go over this solution in detail in this video:
I come from Obsidian for taking notes, and writing markdown files is something I do a lot in Neovim, saving very often is too tiring and just not needed, I haven’t had to type alt+w, or ctrl+s or :wq in quite a long time
But before auto-save I remember writing very often, it was some sort of a tick, so I just said “Why bother?”
auto-save is really controversial, I think there’s more people against it than people that actually use it
A point brought up by one of the plugin’s maintainers in the reddit post was:
If you are tracking the current project in github, why bother saving?
And this makes sense for me, my final save location for a file I’m working on, is GitHub
This blogpost article I’m writing right now ends up in GitHub and if I need to revert, I revert a git commit, so I really don’t care if saves are performed often by a plugin, as long as I don’t need to do the saves myself
DEMO fuck up the article and discard github changes
Auto-save features and demo
The auto-save plugin allows me to customize several things
Events that trigger an immediate save
This means that if my focus is lost, for example, I switch from the skitty-notes app on the right to my Ghostty terminal on the left, this means an immediate save, or if I switch to another buffer
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immediate_save={"BufLeave","FocusLost","QuitPre","VimSuspend"},-- vim events that trigger an immediate save
For example, I want to avoid this immediate_save during certain conditions
One of them, which is really important for me, is do not run an immediate_save if I’m on insert mode, so even if the FocusLost event happens, that won’t save
For now, all you need to know, is that this can be configured too
Events that trigger a defer save
Save after certain amount of time when something was changed in the file
In other words, it saves after the debounce_delay, I have it set to 2 seconds and I’ll explain why later
If I exit insert mode, is because I finished typing something, so if I jump to normal mode, it will wait the debounce_delay time before saving, if I perform another change before the debounce_delay completes, the timer will restart
This avoids saving way too many times
In the video I demo how I don’t save when:
In visual mode
In flash
Why I don’t save when in these?
Because I usually go into these 2 modes when I’m in the middle of editing text
If I jump into visual mode I usually will delete text or move it to another section
If I jump into flash is because I want to jump to a section and quickly keep editing text
I don’t want an auto-save to trigger in the middle of that process, because that will trigger an auto-format and disrupt my workflow minimally
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-- vim events that trigger a deferred save (saves after `debounce_delay`)defer_save={"InsertLeave","TextChanged",{"User",pattern="VisualLeave"},{"User",pattern="FlashJumpEnd"},},
Events that cancel a defer save
If a save was going to take place after the debounce_delay and one of these events happen, the save is canceled
This is logical, because if I’m in insert mode, it means I’m editing the file, and I don’t want to save
I use this condition because I don’t want to save when I’m in insert mode and I switch to another application
For example, let’s say I’m watching a Udemy course and taking notes, sometimes I stay in insert mode and switch to the video, then come back to neovim and this will auto-save because of the FocusLost -> immediate_save event
DEMO in video
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-- Do not save when I'm in insert mode-- Do NOT ADD VISUAL MODE HERE or the cancel_deferred_save wont' work-- If I STAY in insert mode and switch to another app, like YouTube to-- take notes, the BufLeave or FocusLost immediate_save will be ignored-- and the save will not be triggeredlocalmode=vim.fn.mode()ifmode=="i"thenreturnfalseend
Do not save when in Harpoon or if the filetype is mysql (dadbod)
DEMO in video
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-- Disable auto-save for the harpoon plugin, otherwise it just opens and closes-- https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/harpoon/issues/434---- don't save for `sql` file types-- I do this so when working with dadbod the file is not saved every time-- I make a change, and a SQL query executed-- Run `:set filetype?` on a dadbod query to make sure of the filetypelocalfiletype=vim.bo[buf].filetypeiffiletype=="harpoon"orfiletype=="mysql"thenreturnfalseend
I do not want to save when in an active snippet
I use luasnip for my snippets, and blink as my completion engine, so when I insert a snippet that requires me to jump through different items, I don’t want an auto-save to happen
Do you want to learn more about luasnip and how I configure my snippets? Watch the video below (just notice that we now use blink.cmp instead of nvim-cmp):
Folke moved us all in the LazyVim distro from nvim-cmp to blink.cmp as the completion engine, it’s working great for me, so if you’re using your own config and want to migrate to blink.cmp watch this video:
If for example, you do not want to trigger auto-format when you save, you can set the option
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noautocmd=false,
debounce_delay
Delay after which a pending save is executed (default 1000)
I used this with a value of 750 for a long time, the problem is that I also auto-format when I save, so my file was being formatted way to often
A lot of times I jump out if insert mode just to navigate somewhere else, and keep editing, if set to 750 you won’t have enough time to move somewhere else, so a save and format will happen, adding a small delay while the file is formatted
I wanted to avoid this, so I increased it to 2,000, for me that’s the sweet spot as of Jan 25th 2025, I used to have it set to 3,000 but it felt like too much, I also tried 5,000 and didn’t like it, too much
I still need my auto-formatting to happen, but not as quick
Be really careful in choosing the correct plugin, because the one I’m currently using is a fork of Pocco81/auto-save.nvim and this Pocco81 plugin hasn’t been maintained in years, so it causes issues when you try to undo and redo
Noticed I opened the file in Neovide, which is a Neovim GUI, it feels faster and snappier even compared to the Ghostty terminal, if you want to find out more about Neovide, check out this video:
auto format not applied YET as I’m in insert mode
auto format after auto save triggered by normal mode
