TIL: Neovim multiconfig

Managing multiple Neovim configurations is something I always find myself diving into. As someone who loves to experiment with different setups, I’ve been through a journey of trying to find the most convenient way to manage them all. I used to rely on cheovim, but I found the experience not as seamless as I wanted it to be.

Enter the NVIM_APPNAME environment variable—a simple, fast, and incredibly straightforward approach to handle multiple Neovim configurations.

With NVIM_APPNAME, you can control the directory Neovim looks for configuration files. Here’s a practical example:

NVIM_APPNAME=nvim_personal nvim

This command will prompt Neovim to use a configuration located in ~/.config/nvim_personal, making it act as the config folder for this particular instance.

This mechanism leverages the XDG directory structure, allowing Neovim to look for (and auto-create) configurations within various XDG parent directories. If you set the NVIM_APPNAME variable to “neovim”, Neovim will look for files in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/neovim instead of the usual $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim.

Here’s the context from Neovim’s help documentation to further illustrate this point:

NVIM_APPNAME					*$NVIM_APPNAME*
The XDG directories used by Nvim can be further configured by setting the
`$NVIM_APPNAME` environment variable. This variable controls the directory
Neovim will look for (and auto-create) in the various XDG parent directories.
For example, setting `$NVIM_APPNAME` to "neovim" before running Neovim will
result in Neovim looking for configuration files in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/neovim`
instead of `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim`.

Note: Similarly to the $XDG environment variables, when
`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim` is mentioned, it should be understood as
`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/$NVIM_APPNAME`.

In the end, the NVIM_APPNAME variable has allowed me to enjoy the process of experimenting with various configurations without the hassle. It’s an elegant solution that aligns perfectly with my love for simplicity and efficiency.