☕ no-neck-pain.nvim

Dead simple plugin to center the currently focused buffer to the middle of the screen.

showcase.mp4

Alternative GIF showcase video for mobile users

⚡️ Features

Creates evenly sized empty buffers on each side of your focused buffer, which acts as padding for your window.

• Plug and play, no configuration required
• Seamless experience with your workflow.
• Multiple tabs support
• Highly customizable experience
• Support split/vsplit windows
• Built-in scratchPad feature
• Themed side buffers
• Fully integrates with file trees (neo-tree.nvim, nvim-tree.lua, etc.) and dashboard (alpha-nvim, snacks.nvim, etc.)
• Neovim >= 0.9 compatibility
  • 0.7 and 0.8 support is still available in the 1.x frozen version

Want to see it in action? Take a look at the showcase section

📋 Installation

Package manager	Snippet
wbthomason/packer.nvim	-- stable version use {"shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim", tag = "*" } -- dev version use {"shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim"}
junegunn/vim-plug	-- stable version Plug 'shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim', { 'tag': '*' } -- dev version Plug 'shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim'
folke/lazy.nvim	-- stable version require("lazy").setup({{"shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim", version = "*"}}) -- dev version require("lazy").setup({"shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim"})

☄ Getting started

No configuration/setup steps needed! Sit back, relax and call :NoNeckPain.

⚙ Configuration

Note: Need some inspiration on customizing your experience? Take a look at the showcase

Click to unfold the full list of options with their default values

Note: The options are also available in Neovim by using:

• :h NoNeckPain.options to see the global plugin options.
• :h NoNeckPain.bufferOptions to see the side buffer options.

require("no-neck-pain").setup({
    -- Prints useful logs about triggered events, and reasons actions are executed.
    ---@type boolean
    debug = false,
    -- The width of the focused window that will be centered. When the terminal width is less than the `width` option, the side buffers won't be created.
    ---@type integer|"textwidth"|"colorcolumn"
    width = 100,
    -- Represents the lowest width value a side buffer should be.
    -- This option can be useful when switching window size frequently, example:
    -- in full screen screen, width is 210, you define an NNP `width` of 100, which creates each side buffer with a width of 50. If you resize your terminal to the half of the screen, each side buffer would be of width 5 and thereforce might not be useful and/or add "noise" to your workflow.
    ---@type integer
    minSideBufferWidth = 10,
    -- Disables the plugin if the last valid buffer in the list have been closed.
    ---@type boolean
    disableOnLastBuffer = false,
    -- When `true`, disabling the plugin closes every other windows except the initially focused one.
    ---@usage: this parameter will be renamed `killAllWindowsOnDisable` in the next major release (^2.x.y).
    ---@type boolean
    killAllBuffersOnDisable = false,
    -- When `true`, deleting the main no-neck-pain buffer with `:bd`, `:bdelete` does not disable the plugin, it fallbacks on the newly focused window and refreshes the state by re-creating side-windows if necessary.
    ---@type boolean
    fallbackOnBufferDelete = true,
    -- Adds autocmd (@see `:h autocmd`) which aims at automatically enabling the plugin.
    ---@type table
    autocmds = {
        -- When `true`, enables the plugin when you start Neovim.
        -- If the main window is  a side tree (e.g. NvimTree) or a dashboard, the command is delayed until it finds a valid window.
        -- The command is cleaned once it has successfuly ran once.
        ---@type boolean
        enableOnVimEnter = false,
        -- When `true`, enables the plugin when you enter a new Tab.
        -- note: it does not trigger if you come back to an existing tab, to prevent unwanted interfer with user's decisions.
        ---@type boolean
        enableOnTabEnter = false,
        -- When `true`, reloads the plugin configuration after a colorscheme change.
        ---@type boolean
        reloadOnColorSchemeChange = false,
        -- When `true`, entering one of no-neck-pain side buffer will automatically skip it and go to the next available buffer.
        ---@type boolean
        skipEnteringNoNeckPainBuffer = false,
    },
    -- Creates mappings for you to easily interact with the exposed commands.
    ---@type table
    mappings = {
        -- When `true`, creates all the mappings that are not set to `false`.
        ---@type boolean
        enabled = false,
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to toggle the plugin.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string
        toggle = "<Leader>np",
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to toggle the left side buffer.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string
        toggleLeftSide = "<Leader>nql",
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to toggle the right side buffer.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string
        toggleRightSide = "<Leader>nqr",
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to increase the width (+5) of the main window.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string | { mapping: string, value: number }
        widthUp = "<Leader>n=",
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to decrease the width (-5) of the main window.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string | { mapping: string, value: number }
        widthDown = "<Leader>n-",
        -- Sets a global mapping to Neovim, which allows you to toggle the scratchPad feature.
        -- When `false`, the mapping is not created.
        ---@type string
        scratchPad = "<Leader>ns",
    },
    --- Common options that are set to both side buffers.
    --- See |NoNeckPain.bufferOptions| for option scoped to the `left` and/or `right` buffer.
    ---@type table
    buffers = {
        -- When `true`, the side buffers will be named `no-neck-pain-left` and `no-neck-pain-right` respectively.
        ---@type boolean
        setNames = false,
        -- Leverages the side buffers as notepads, which work like any Neovim buffer and automatically saves its content at the given `location`.
        -- note: quitting an unsaved scratchPad buffer is non-blocking, and the content is still saved.
        --- see |NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad|
        scratchPad = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad,
        -- colors to apply to both side buffers, for buffer scopped options @see |NoNeckPain.bufferOptions|
        --- see |NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors|
        colors = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors,
        -- Vim buffer-scoped options: any `vim.bo` options is accepted here.
        ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo`
        bo = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo,
        -- Vim window-scoped options: any `vim.wo` options is accepted here.
        ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo`
        wo = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo,
        --- Options applied to the `left` buffer, options defined here overrides the `buffers` ones.
        ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptions `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptions`
        left = NoNeckPain.bufferOptions,
        --- Options applied to the `right` buffer, options defined here overrides the `buffers` ones.
        ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptions `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptions`
        right = NoNeckPain.bufferOptions,
    },
    -- Supported integrations that might clash with `no-neck-pain.nvim`'s behavior.
    --
    -- The `position` is used when the plugin scans the layout in order to compute the width that should be added
    -- on each side. For example, if you were supposed to have a padding of 100 columns on each side, but an
    -- integration takes 42, only 58 will be added so your layout is still centered.
    --
    -- If `reopen` is set to `false`, we won't account the width but close the integration when encountered.
    ---@type table
    integrations = {
        -- @link https://github.com/nvim-tree/nvim-tree.lua
        ---@type table
        NvimTree = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "left"|"right"
            position = "left",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            ---@type boolean
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/nvim-neo-tree/neo-tree.nvim
        NeoTree = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "left"|"right"
            position = "left",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/mbbill/undotree
        undotree = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "left"|"right"
            position = "left",
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/nvim-neotest/neotest
        neotest = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "right"
            position = "right",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/playground
        TSPlayground = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "right"|"left"
            position = "right",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/rcarriga/nvim-dap-ui
        NvimDAPUI = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "none"
            position = "none",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/hedyhli/outline.nvim
        outline = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "left"|"right"
            position = "right",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- @link https://github.com/stevearc/aerial.nvim
        aerial = {
            -- The position of the tree.
            ---@type "left"|"right"
            position = "right",
            -- When `true`, if the tree was opened before enabling the plugin, we will reopen it.
            reopen = true,
        },
        -- this is a generic field to hint no-neck-pain that you use a dashboard plugin.
        -- you can find the filetype list of natively supported dashboards here: https://github.com/shortcuts/no-neck-pain.nvim/blob/main/lua/no-neck-pain/util/constants.lua#L82-L85
        -- if a dashboard that you use isn't supported, either set `dashboard.filetype` to the expected file type, or open a pull-request with the edited list.
        dashboard = {
            -- When `true`, debounce will be applied to the init method, leaving time for the dashboard to open.
            enabled = false,
            -- if a dashboard that you use isn't supported, set this field value to the dashboard filetype, also don't hesitate to open a pull-request with the edited list.
            ---@type string|nil
            filetype = nil,
        },
    },
})

--- NoNeckPain's buffer `vim.wo` options.
---@see window options `:h vim.wo`
---
---@type table
--- Default values:
---@eval return MiniDoc.afterlines_to_code(MiniDoc.current.eval_section)
NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo = {
    ---@type boolean
    cursorline = false,
    ---@type boolean
    cursorcolumn = false,
    ---@type string
    colorcolumn = "0",
    ---@type boolean
    number = false,
    ---@type boolean
    relativenumber = false,
    ---@type boolean
    foldenable = false,
    ---@type boolean
    list = false,
    ---@type boolean
    wrap = true,
    ---@type boolean
    linebreak = true,
}

--- NoNeckPain's buffer `vim.bo` options.
---@see buffer options `:h vim.bo`
---
---@type table
--- Default values:
---@eval return MiniDoc.afterlines_to_code(MiniDoc.current.eval_section)
NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo = {
    ---@type string
    filetype = "no-neck-pain",
    ---@type string
    buftype = "nofile",
    ---@type string
    bufhidden = "hide",
    ---@type boolean
    buflisted = false,
    ---@type boolean
    swapfile = false,
}

--- NoNeckPain's scratchPad buffer options.
---
--- Leverages the side buffers as notepads, which work like any Neovim buffer and automatically saves its content at the given `location`.
--- note: quitting an unsaved scratchPad buffer is non-blocking, and the content is still saved.
---
---@type table
--- Default values:
---@eval return MiniDoc.afterlines_to_code(MiniDoc.current.eval_section)
NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad = {
    -- When `true`, automatically sets the following options to the side buffers:
    -- - `autowriteall`
    -- - `autoread`.
    ---@type boolean
    enabled = false,
    -- The name of the generated file. See `location` for more information.
    -- /!\ deprecated /!\ use `pathToFile` instead.
    ---@type string
    ---@example: `no-neck-pain-left.norg`
    ---@deprecated: use `pathToFile` instead.
    fileName = "no-neck-pain",
    -- By default, files are saved at the same location as the current Neovim session.
    -- note: filetype is defaulted to `norg` (https://github.com/nvim-neorg/neorg), but can be changed in `buffers.bo.filetype` or |NoNeckPain.bufferOptions| for option scoped to the `left` and/or `right` buffer.
    -- /!\ deprecated /!\ use `pathToFile` instead.
    ---@type string?
    ---@example: `no-neck-pain-left.norg`
    ---@deprecated: use `pathToFile` instead.
    location = nil,
    -- The path to the file to save the scratchPad content to and load it in the buffer.
    ---@type string?
    ---@example: `~/notes.norg`
    pathToFile = "",
}

--- NoNeckPain's buffer color options.
---
---@type table
--- Default values:
---@eval return MiniDoc.afterlines_to_code(MiniDoc.current.eval_section)
NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors = {
    -- Hexadecimal color code to override the current background color of the buffer. (e.g. #24273A)
    -- Transparent backgrounds are supported by default.
    -- popular theme are supported by their name:
    -- - catppuccin-frappe
    -- - catppuccin-frappe-dark
    -- - catppuccin-latte
    -- - catppuccin-latte-dark
    -- - catppuccin-macchiato
    -- - catppuccin-macchiato-dark
    -- - catppuccin-mocha
    -- - catppuccin-mocha-dark
    -- - github-nvim-theme-dark
    -- - github-nvim-theme-dimmed
    -- - github-nvim-theme-light
    -- - rose-pine
    -- - rose-pine-dawn
    -- - rose-pine-moon
    -- - tokyonight-day
    -- - tokyonight-moon
    -- - tokyonight-night
    -- - tokyonight-storm
    ---@type string?
    background = nil,
    -- Brighten (positive) or darken (negative) the side buffers background color. Accepted values are [-1..1].
    ---@type integer
    blend = 0,
    -- Hexadecimal color code to override the current text color of the buffer. (e.g. #7480c2)
    ---@type string?
    text = nil,
}

--- NoNeckPain's buffer side buffer option.
---
---@type table
--- Default values:
---@eval return MiniDoc.afterlines_to_code(MiniDoc.current.eval_section)
NoNeckPain.bufferOptions = {
    -- When `false`, the buffer won't be created.
    ---@type boolean
    enabled = true,
    ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors`
    colors = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsColors,
    ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo`
    bo = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsBo,
    ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo`
    wo = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsWo,
    ---@see NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad `:h NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad`
    scratchPad = NoNeckPain.bufferOptionsScratchPad,
}

🧰 Commands

Command	Description
:NoNeckPain	Toggles the plugin state, between enable and disable.
:NoNeckPainResize INT	Updates the config width with the given INT value and resizes the no-neck-pain windows.
:NoNeckPainToggleLeftSide	Toggles the left side buffer (open/close).
:NoNeckPainToggleRightSide	Toggles the right side buffer (open/close).
:NoNeckPainWidthUp	Increases the config width by 5 and resizes the no-neck-pain windows.
:NoNeckPainWidthDown	Decreases the config width by 5 and resizes the no-neck-pain windows.
:NoNeckPainScratchPad	Uses the side buffers as a persistent scratchpad so you can take notes easily.

🏗 breaking changes

v1.0.0

See the release description for the full list of breaking changes.

v2.0.0

See the release description for the full list of breaking changes.

⌨ Contributing

PRs and issues are always welcome. Make sure to provide as much context as possible when opening one.

See Makefile for the available commands

It's recommended to use Bob, a useful nvim version manager in order to run the test suite for every supported versions.

🗞 Wiki

You can find guides and showcase of the plugin on the Wiki

🎭 Motivations

Although there's other (amazing!) alternatives that provide a zen-distraction-free-center mode, they usually make assumptions that might alter your workflow, or at least require some configuration to suit your needs.

no-neck-pain.nvim aims at providing a seamless non-opinionated buffer centering experience, while being super customizable.