Open At Startup

Opening nvim-tree At Neovim Startup

It can be useful to open nvim-tree when you start neovim.

nvim-tree cannot reliably do this on setup due to race conditions at startup and the overwhelming variety of user and plugin configurations.

Behaviour at startup is also a quite personal choice, with no means to provide mechanisms to suit everyone.

Hence we now leave it to you, the power user, to configure your startup behaviour.

Please open a Discussion if you have any questions, issues or concerns.

Additional Recipes would be gratefully appreciated - please edit this page!

netrw Hijacking

By default, netrw is replaced by nvim-tree when opening a directory.

netrw may still interfere with your startup behaviour. It's recommended to completely disable netrw, see :help nvim-tree-netrw

-- start of your init.lua
vim.g.loaded_netrw       = 1
vim.g.loaded_netrwPlugin = 1

Recipes

The VimEnter event should be used for the startup functionality: nvim-tree setup will have been called and other plugins will have started. It's the best time for you to define the behaviour you desire.

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "VimEnter" }, { callback = open_nvim_tree })

The VimEnter callback will be passed a table with the following pertinent data:

buf the buffer number of the currently focused buffer

file the name of the buffer

event always VimEnter

Always Open nvim-tree

local function open_nvim_tree()

  -- open the tree
  require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open()
end

Open For Files And [No Name] Buffers

local function open_nvim_tree(data)

  -- buffer is a real file on the disk
  local real_file = vim.fn.filereadable(data.file) == 1

  -- buffer is a [No Name]
  local no_name = data.file == "" and vim.bo[data.buf].buftype == ""

  if not real_file and not no_name then
    return
  end

  -- open the tree, find the file but don't focus it
  require("nvim-tree.api").tree.toggle({ focus = false, find_file = true, })
end

Open For Directories And Change Neovim's Directory

Current window:

local function open_nvim_tree(data)

  -- buffer is a directory
  local directory = vim.fn.isdirectory(data.file) == 1

  if not directory then
    return
  end

  -- change to the directory
  vim.cmd.cd(data.file)

  -- open the tree
  require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open()
end

New window:

local function open_nvim_tree(data)

  -- buffer is a directory
  local directory = vim.fn.isdirectory(data.file) == 1

  if not directory then
    return
  end

  -- create a new, empty buffer
  vim.cmd.enew()

  -- wipe the directory buffer
  vim.cmd.bw(data.buf)

  -- change to the directory
  vim.cmd.cd(data.file)

  -- open the tree
  require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open()
end

Open Nvim-tree in Regular Size

By default, nvim-tree occupies the whole window when opened at startup for directories. But this behavior might not intended by some users. To open nvim-tree in regular size, set the following lines in the config file:

hijack_directories = {
	enable = false,
	auto_open = false,
},

Then use above recipies to open nvim-tree at startup.

NOTE: If nvim-tree is opened in current window, it will always occupy the whole window regardless of the above config. So always open it in new window. To open nvim-tree in new window, call the open() function with a table which has the current_window key set to false:

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open({
    current_window = false,
})

Useful API

Useful API for startup. See :help nvim-tree-api for full details.

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.toggle({
	path = nil,
	current_window = false,
	find_file = false,
	update_root = false,
	focus = true,
})

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.change_root("/some/path")

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.focus()

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.open({
	path = nil,
	current_window = false,
	find_file = false,
	update_root = false,
})

Useful Tests

Following are some tests that can help you make your decisions:

An actual, real file on the disk:

vim.fn.filereadable(data.file) == 1

A directory:

vim.fn.isdirectory(data.file) == 1

&buftype:

vim.bo[data.buf].buftype

&filetype:

vim.bo[data.buf].ft

A [No Name] new:

data.file == "" and vim.bo[data.buf].buftype == ""