Neovim on Linux — Complete IDE Tutorial

05/10/2025

Intro

A clean and painless guide to turning Neovim into a modern IDE.

Neovim is a Vim-based text editor built for extensibility and usability. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set it up with plugins, keybinds, and full LSP support. This guide assumes you’re using a Unix-like system and are comfortable with basic terminal commands.

Install Neovim and dependencies

Use your system’s package manager to install Neovim, along with a few tools that will be required later (like npm and ripgrep).

# Gentoo
sudo emerge app-editors/neovim
sudo emerge net-libs/nodejs
sudo emerge sys-apps/ripgrep

# Arch
sudo pacman -S neovim nodejs npm ripgrep

Set up your Neovim config directory

Create your config folder and add the main config file.

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim
cd ~/.config/nvim
nvim .

In Neovim, press % to create a new file named init.lua:

print("I use Neovim by the way")

Save and quit with :wq, then reopen Neovim.

Create a Lua module for options

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim/lua/config
nvim lua/config/options.lua

vim.opt.number = true
vim.opt.relativenumber = true
vim.opt.cursorline = true
vim.opt.shiftwidth = 4

Then in init.lua:

require("config.options")

Add keybindings

vim.g.mapleader = " "
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>cd", vim.cmd.Ex)

In init.lua:

require("config.keybinds")

Install Lazy.nvim

Clone it into your runtime path.

local lazypath = vim.fn.stdpath("data") .. "/lazy/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
  vim.fn.system({
    "git",
    "clone",
    "--filter=blob:none",
    "https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git",
    "--branch=stable",
    lazypath,
  })
end
vim.opt.rtp:prepend(lazypath)

require("lazy").setup({})

Then:

require("config.lazy")

Add a theme plugin

return {
  "folke/tokyonight.nvim",
  config = function()
    vim.cmd.colorscheme("tokyonight")
  end,
}

Add Telescope for fuzzy finding

return {
  "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim",
  dependencies = { "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" },
  config = function()
    local builtin = require("telescope.builtin")
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>ff", builtin.find_files)
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>fg", builtin.live_grep)
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>fb", builtin.buffers)
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>fh", builtin.help_tags)
  end,
}

Add Treesitter for syntax highlighting

return {
  "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter",
  build = ":TSUpdate",
  config = function()
    require("nvim-treesitter.configs").setup({
      highlight = { enable = true },
      indent = { enable = true },
      ensure_installed = { "lua" },
      auto_install = false,
    })
  end,
}

Add Harpoon for file bookmarking

return {
  "ThePrimeagen/harpoon",
  config = function()
    local harpoon = require("harpoon")
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>a", function() harpoon:list():add() end)
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-e>", function() harpoon.ui:toggle_quick_menu(harpoon:list()) end)
  end,
}

Add LSP, autocompletion, and snippets

return {
  "neovim/nvim-lspconfig",
  dependencies = {
    "williamboman/mason.nvim",
    "hrsh7th/nvim-cmp",
    "L3MON4D3/LuaSnip",
  },
  config = function()
    require("mason").setup()
    require("mason-lspconfig").setup({ ensure_installed = { "lua_ls" } })

    local lspconfig = require("lspconfig")
    lspconfig.lua_ls.setup({})

    local cmp = require("cmp")
    cmp.setup({
      snippet = {
        expand = function(args)
          require("luasnip").lsp_expand(args.body)
        end,
      },
      mapping = cmp.mapping.preset.insert({
        ["<Tab>"] = cmp.mapping.select_next_item(),
        ["<S-Tab>"] = cmp.mapping.select_prev_item(),
      }),
      sources = { { name = "nvim_lsp" }, { name = "luasnip" } },
    })
  end,
}

One-liner utility plugins

return {
  { "tpope/vim-fugitive" },
  { "ojroques/nvim-osc52" },
  {
    "norcalli/nvim-colorizer.lua",
    config = function()
      require("colorizer").setup()
    end,
  },
}

Final `init.lua` Example

require("config.options")
require("config.keybinds")
require("config.lazy")

/home/tony/.config/nvim
├── init.lua
├── lazy-lock.json
├── lua
│   ├── config
│   │   ├── keybinds.lua
│   │   ├── lazy.lua
│   │   └── options.lua
│   └── plugins
│       ├── colors.lua
│       ├── harpoon.lua
│       ├── init.lua
│       ├── lsp.lua
│       ├── lualine.lua
│       ├── one-liners.lua
│       ├── orgmode.lua
│       ├── telescope.lua
│       └── treesitter.lua
├── plugin
│   └── flterm.lua
└── README.md

5 directories, 16 files

My keybinds

If you want to just copy my nvim config, my keybind documentation is here:

General

Mode	Key	Action
n	<leader>cd	Open Ex mode (`:Ex`)
n	J	Join lines while keeping the cursor in place
n	<C-d>	Scroll half-page down and center cursor
n	<C-u>	Scroll half-page up and center cursor
n	n	Next search result (centered)
n	N	Prev search result (centered)
n	Q	Disable Ex mode
n	<C-k>	Next quickfix entry (centered)
n	<C-j>	Prev quickfix entry (centered)
n	<leader>k	Next location list entry (centered)
n	<leader>j	Prev location list entry (centered)
i	<C-c>	Exit insert mode
n	<leader>x	Make current file executable
n	<leader>u	Toggle Undotree
n	<leader>rl	Reload config
n	<leader><leader>	Source current file

Visual Mode

Mode	Key	Action
v	J	Move block down
v	K	Move block up
x	<leader>p	Paste without overwriting clipboard
v	<leader>y	Yank to system clipboard

Linting & Formatting

Mode	Key	Action
n	<leader>cc	Run php-cs-fixer
n	<F3>	Format (LSP)

Telescope

Mode	Key	Action
n	<leader>ff	Find files
n	<leader>fg	Git-tracked files
n	<leader>fo	Recent files
n	<leader>fq	Quickfix list
n	<leader>fh	Help tags
n	<leader>fb	Buffers
n	<leader>fs	Grep string under cursor
n	<leader>fc	Grep current filename (no extension)
n	<leader>fi	Search in ~/.config/nvim

Harpoon

Mode	Key	Action
n	<leader>a	Add to Harpoon
n	<C-e>	Toggle Harpoon quick menu
n	<leader>fl	Telescope Harpoon marks
n	<C-p>	Prev Harpoon mark
n	<C-n>	Next Harpoon mark

LSP

Mode	Key	Action
n	K	Hover docs
n	gd	Go to definition
n	gD	Go to declaration
n	gi	Go to implementation
n	go	Go to type definition
n	gr	List references
n	gs	Signature help
n	gl	Show diagnostics float
n	<F2>	Rename symbol
n,x	<F3>	Format code
n	<F4>	Code actions

Misc

Mode	Key	Action
n	<leader>dg	Run DogeGenerate
n	<leader>s	Replace word on current line

Final Thoughts

You’re now ready to use Neovim as a modern, fast, and extensible code editor.

Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial. If you got value from it, and you want to find more tutorials like this, check out my youtube channel here: YouTube, or my website here: tony,btw

You can support me here: kofi