rvpm

Rust-based Vim Plugin Manager — a fast, pre-compiled plugin manager for Neovim

rvpm clones plugins in parallel, links merge = true plugins into a single runtime-path entry, and ahead-of-time compiles a loader.lua that sources everything without any runtime vim.fn.glob cost.

Inspired by lazy.nvim — rvpm adopts the same "take full control of plugin loading" approach (vim.go.loadplugins = false), but adds merge optimization and generate-time file-list compilation on top.

Why rvpm?

The upshot: rvpm does more work at rvpm sync / rvpm generate time so that Neovim startup reads exactly the files it needs and nothing else.

Features

• Fast startup — Phase 0–4 loader model with vim.go.loadplugins = false and pre-globbed plugin/ / ftdetect/ / after/plugin/ file lists
• Merge optimization — merge = true plugins share a single vim.opt.rtp:append(...) entry via junction/symlink
• Full lazy triggers — on_cmd / on_ft / on_map / on_event / on_path / on_source (plugin chain), with User Xxx pattern shorthand, bang/range/count/complete aware commands, keymaps with mode + desc, and <Ignore>-prefixed replay for safety
• Dependency ordering — topological sort on depends, resilient to cycles and missing references
• Windows first-class — hardcoded ~/.config / ~/.cache layout for dotfiles portability, junction instead of symlink to avoid permission issues
• Interactive TUI (rvpm list) — plugin list with action keys for sync/update/generate/remove/edit/set
• CLI-driven set — rvpm set foo --on-event '["BufReadPre","User Started"]' or full JSON object form for on_map with mode/desc
• TOML direct edit escape hatch — rvpm config / rvpm set sub-menu to jump to the plugin's block in $EDITOR
• Init.lua integration — rvpm init --write wires the generated loader into ~/.config/$NVIM_APPNAME/init.lua (creates the file if missing)

Installation

From a pre-built binary

Download the latest archive from the Releases page for your platform:

• Linux (x86_64): rvpm-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• macOS (Intel): rvpm-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• macOS (Apple Silicon): rvpm-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• Windows (x86_64): rvpm-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Extract the binary into any directory on your PATH.

From crates.io

cargo install rvpm

From source (latest main)

cargo install --git https://github.com/yukimemi/rvpm

Quick start

# 1. Add your first plugin (creates ~/.config/rvpm/config.toml if needed)
rvpm add nvim-lua/plenary.nvim

# 2. Wire the generated loader into your Neovim init.lua
rvpm init --write
# → Creates or appends to ~/.config/nvim/init.lua (respects $NVIM_APPNAME)

# 3. Later, add more plugins and resync
rvpm add nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim
rvpm sync

# 4. Explore the TUI
rvpm list

Configuration

~/.config/rvpm/config.toml:

[vars]
# Your own variables, referenced via Tera templates {{ vars.xxx }}
config_base = "~/.config/nvim/rc/after"

[options]
# Per-plugin init/before/after.lua directory
# Default: ~/.config/rvpm/plugins
config_root = "{{ vars.config_base }}/plugins"
# Parallel git operations limit (default: unlimited)
concurrency = 10
# Optional: move all rvpm data (repos + merged + loader.lua) under a custom root
# base_dir = "~/dotfiles/nvim/rvpm"
# Optional: override only loader.lua location (overrides base_dir for loader)
# loader_path = "~/.cache/nvim/rvpm/loader.lua"

[[plugins]]
name  = "plenary"
url   = "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim"
merge = true     # Default for eager plugins
lazy  = false

[[plugins]]
name    = "telescope"
url     = "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim"
lazy    = true
depends = ["plenary"]
# Trigger on command — plugin loads when the user runs :Telescope
on_cmd  = ["Telescope"]
# Or as a User autocmd chained off another plugin
on_source = ["plenary"]

[[plugins]]
name    = "nvim-treesitter"
url     = "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter"
lazy    = true
# Multiple triggers are OR-ed: any one firing loads the plugin
on_ft   = ["rust", "toml", "lua"]
on_event = ["BufReadPre", "User LazyVimStarted"]

[[plugins]]
name = "which-key"
url  = "folke/which-key.nvim"
lazy = true
# on_map accepts simple strings or full `{ lhs, mode, desc }` tables
on_map = [
  "<leader>?",
  { lhs = "<leader>v", mode = ["n", "x"], desc = "Visual leader" },
]

Per-plugin hooks

Drop Lua files under {config_root}/<host>/<owner>/<repo>/ and rvpm will include them in the generated loader:

Example: ~/.config/rvpm/plugins/github.com/nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim/after.lua

require("telescope").setup({
  defaults = { layout_strategy = "vertical" },
})
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>ff", "<cmd>Telescope find_files<cr>")

Commands

Run rvpm <command> --help for flag-level details.

Usage examples

# ── Sync & generate ──────────────────────────────────────

# Clone/pull everything and regenerate loader.lua
rvpm sync

# Same, but also remove plugin dirs no longer in config.toml
rvpm sync --prune

# Only regenerate loader.lua (after editing init/before/after.lua)
rvpm generate

# ── Add / remove ─────────────────────────────────────────

# Add a plugin (creates entry in config.toml and syncs immediately)
rvpm add nvim-lua/plenary.nvim
rvpm add nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim --name telescope

# Remove interactively (fuzzy-select prompt)
rvpm remove

# Remove by name match
rvpm remove telescope

# ── Edit per-plugin hooks ────────────────────────────────

# Pick a plugin interactively, then pick which file to edit
rvpm edit

# Jump straight to a specific file (skips both selectors)
rvpm edit telescope --after
rvpm edit plenary --init
rvpm edit treesitter --before

# ── Set plugin options ───────────────────────────────────

# Interactive mode (fuzzy-select plugin → pick option → edit)
rvpm set

# Non-interactive: set multiple flags at once
rvpm set telescope --lazy true --on-cmd "Telescope"
rvpm set nvim-cmp --on-event '["InsertEnter", "CmdlineEnter"]'

# on_map with full JSON object form (mode + desc)
rvpm set which-key --on-map '{"lhs":"<leader>?","mode":["n","x"],"desc":"Which Key"}'

# Pin to a specific tag
rvpm set telescope --rev "0.1.8"

# Drop into $EDITOR for manual TOML editing from the set menu
# → pick a plugin → select [ Open config.toml in $EDITOR ]

# ── Config / init ────────────────────────────────────────

# Open config.toml directly in $EDITOR (runs sync on close)
rvpm config

# Print the dofile(...) snippet for init.lua
rvpm init

# Auto-create (or append to) ~/.config/nvim/init.lua
rvpm init --write

# ── List / status ────────────────────────────────────────

# TUI with interactive actions ([S] sync, [u] update, [d] remove, …)
rvpm list

# Plain text for scripting / piping
rvpm list --no-tui
rvpm list --no-tui | grep Missing

Design highlights

Phase 0–4 loader model

Phase 0:  vim.go.loadplugins = false         -- disable Neovim's auto-source
Phase 0.5: load_lazy helper                   -- runtime loader for lazy plugins
Phase 1:  all init.lua (dependency order)    -- pre-rtp phase
Phase 2:  rtp:append(merged_dir)              -- once, if any merge=true plugins
Phase 3:  eager plugins in dependency order:
            if not merge: rtp:append(plugin_path)
            before.lua
            source plugin/**/*.{vim,lua}     -- pre-globbed at generate time
            source ftdetect/** in augroup filetypedetect
            source after/plugin/**
            after.lua
            User autocmd "rvpm_loaded_<name>"
Phase 4:  lazy trigger registrations (on_cmd / on_ft / on_map / etc)

Because the file lists are baked in at rvpm generate time, the loader does zero runtime glob work. rvpm sync (or rvpm generate) is what pays the I/O cost; Neovim startup just sources a fixed list of files.

Merge optimization

When merge = true, the plugin directory is linked (junction on Windows, symlink elsewhere) into {base_dir}/merged/. All merge = true plugins share a single vim.opt.rtp:append(merged_dir) call — lazy.nvim doesn't do this, so if you have ~100 eager plugins, rvpm keeps your &runtimepath lean.

Dependency ordering

depends fields are topologically sorted. Cycles and missing dependencies emit warnings instead of hard-failing (resilience principle). The sort ordering is preserved all the way through to the generated loader.lua, so before.lua / after.lua hooks run in the correct order relative to dependencies.

Directory layout (defaults)

Windows uses the same .config / .cache paths under %USERPROFILE% — no %APPDATA% — to keep dotfiles portable between Linux/macOS/WSL/Windows.

options.base_dir = "..." moves all of ~/.cache/rvpm/ to a different root (useful for dotfiles-managed caches). options.loader_path = "..." moves only loader.lua.

Development

# Build
cargo build

# Run the full test suite
cargo test

# Run a single test
cargo test test_loader_phase_order_init_rtp_before

# Format check / lint
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings

# Inspect the generated loader from the sample fixture
cargo test dump_full_sample_loader -- --ignored --nocapture

rvpm is developed with TDD: tests come first, and new behaviors are covered by either unit or integration tests before implementation.

Acknowledgments

• lazy.nvim by @folke — the approach of taking over plugin loading entirely (vim.go.loadplugins = false), the ftdetect augroup wrapping trick, the <Ignore>-prefixed feedkeys replay, and the per-handler designs (cmd.lua, keys.lua, event.lua, ft.lua) were all studied and adapted for rvpm. rvpm is an independent Rust re-implementation inspired by these ideas.
• dvpm — a Deno-based predecessor.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.