stickybuf.nvim

Neovim plugin for locking a buffer to a window

Have you ever accidentally opened a file into your file explorer or quickfix window?

stickybuf.mp4

This may eventually be addressed within vim itself, but until then we can provide a solution with plugins. Stickybuf allows you to pin a window to a specific buffer, buftype, or filetype. Anything that opens a non-matching buffer in that window will be reverted and re-routed to the nearest available window.

• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick start
• Commands
• API
• Configuration
• Plugin support
• How does it work?

Requirements

• Neovim 0.8+

Installation

stickybuf.nvim supports all the usual plugin managers

lazy.nvim

{
  'stevearc/stickybuf.nvim',
  opts = {},
}

Packer

require('packer').startup(function()
    use {
      'stevearc/stickybuf.nvim',
      config = function() require('stickybuf').setup() end
    }
end)

Paq

require "paq" {
    {'stevearc/stickybuf.nvim'};
}

vim-plug

Plug 'stevearc/stickybuf.nvim'

dein

call dein#add('stevearc/stickybuf.nvim')

Pathogen

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/stevearc/stickybuf.nvim.git ~/.vim/bundle/

Neovim native package

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/stevearc/stickybuf.nvim.git \
  "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/pack/stickybuf/start/stickybuf.nvim

Quick start

Add the following to your init.lua

require("stickybuf").setup()

Commands

Command	Description
PinBuffer[!]	Pin the current buffer to the current window
PinBuftype[!]	Pin the buffer in the current window, but allow other buffers with the same buftype
PinFiletype[!]	Pin the buffer in the current window, but allow other buffers with the same filetype
Unpin	Remove pinning for the current window

API

pin(winid, opts)

pin(winid, opts)
Pin the buffer in the specified window

Param	Type	Desc
winid	nil|integer
opts	nil|table
	allow	nil|fun(bufnr: integer): boolean	Return true to allow switching to the buffer
	allow_type	nil|"bufnr"|"buftype"|"filetype"	Allow switching to buffers with a matching value
	restore_callback	nil|fun(winid: integer)	Called after a buffer is restored into the pinned window
	handle_foreign_buffer	nil|fun(bufnr: integer)	Called when a buffer enters a pinned window. The default implementation opens in a near or new window.

Note:

You cannot specify both 'allow' and 'allow_type'

unpin(winid)

unpin(winid)
Remove any pinning logic for the window

Param	Type	Desc
winid	nil|integer

is_pinned(winid)

is_pinned(winid): boolean

Param	Type	Desc
winid	nil|integer

setup(opts)

setup(opts)

Param	Type	Desc
opts	nil|table

should_auto_pin(bufnr)

should_auto_pin(bufnr): nil|"bufnr"|"buftype"|"filetype"
The default function for config.get_auto_pin

Param	Type	Desc
bufnr	integer

Configuration

require("stickybuf").setup({
  -- This function is run on BufEnter to determine pinning should be activated
  get_auto_pin = function(bufnr)
    -- You can return "bufnr", "buftype", "filetype", or a custom function to set how the window will be pinned.
    -- You can instead return an table that will be passed in as "opts" to `stickybuf.pin`.
    -- The function below encompasses the default logic. Inspect the source to see what it does.
    return require("stickybuf").should_auto_pin(bufnr)
  end
})

You can also use autocmd to pin buffers conditionally

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("BufEnter", {
  desc = "Pin the buffer to any window that is fixed width or height",
  callback = function(args)
    local stickybuf = require("stickybuf")
    if not stickybuf.is_pinned() and (vim.wo.winfixwidth or vim.wo.winfixheight) then
      stickybuf.pin()
    end
  end
})

Plugin support

Stickybuf provides built-in support for:

• quickfix
• help
• NERDtree
• nvim-tree
• defx
• fern
• aerial
• neogit
• neotest
• vim-startuptime
• toggleterm
• vim-fugitive
• nvim-notify
• neo-tree
• nvim-dap-ui
• gkeep.nvim
• Overseer
• nvim-spectre

If there is another project that you would like to add out-of-the-box support for, submit a pull request, it's likely you'd only need to update the builtin_supported_filetypes variable in the main source file

How does it work?

Since stickybuf is compensating for missing behavior in vim itself, the implementation is necessarily something of a hack. When a buffer is pinned, its information is stored on the current window in window-local variables. Stickybuf registers a callback on BufEnter that examines the current window and, if that window is pinned, restores the previous buffer and opens the new buffer in an unpinned window.

Since stickybuf relies on being able to restore the pinned buffer after it is hidden, it overrides the bufhidden option of pinned buffers and only cleans up the buffer after a delay. The delay provides enough time to make sure that the buffer isn't going to be restored to the pinned window.

Warning: If you are using any plugin or functionality that relies upon bufhidden, particularly if it relies on bufhidden to trigger BufUnload, BufDelete, or BufWipeout immediately, stickybuf could cause issues. See #1 for a case where this happens with Neogit.