extensions.nvim

A VSCode-like "Extensions" panel for Neovim: browse a catalog of plugins, search/filter it, view details, and install or remove plugins with a keypress — backed by lazy.nvim and built with nui.nvim.

Status: MVP. Static bundled catalog, single backend (lazy.nvim), no remote plugin data yet. See Roadmap.

Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.9.0
• lazy.nvim
• nui.nvim

Installation

-- lua/plugins/extensions.lua
return {
  "DevDanielAlvarez/Extensions.Nvim",
  dependencies = { "MunifTanjim/nui.nvim" },
  cmd = "Extensions",
  opts = {},
}

Usage

Run :Extensions to open the panel: a centered floating window with a search bar and plugin list on the top-left, a live details preview on the top-right that updates as you move the cursor, and a keymap reference panel docked along the bottom — all visible from the moment it opens.

Key	Action
i	Install the plugin under the cursor
x	Remove the plugin under the cursor
c	Configure the plugin under the cursor (if it has options)
/	Focus the search bar and filter live as you type
<Tab>	Cycle status filter: All / Installed / Not installed
r	Reload the catalog
q/<Esc>	Close

How installs work

extensions.nvim never edits your own config files. It owns a single spec file, lua/plugins/extensions-nvim.lua, which lazy.nvim imports like any other plugin module. Installing adds an entry there and asks lazy.nvim to install it; removing deletes the entry and runs the equivalent of :Lazy clean. Whether a catalog plugin shows as "installed" is read directly from lazy.nvim's own registry, so plugins you installed some other way are recognized too.

Configuring a plugin

Catalog entries can declare a config schema — a list of options a plugin supports, each with an input_type (toggle, int, or string). Press c on an installed plugin that has one to open a small popup: toggles flip with <CR>/<Space>, int/string fields open an inline editor on <CR>. Every change is saved immediately into that plugin's entry in lua/plugins/extensions-nvim.lua, as a normal opts = { ... } table — the same field lazy.nvim already knows how to pass to require(x).setup(opts).

Most plugins only apply opts once at load time, so changes may need :Lazy reload <plugin> or a Neovim restart to actually take effect — extensions.nvim tells you this after saving.

Adding a plugin to the catalog (for plugin authors / contributors)

The catalog is a plain JSON file at data/catalog.json — a JSON array, one object per plugin. Adding your plugin (or fixing an existing entry) is a normal PR against that file; no code changes needed.

Minimal entry

{
  "repo": "user/repo",
  "name": "your-plugin.nvim",
  "description": "One sentence describing what it does.",
  "category": "editing",
  "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"]
}

Field	Type	Notes
repo	string	"user/repo", exactly as lazy.nvim expects it.
name	string	Display name in the list and popups.
description	string	One sentence, shown in the details preview.
category	string	Free text for now (e.g. "lsp", "ui", "git", "editing").
tags	string[]	Matched by the live search bar, alongside name/description.

Making your plugin configurable

If your plugin has simple opts a user might want to flip on the fly, add a config array. Each item is one option, rendered as one row in the c popup:

{
  "repo": "user/repo",
  "name": "your-plugin.nvim",
  "description": "One sentence describing what it does.",
  "category": "editing",
  "tags": ["tag1"],
  "config": [
    { "key": "enabled", "input_type": "toggle", "input_name": "Enable feature X", "default": true },
    { "key": "max_items", "input_type": "int", "input_name": "Max items shown", "default": 10 },
    { "key": "prefix", "input_type": "string", "input_name": "Prompt prefix", "default": "> " }
  ]
}

Field	Type	Notes
key	string	Must match a top-level key in the option table your plugin's setup()/opts accepts — extensions.nvim writes it straight into opts.<key> in the generated lazy.nvim spec. Nested options (e.g. scope.enabled) aren't supported yet.
input_type	"toggle" | "int" | "string"	Picks the input widget: toggle is a flip-with-one-keypress boolean, int and string open an inline text editor.
input_name	string	Label shown next to the value in the popup.
default	boolean | number | string	Must match input_type (boolean for toggle, number for int, string for string). Shown until the user overrides it.

config is entirely optional — omit it if your plugin doesn't need one, or you're not sure what's worth exposing yet.

Trying it out before opening a PR

Point catalog_path at your own draft file instead of editing the bundled one directly, so you can iterate without touching data/catalog.json until you're happy with it:

require("extensions").setup({
  catalog_path = "/path/to/your/draft-catalog.json",
})

Then run :Extensions, find your entry (/ to search by name), install it, and press c to confirm the config popup renders and saves the way you expect.

Configuration

require("extensions").setup({
  catalog_path = nil, -- path to a JSON file (same shape as data/catalog.json) with a custom catalog
})

See :help extensions.nvim for the full catalog item shape (including the config field) and all options.

Roadmap

• Dynamic/remote catalog (GitHub search API or similar), with caching
• Render each plugin's README in the detail panel
• Enable/disable toggle distinct from install/remove
• "Update available" indicator
• Support additional backends (mini.deps, vim.pack)
• Category/tag filter UI
• More input_types in the config builder (e.g. select/enum, float)

Prior art

store.nvim already solves plugin discovery/install very well with a large, hourly-updated database. extensions.nvim is a smaller, VSCode-UX-focused take on the same idea.

License

MIT