code-age.nvim

When navigating large or new codebases, sometimes it is nice to see what has recently changed, versus what code has been around for a long time.

Visualize the relative age of each line of code, by git blame in Neovim's sign column. Newer code gets a thicker, greener bar; older code fades to a thin red sliver. Ages are log-scaled and anchored to the file's newest line, so a wide spread of commit dates stays readable.

█  function greet(name)        -- recent (green, full block)
▌    return "hello " .. name   -- months old (yellow, half block)
▏  end                         -- years old (red, thin)

Demo

Detail

Features

• Per-line age heatmap in the sign column
• Color gradient: green (new) → yellow → red (old)
• Two styles:
  • thickness (default): single glyph per line, scaled from ▏ to █. No signcolumn config needed.
  • stack: 1–N copies of a bar character, stacked across sign slots.
• Log-scaled ages so a file with both 2-day-old and 5-year-old lines stays distinguishable.
• Anchored to the file's newest line — shows relative age within the file, not absolute.

Requirements

• Neovim ≥ 0.10 (uses vim.system)
• git in PATH
• The buffer's file must be tracked by git

Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  "markmarkoh/code-age.nvim",
  cmd = "CodeAge",
  opts = {
    -- defaults shown; omit `opts` entirely to accept them
    style = "thickness",
    tiers = 3,
  },
}

packer.nvim

use({
  "markmarkoh/code-age.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("code_age").setup({})
  end,
})

vim-plug

Plug 'markmarkoh/code-age.nvim'

Then in your init.lua:

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

mini.deps

add({ source = "markmarkoh/code-age.nvim" })
require("code_age").setup({})

Manual (built-in pack)

git clone https://github.com/markmarkoh/code-age.nvim \
  ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/plugins/start/code-age.nvim

Usage

Command	Action
:CodeAge	Toggle the heatmap on the current buffer
:CodeAge show	Enable
:CodeAge hide	Disable

Configuration

All options with their defaults:

require("code_age").setup({
  style = "thickness",  -- "thickness" | "stack"
  bar   = "▌",          -- glyph used in "stack" mode
  tiers = 3,            -- number of age buckets (also stack height)
})

Style: thickness (default)

Single glyph per line, sampled evenly from ▏ ▎ ▍ ▌ ▋ ▊ ▉ █ based on tiers. Fits in the default signcolumn=yes — no extra setup required.

Try tiers = 5 or tiers = 8 for a finer-grained ramp.

Style: stack

Repeats bar once per tier; new code stacks to tiers bars, old code collapses to one. Each sign slot is two cells, so you need to widen the sign column:

vim.opt.signcolumn = "yes:3"   -- match your `tiers` value

How it works

1. Runs git blame --line-porcelain -M -C on the buffer's file.
2. For each line, computes age_days = newest_in_file - author_time.
3. Log-scales (log(1 + age_days)) and normalizes to t ∈ [0, 1].
4. Maps t to a color (two-segment green→yellow→red lerp) and to a glyph weight (1..tiers).

The anchor is the newest line in this file, not "today". So a file untouched for five years still shows its internal age structure.

Limitations

• Works on the on-disk version of the file — unsaved buffer edits can misalign line numbers until you save and re-run :CodeAge.
• No autorefresh on BufWritePost yet.
• Uncommitted lines are treated as "newest" (no blame info).

License

MIT