intent.nvim

Iterate from intent to implementation with Codex through a persistent Markdown document.

Experimental: intent.nvim explores a document-first interface to coding agents. The instructions could largely live in a SKILL.md; this plugin tests whether Neovim-native context, persistence, and writeback add enough value to justify the wrapper.

A SKILL.md can define the workflow. intent.nvim adds the editor loop: buffer and selection context, live progress, deterministic writeback, and one resumable session per document.

Requirements

• Neovim 0.10+
• An authenticated codex CLI available on PATH

Installation

With lazy.nvim:

{
  "martindur/intent.nvim",
}

With vim-plug:

Plug 'martindur/intent.nvim'

No setup call is required.

Usage

Open any named Markdown file and describe what you want to build. The .intent.md suffix is only a convenient convention; the plugin works with any buffer whose filetype is markdown.

:edit payment.intent.md
:Intent propose a high-level solution
:Intent simplify the boundary between these components
:Intent implement this
:'<,'>Intent reconsider these lines
:Intent! start a fresh Codex session
:IntentCancel
:IntentSession

Running :Intent without text opens Neovim's input prompt. The text entered there is sent as feedback alongside the document, exactly like :Intent reconsider this. While Codex is running, the document remains editable and displays its current activity and elapsed time. Its complete response replaces and writes the document unconditionally, including edits made during the run.

Each document keeps its own persistent Codex session. Session IDs live in Neovim's state directory rather than in the Markdown file. Codex receives workspace-write access, but is instructed not to change repository files until implementation is requested. Use :Intent! to discard the stored session for the document, or :IntentCancel to stop its active request. :IntentSession prints the codex resume <session-id> command for opening the same conversation in the Codex CLI.

Codex classifies sessions created by codex exec as non-interactive. They can also be found in its picker with:

codex resume --include-non-interactive --all

The intent document remains the durable source of truth. If a saved Codex session cannot be resumed, the plugin starts a new one from the document and current repository.

Check

nvim --headless -u NONE -i NONE -l tests/smoke.lua