Vimspirational

A repo that documents my journey into trying to be a developer who uses Vim as well as a place to keep my current setup.

Table of Contents

• Steps to setup on Windows
• Steps to setup on MaxOS
• Plugins I'm using
• Custom commands and key remaps in my vimrc
• Things I've tried and moved away from
• Problems I'm sure I can solve but haven't yet
• Problems I've managed to overcome

Install

Note: These install instructions are for linux. There are install instructions for windows and MacOS in their appropriate markdown files but they are out of date now as I'm now using linux solely for development

1. Install OhMyZsh with this script sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
2. Symlink the .zshrc files that are in the Vimspirational repo ln -s ~/Projects/Vimspirational/.zshrc ~/.zshrc
3. Symlink the .zshrc files that are specific for linux that get sourced in ln -s ~/Projects/Vimspirational/.zshrc.linux ~/.zshrc.linux understand that part of the linux zshrc sets up npm to use a global repo in your home directory so you don't have to sudo install global packages. This means that if you had an npmrc previously it won't overwrite with the correct settings. Checkout the npm global install settings in this file to see what is needed.
4. Symlink the .zshrc files that are for any secret tokens you want to use and not risk checking into this repo ln -s ~/Projects/Vimspirational/.zshrc.tokens ~/.zshrc.tokens
5. Symlink the .npmrc file ln -s ~/Projects/Personal/Vimspirational/.npmrc ~/.npmrc
6. Symlink the .screenrc file ln -s ~/Projects/Personal/Vimspirational/.screenrc ~/.screenrc
7. Install the font Jetbrains Mono from this website worth pointing out that I use Gnome terminal and I set the font in the settings for that. I use the italic version to make my terminal all shoowshy!
8. Install some requirements for plugins etc using sudo apt-get install ack-grep nodejs yarn python3 httpie ruby silversearcher-ag tmux vim-gnome gnome-tweak-tools
9. Symlink .tmux.conf to the one in the repo using the same method as above, for some reason vim goes funny when you open my dot files in anything other than tmux so you'll need to do the rest within tmux.
10. Install tmux plugin manager with this command git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
11. Install gcloud components

# Add the Cloud SDK distribution URI as a package source
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] http://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list

# Import the Google Cloud Platform public key
curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg add -

# Update the package list and install the Cloud SDK
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-sdk

1. Install the kubernetes-cli

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
curl -s https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

1. Hook up your gcloud instances, checkout the commands in th GCP console for this, it's a copy pasta job
2. Install kubectx and kubens

sudo git clone https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx /opt/kubectx
sudo ln -s /opt/kubectx/kubectx /usr/local/bin/kubectx
sudo ln -s /opt/kubectx/kubens /usr/local/bin/kubens
mkdir ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions
sudo ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/kubectx.zsh ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions/_kubectx
sudo ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/kubens.zsh ~/.oh-my-zsh/completions/_kubens

1. Put the _vimrc file in the $HOME directory and change the g:pathToVimRc so that it points to the mydotfiles.vim in the folder where you pulled this repo down. Also change the other Does grecent which uses grecent to switch branches for me
2. Install vim-plug by opening up vim the dot files will automatically download vim-plug and install all the plugins, you'll have a few error messages to hit enter through but after that, close down
3. Add my little git alias scripts to your global git config. edit-unmerged opens all unmerged changes in vim, helpful for when you have merge conflicts and you want to open them all to edit them. add-unmerged adds all the unmerged files to the staged changes for after you've done the merge. prune-branches deletes all local branches that no longer have a remote on the server. prune-branches-force does the same thing but deletes the branch even if it has unpushed changes, be careful with that second one!
4. Install npm packages globally with npm i flow prettier cowsay lolcatjs grecent -g
5. Install tmuxinator with gem install tmuxinator and then symlink the koodoo-service project with ln -S ~/.config/tmuxinator/koodoo-service.yml ~/Projects/Vimspirational/koodoo-service.yml

Plugins I'm using

Plugin name	Link	Why?
Sensible	https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible	The defaults on vim are showing their age a bit and sensible makes vim at it's core behave a little more like you'd expect a modern editor to act.
NERDTree	https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree	A file tree for exploring folders and opening up files, I know we're editing in a terminal but there's no need to go overboard here! I don't want to have to type out every file I want to open.
vim-devicons	https://github.com/ryanoasis/vim-devicons	Pretty icons for use in NERDTree to show for different files and obviously I can use these for other places that need icons as well
vim-gitgutter	https://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter	Shows icons for lines that have been modified and added in files that I open that are in a git repo. This opens up the ability to us [c and ]c to jump between hunks in a buffer. Might be work looking at the readme on the vim-gitgutter repo as well because there is some cool extensions that might be useful there
Unimpaired	https://github.com/tpope/vim-unimpaired	Give you handy little shortcuts based on [ and ] to do things like swap lines and add blank lines above and below etc
vim-javascript	https://github.com/pangloss/vim-javascript	For some of that extra syntax highlighting for javascript and improved indenting
vim-jsx	https://github.com/mxw/vim-jsx	For some of that extra syntax highlighting for JSX etc. etc.
vim-flow	https://github.com/flowtype/vim-flow	Does flow checking when you save a file that is flow enabled and also add some omnicompletion functionality. I have a script in the vimrc that searched for local installs of flow when you open a javascript file and sets the flow path to that install rather than the global one. This might cause problems if you are working on multiple projects with different flow settings but works fine in my situation.
vim-airline	https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline	Gives you a nice status bar along the button to show you things about the file you have open and a tab bar along the top that shows all the buffers you have open so you can more easy swithc between buffers at a glance with :b# or [b or ]b (the motion commands come from unimpaired)
vim-airline-themes	https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline-themes	A plugin to do some extra cool stuff with airline, like different colours etc.
vim-airline-clock	https://github.com/enricobacis/vim-airline-clock	Just put the time in the bottom right of the airline so I can full screen my terminal and still see the time.
vim-surround	https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround	Does a little more than my little scripts that surrounds a word with quotes, this will change surrounding characters, delete them etc. Basicallty it defines some operator pending bindings that allow you to modify surrouding characters. Again I should us this more than I do.
ack.vim	https://github.com/mileszs/ack.vim	Ack is a code anaylsis and searching tool that you can integrate into vim. This is by far the best way I've found to search and entire project for something.
ALE	https://github.com/w0rp/ale	Asynchronous Linting Engine, does what it says on the tin, tries to lint everything as you type. Thing is either I'm not using it right or this thing isn't asynchronous enough because on my work computer this slows things down a fair bit. Still gotta have something in this department because the alternative is annoying as hell so till I find a better one this is it.
vim-autopairs	https://github.com/jiangmiao/auto-pairs	Just a simple little thing to write a closing bracket after I've typed and opening bracket.
vim-repeat	https://github.com/tpope/vim-repeat	Repeat commands from things like surround and unimpaired with the . instead of having to do them again. Should probably look into what other plugins support this if I'm honest because I'm sure there is more from big daddy TPope.
CoC	https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim	Completion engine that will give you helpful completions for all types of things
typescript-vim	https://github.com/leafgarland/typescript-vim	Syntax highlighting and completion for typescript.
vim-jsx-typescript	https://github.com/peitalin/vim-jsx-typescript	Syntax highlighting and completion for JSX inside typescript
nerdtree-git-plugin	https://github.com/Xuyuanp/nerdtree-git-plugin	Shows git status icons next to files in nerd tree
ctrl-p	https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim	Fuzzy finder for files in the current working directory also you can navigate between buffers and recent files. Pretty awesome, just have to remember to use it :P
indentPython	https://github.com/vim-scripts/indentpython.vim	I....I mean, come on. It does proper indenting for python right?
vim-flake8	https://github.com/nvie/vim-flake8	Does syntax checking etc. for python
itchy	https://github.com/idbrii/itchy.vim	A plugin to help easily make scratch buffers
targets	https://github.com/wellle/targets.vim	Awesome extensions to changing thing within brackets and apostrophes or tags etc.
vim-mustache-handlebars	https://github.com/mustache/vim-mustache-handlebars	Just does syntax highlighting for mustache better
vim-rooter	https://github.com/airblade/vim-rooter	Sets the cwd to the path of the open buffer. Helps with making Ack work the way you'd expect etc.
onedark	https://github.com/joshdick/onedark.vim	My preferred colour scheme for vim
neovim-gauge	https://github.com/getgauge-contrib/neovim-gauge	A plugin to help with syntax highlight and writing of Gauge tests
vim-table-mode	https://github.com/dhruvasagar/vim-table-mode	Auto formats ascii tables in files other than javascript, other plugins do ascii table formatting in tests for me but I found when I tried to do the same in gauge files it didn't work, this plugin does it for me
vim-svelte	https://github.com/evanleck/vim-svelte	Syntax highlighting for svelte
vim-obsession	https://github.com/tpope/vim-obsession	Saves my vim sessions so that in conjunction with tmux ressurect I can bring all my vim sessions back on starting up tmux

Custom commands and key remaps in my vimrc

Vim plugins

Command or Key remap	Mode[filetype]	What it does	Why?
<c-u>	Normal,Insert	Toggles the case on the current word
<leader>"	Normal	Put double quotes around the current word
<leader>'	Normal	Put single quotes around the current word
<localleader>c	Normal[javascript]	Comment out this line of code
<localleader>u	Normal[javascript]	Uncomment this line of code
jk	Normal, Visual	Change back to normal mode to save me having to use Esc
in(	Operator	Do something with what's in the next set of parentheses on the line
il(	Operator	Do something with what's in the previous (last) set of parentheses on the line
an(	Operator	Do something with what's in the next set of parentheses on the line, including the parentheses
al(	Operator	Do something with what's in the previous (last) set of parentheses on the line, including the parentheses
<leader>ev	Normal	Edit the vimrc that vim is currently using
<leader>sv	Normal	Source the vimrc again to reload it after making settings changes and the like
<c-j>, <c-k>, <c-h>, <c-l>	Normal	Moves the cursor between active windows in the appropriate direction	Just didn't want to have to hit before each of them, this simplifies things
:CAB	Command	Silently deletes all open buffers	When I begin a new problem I like to have a clean slate so I close all my buffers before beginning a new
<esc>	Normal	Clear highlighting in normal mode to clear that annoying highlighting you get after doing a find
<F6>	Normal,Insert	Runs :set shellslash	Some plugins I use need :set noshellslash to work correctly because I'm on windows however with that set like that when I use ^X^F in insert mode it fills in the wrong slashes for my directories, I needed a quick way to flick between the two
<F7>	Normal,Insert	Runs :set noshellslash	See above
<leader>w, <leader>h	Normal	Sets the tab settings to 4 spaces also turns pretiier on and off	My work requires me to use 4 spaces when I'm coding but I prefer 2 so I needed a quick way to switch between the two when I'm switching between doing my own coding and works.
<leader>cd	Normal	Sets the pwd to the the directory of the currently open buffer	This helps for when you are trying to use ^X^F that's what it was there for before, although now I'm using vim-rooter I wonder if I don't need this anymore....hmmm....I'll have to test this.
<F2>, <leader>nt	Normal	Runs the :NERDTreeToggle command to open NERDTree	Less key presses to open NERDTree
PS	Command	Runs the :PlugStatus command to check the status of plugin in vim-plug	Because less keystrokes
PI	Command	Runs the :PlugInstall command to install plugins with vim-plug	Because less keystrokes
<leader>s	Normal	Start a command that will replace all instances the word under the cursor with whatever you finish the command with i.e press <leader>s then type what you want to replace the word with plus a /g and hit enter to replace globally in the doc
<leader>aj and <leader>ak	Normal	Move to the next or previous ALE error in the document
`rr	Normal	Replace the current line with the line that is currently in the unnamed register
<leader>rs	Normal	Replace the current line with whatever is in the * register
<leader>y <leader>d	Normal, Visual	Yank or delete into the star register in less keystrokes
<leader>p <leader>P	Normal, Visual	Put out of the * register in less keystrokes
<leader>gs	Normal, Visual	Open a scratch buffer
<leader>f	Normal	Just does a :w so I don't have to
<leader>F	Normal	Does a :wa
<leader>l	Normal	Opens location list, good for jumping between errors in a file
<leader>ln	Normal	Jumps to next error in a file
<leader>lp	Normal	Jumps to previous error in a file

Tmux plugins

Command or Key remap	Mode[filetype]	What it does	Why?
tmux-resurrect	https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect	Saves my tmux sessions and restores them next time I load up tmux
tmux-yank	https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-yank	Makes copying and pasting between the terminal and outside sources work the way you think it should
tmux-continuum	https://github.com/tmux-continuum	Makes it so that I don't have to save things in tmux-resurrect it just gets done for me

Custom commands and key remaps in my zshrc

Command or Key remap	Mode[filetype]	What it does	Why?
k	alias	Does kubectl so I don't have to type as much
kb	alias	Does kubens so I don't have to type as much
kc	alias	Does kubectx so I don't have to type as much
kadc	alias	Kill All Docker Containers because sometimes I have latent containers running that conflict and I don't want to have to close them all manually
gs, ga, gc, gp, gd, gr	alias	Shortcuts for git status git add . git commit git push git diff and git reset with cowsay and lolcat goodness for the status
gb	plugin	Does grecent which uses grecent to switch branches for me
kd	function	Runs the tmuxinator koodoo-service project in the current directory or if you supply it with a path to run it in it will do that so you can quickly open up service tmuxinator projects
git yeet	git config function	Resets the current branch back to the HEAD from the server, this is for when you have made commits on your local branch and just want to throw them away and start with whats on the server again. CAREFUL THIS IS WAY PERMENANT DOODZ!
git list-tags	git list-tags	Does what you wish git tag did

Things I've tried and moved away from

I loved HyperJS for all the awesome plugins and stuff and the way you could customise the loog and feel to death. But in the end the quirks that I had to put up with, in particular vim freezing constantly and the lack of true colour support and the incredibly slow pace at which these things were getting fixes was just too much for me. RIP sweet prince.

Problems I'm sure I can solve but haven't yet

General ideas

• Find a plugin that closes for html tags too so I can work with JSX in a less annoying fashion too
• Look into vim-react-snippets looks like it could save some time. For that you need Ultisnips which has a dependency on YouCompleteMe so start with YouCompleteMe

Problems I've managed to overcome

See problems I've managed to overcome archived in v2.0 of my dotfiles