why-i-rewrote-my-nvim-config.mdx
blog/
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date:
read: 1 min
tags:#neovim#lua#tooling
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# Why I Rewrote My Nvim Config

A 2,000-line init.lua I could no longer explain, and what replaced it.

My init.lua had grown to just over two thousand lines. I could not have told you what half of it did. Every plugin I had ever been curious about was still in there, disabled by a commented-out line I was afraid to delete.

##The rule I gave myself

One rule: every line has to earn its place. If I could not explain what a setting did and why I wanted it, it did not survive the rewrite.

That killed about sixty percent of the config immediately.

##Structure

The old config was one file. The new one is a directory where each module owns exactly one concern:

-- lua/config/lazy.lua
require("lazy").setup({
  spec = { { import = "plugins" } },
  defaults = { lazy = true },
  install = { colorscheme = { "catppuccin" } },
  checker = { enabled = false },
})

Each plugin gets its own file under lua/plugins/, returning a spec table. Adding a plugin is creating a file. Removing one is deleting a file. There is no central list to keep in sync, which is where the old config rotted.

##What I actually kept

  • telescope.nvim — the only fuzzy finder I have never wanted to replace.
  • nvim-treesitter — worth it for textobjects alone.
  • neo-tree.nvim — I use it perhaps once a day, and that once matters.
  • lualine.nvim — mostly for the mode indicator.
  • catppuccin — mocha at night, latte when the sun is out.

##What I dropped

Every completion plugin except one. Every "productivity" plugin I had installed after reading a blog post and never opened again. Three separate git integrations.

The result is around four hundred lines, and I can explain all of them. Startup went from 180ms to 41ms, which was not the point, but I will take it.

The best config is the one you can delete from confidently.