Plugins

Your complete arsenal of Neovim superpowers

This configuration includes a carefully selected set of plugins that work together to create a cohesive, powerful development environment. Every plugin has been chosen for a specific purpose and configured to integrate seamlessly with the SilkCircuit aesthetic.

Core Framework

The foundation that makes everything else possible:

Plugin	Purpose
AstroNvim	Distribution providing sensible defaults and structure
lazy.nvim	Ultra-fast plugin manager with lazy loading
astrocore	Core options, mappings, and autocommands
astroui	UI configuration and statusline
astrolsp	LSP configuration and server management

Theme & Visual Polish

Make your editor a joy to look at:

Plugin	Purpose
silkcircuit	Custom neon colorscheme matching terminal
nvim-web-devicons	File type icons with custom SilkCircuit colors
rainbow-delimiters	Color-coded bracket pairs for visual clarity
indent-blankline	Visual indent guides (via snacks.nvim)

The rainbow delimiter colors are specifically tuned to the SilkCircuit palette:

• Electric purple, neon cyan, coral pink, electric yellow
• Each nesting level gets a distinct, vibrant color

UI Components

Modern interface elements that stay out of your way:

Plugin	Purpose
snacks.nvim	All-in-one: dashboard, picker, terminal, more
neo-tree.nvim	File explorer with git integration
trouble.nvim	Beautiful diagnostics and symbol navigation
which-key.nvim	Popup showing available keybindings
nvim-notify	Fancy notification system
dressing.nvim	Improved UI for vim.ui.input and vim.ui.select

Snacks.nvim is the star here - it provides:

• Startup dashboard with ASCII art and quick actions
• Fuzzy file picker (replaces Telescope for most tasks)
• Integrated terminal with proper window management
• Smart indent guides and word highlighting
• Notification system with smooth animations

Editing Experience

Make typing feel like magic:

Plugin	Purpose
nvim-cmp	Completion engine with multiple sources
LuaSnip	Snippet engine with custom snippet support
nvim-autopairs	Auto-close brackets, quotes, and tags
Comment.nvim	Toggle comments with gc motions
nvim-treesitter	Syntax highlighting and code understanding
nvim-ts-autotag	Auto-close HTML/JSX tags

Pro tip: Treesitter provides accurate syntax highlighting by actually parsing your code. It's like having a compiler-level understanding of every language.

LSP & Code Intelligence

Transform Neovim into a full IDE:

Plugin	Purpose
mason.nvim	One-stop shop for LSP servers and tools
nvim-lspconfig	LSP client configuration
none-ls.nvim	Bridge for formatters/linters without LSP
lsp_signature.nvim	Function signature hints as you type
lazydev.nvim	Neovim Lua API completion for config files

Mason automatically installs and manages:

• Language servers (ts_ls, lua_ls, rust-analyzer, etc.)
• Formatters (prettier, stylua, biome)
• Linters (eslint)
• Debug adapters

Git Integration

Work with git without leaving Neovim:

Plugin	Purpose
gitsigns.nvim	Git change indicators in sign column
octo.nvim	Manage GitHub issues and PRs from Neovim

Gitsigns shows you:

• Added, changed, and removed lines
• Inline blame information
• Quick git hunk operations (stage, reset, preview)

AI Superpowers

Your intelligent pair programming partners:

Plugin	Purpose
avante.nvim	Claude AI assistant with beautiful UI
claude-code.nvim	Terminal integration for Claude Code CLI

Avante brings Claude directly into your editor with:

• Side panel for AI conversations
• Inline code suggestions
• Diff view for proposed changes
• Context-aware assistance based on your selection

Claude Code integration provides:

• Full terminal window at 40% screen height
• Auto-refresh on file changes
• Git root detection for project context

Navigation & Window Management

Move around your code effortlessly:

Plugin	Purpose
telescope.nvim	Fuzzy finder for files, grep, and more
smart-splits.nvim	Seamless window navigation
nvim-window-picker	Visual window selection for split operations
toggleterm.nvim	Manage multiple terminal windows

Note: Snacks picker is used for most fuzzy finding, but Telescope is available for advanced use cases.

Debugging

Full Debug Adapter Protocol support:

Plugin	Purpose
nvim-dap	Debug Adapter Protocol client
nvim-dap-ui	Beautiful debugging UI
mason-nvim-dap	Auto-install debug adapters

Set breakpoints, step through code, inspect variables - all from Neovim.

Language Packs

Pre-configured language support from AstroCommunity:

Pack	Provides
pack.lua	Lua development (lua_ls, lazydev)
pack.rust	Rust tools (rustaceanvim, crates.io)
pack.typescript	TypeScript/JavaScript (vtsls, tsc.nvim)
pack.tailwindcss	Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
pack.html-css	HTML/CSS language servers
pack.json	JSON with schema validation
pack.yaml	YAML support with schema validation
pack.markdown	Enhanced markdown editing

Each pack includes:

• Language server configuration
• Treesitter parser
• Common tools and utilities
• Sensible defaults

Treesitter Parsers

Syntax parsing for 25+ languages:

Core: lua, vim, vimdoc, query, regex
Web: html, css, javascript, typescript, tsx, vue
Data: json, yaml, toml, xml
Systems: c, cpp, rust, go, python, java
Shell: bash, fish, zsh
DevOps: dockerfile, terraform
Markup: markdown, markdown_inline
Git: git_config, git_rebase, gitcommit, gitignore

Treesitter provides:

• Accurate syntax highlighting
• Smart indentation
• Code folding
• Incremental selection

Additional Plugins

Extra tools that enhance the experience:

Plugin	Purpose
presence.nvim	Discord Rich Presence
lsp_signature	Function signatures while typing

Managing Plugins

Adding New Plugins

Create a file in nvim/lua/plugins/:

-- nvim/lua/plugins/my-awesome-plugin.lua
return {
  "author/plugin-name",
  -- Lazy load on event
  event = "VeryLazy",

  -- Or load on specific file types
  ft = { "python", "javascript" },

  -- Or load on command
  cmd = { "MyCommand" },

  -- Or load on keypress
  keys = {
    { "<leader>mp", "<cmd>MyPlugin<cr>", desc = "My Plugin" },
  },

  -- Plugin configuration
  opts = {
    setting = "value",
  },

  -- Or use config function for more control
  config = function()
    require("my-plugin").setup({
      -- settings here
    })
  end,

  -- Dependencies
  dependencies = {
    "required/plugin",
  },
}

Updating Plugins

:Lazy update    " Update all plugins
:Lazy sync      " Update and clean plugins

Or use the dashboard shortcut when you first open Neovim.

Disabling Plugins

To temporarily disable a plugin, add enabled = false:

return {
  "author/plugin-name",
  enabled = false,
}

Plugin Performance

Check startup time and plugin loading:

:Lazy profile   " View plugin load times

Use the profiler from snacks.nvim:

:lua Snacks.profiler.start()  " Start profiling
" ... do some actions ...
:lua Snacks.profiler.stop()   " Stop and view results

Plugin Philosophy

This configuration follows these principles:

1. Lazy loading everywhere - Plugins load only when needed
2. One tool, one job - Avoid plugin overlap
3. Sensible defaults - Minimal configuration required
4. Visual consistency - Everything matches SilkCircuit theme
5. Performance first - Fast startup and responsive editing

Every plugin has earned its place by either:

• Solving a specific problem exceptionally well
• Enhancing the core editing experience
• Integrating seamlessly with other tools
• Looking absolutely beautiful while doing it

The result is a cohesive system where everything works together naturally.