nvim-flake (nixCats Neovim)

A flake that builds a configurable Neovim distribution using the nixCats helper library. It exports:

• package overlays and built Neovim packages (per-system)
• devShells
• Home Manager modules (homeModules.default)
• NixOS modules (nixosModules.default)
• overlays, packages, devShells, utils and templates helpers

This flake expects nixpkgs (unstable recommended) and the nixCats utils available in inputs. It also includes an overlay that automatically exposes flake inputs named plugins-<name> as pkgs.neovimPlugins.<name> so you can add extra plugin flakes as inputs.

Quick examples

1. Add the flake as an input in your system flake

# add to your top-level `inputs = { ... }`
nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable";

# this repository as an input
nvim-flake.url = "github:meegan1/nvim-flake"; # or your fork / path

# Optional: follow nixpkgs where needed
nvim-flake.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";

2. After adding the flake as an input, choose one of the following (these are alternatives, not sequential):

Option A — Import the Home Manager module

# In your system/home-manager module imports:
home-manager = {
  users.meegan1 = {
    imports = [
      inputs.nvim-flake.homeModules.default
      # other modules...
    ];

    # enable the nvim module if you want the module to manage Neovim state
    nvim.enable = true;
  };
};

Option B — Use the flake's overlays / packages

• The flake exposes overlays and packages outputs per system. You can add its overlays to your nixpkgs or refer to built packages:

# Example: add overlay to your pkgs (in flake outputs)
inputs = {
  nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixpkgs-unstable";
  nvim-flake.url = "github:meegan1/nvim-flake";
};

outputs = { self, nixpkgs, nvim-flake, ... }:
{
  # add the overlay to your system pkgs via an overlay composition:
  nixosConfigurations.myhost = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
    system = "aarch64-darwin"; # or x86_64-linux, etc.
    modules = [
      # add the overlay (example)
      (import ./configuration.nix {
        overlays = [ nvim-flake.overlays.${system} ];
      })
    ];
  };
}

Option C — Import locally (if using this repo in the filesystem)

• If you prefer to import the helper directly from the repo default.nix:

# from a flake or local file:
myNixCats = import ./default.nix { inherit inputs; };

# then use myNixCats.homeModules.default or myNixCats.overlays, etc.

Supported systems

The flake is configured to build for the common platforms:

• x86_64-linux
• aarch64-linux
• x86_64-darwin
• aarch64-darwin

Custom plugins and extra inputs

The flake contains an overlay that will auto-detect plugin flakes provided as inputs whose name matches plugins-. Example in this repo's flake.nix:

inputs.plugins-mcphub-nvim = {
  url = "github:ravitemer/mcphub.nvim";
  flake = false; # if the plugin repo is not a flake
};

Those plugin inputs become available under pkgs.neovimPlugins via the overlay, and the default package definition already toggles many optional plugin categories. To enable them, either:

• add and expose the overlay and include the plugin in your configuration, or
• import inputs.nvim-flake.homeModules.default into Home Manager and enable options there.

Primary outputs

You can expect these outputs from the flake:

• overlays — an overlay that exposes built neovim packages and plugins
• homeModules.default — Home Manager module for managing Neovim configuration
• nixosModules.default — NixOS module variant
• packages — per-system Neovim packages (package set)
• devShells.default — a development shell with the Neovim package
• utils / templates — helper utilities provided by nixCats

Notes & recommendations

• The flake is intended to be used with a nixpkgs unstable input (some plugin wrappers rely on it).
• If adding plugin flakes, follow the naming convention plugins-<name> to have them picked up automatically by the overlay.
• The default package name is nvim (see default.nix) and the flake builds per-system outputs.