Neovim Code Runner

Run code within Neovim, with and without plugins.

Neovim Code Runner

In this article, let’s explore the different ways to run our code, with and without plugins.

We are going to

• Use the built-in compiler and ftplugin features to have a consistent way to build or run our code for different programming languages.
• Configure Lua-based code runner plugins to run our code.
• Explore plugins to run our code interactively and partially.
• Use terminal-integration plugins to run our code.
• Explore language-specific and test plugins.

Compiler and File Type Plugins

In this article, we walked through how to run, debug and monitor a Python application using different key mappings.

E.g. to run a Python application, we use the following mapping.

nnoremap <leader>rr  ":update<CR>:exec '!python3' shellescape(@%, 1)<CR>

For debugging, we use the built-in terminal and pdb.

nnoremap <leader>rd :update<CR>:sp term://python3 -m pdb %<CR>

To monitor the application, we can use nodemon.

nnoremap <leader>rn :update<CR>:sp term://nodemon -e py %<CR>

However, to have a consistent way to build and run applications in different languages, we can also use the built-in compiler and ftplugin (file type) plugins.

Navigate to $VIMRUNTIME folder and we can see the compiler and ftplugin folders. E.g. below is the compiler plugin for Java.

Vim Runtime

Compiler

We are going to write a simple compiler plugin (:h write-compiler-plugin) to run Python files.