Devdocs

Browse API documentation fromdevdocs.ioinside Vim.

Navigate Links• Fuzzy Find API• Search & Copy• TUI

Usage• Requirements• Installation• Configuration

Usage

Install New Documentation

The:DevdocsInstallcommand opens a popup window for downloading new documentation trees. Please allow a few seconds for the gathering of all slugs (document tree metadata) fromdevdocs.io.

Navigate through the choices using<Tab>and<S-Tab>,or simply type in the window for fuzzy searching. Depending on the documentation size, the downloading process may take up to a minute.

Installation directory can be changed, as explained below.

Uninstall Documentation

To remove documentation trees, use the:DevdocsUninstallcommand.

Fuzzy Search Documentation Trees

Use the:DevdocsFindcommand, or map it to your preferred shortcut, for a fuzzy search of API keywords. Use<Tab>and<S-Tab>for navigation.

The documentation file opens in a new split window, similar to Vim's help files. You can configure the height of this window. Typeqto quit the window.

Navigate Links

Links are underlined. Place the cursor on a link and type<C-]>(Control-]) orKto follow the link.<C-t>to go back. These mappings mirror Vim tags. Link targets are echoed on the command line when the cursor is on the link.

Interact

Search and copy using familiar Vim commands. There are no markup artifacts that require cleanup.

TUI

Use the provided shell scriptdevdocsto view documents in full window. Vim is used as a sort of pager.

Thedevdocs2script is similar except it does not source~/.vimrc.Instead, customization is done through~/.devdocs.vimfile. You can treat this as a standalone app and configure it independent of normal Vim configuration.

To use custom installation of Vim, set the$VIMCMDenvironment variable to the path of Vim executable.

Requirements

• Vim version 9.1 or higher
• pandocversion 3.1 or higher

Installation

Installpandoc.

Install this plugin viavim-plug.

Show instructions

Using vim9 script:

vim9script
plug#begin()
Plug'girishji/devdocs.vim'
plug#end()

Using legacy script:

callplug#begin()
Plug'girishji/devdocs.vim'
callplug#end()

Install using Vim's built-in package manager.

Show instructions

$ mkdir -p$HOME/.vim/pack/downloads/opt
$cd$HOME/.vim/pack/downloads/opt
$ git clone https://github /girishji/devdocs.vim.git

Add the following line to your $HOME/.vimrc file.

packadddevdocs.vim

Note: If you are going to usedevdocs2script only, you can clone this repository anywhere. The script does not use Vim's plugin system.

Configuration

Map keys as shown for quick navigation.

ifexists('g:loaded_devdocs')
nnoremap<your_key>:DevdocsFind<CR>
nnoremap<your_key>:DevdocsInstall<CR>
nnoremap<your_key>:DevdocsUninstall<CR>
endif

Options

There are a couple of options you can set. Here are the defaults:

letg:DevdocsOptions={
data_dir:'~/.local/share/devdocs',# installationdirectoryfordocument trees
pandoc:'pandoc',# pandocexecutablepath
height:20,# height ofsplitwindowinnumberoflines
open_mode:'split',#'split'(horizontal),'vert'(vertical),and'tab'fortabedit
slugs:[], #listof slugstosearch(whenemptysearch'all',see below)
format: {
extended_ascii: true, # create tables using box characters instead of plainascii
divide_section: true, #sectionsare marked byahorizontallineif`true`
use_terminal_width: true, #makethe documentaswideastheterminal,otherwise80chars wide
indent_section: false, #sectionsare progressively indentedif`true`, otherwise fixed indentation
fence_codeblock: false # turnoffVim'ssyntaxhighlighting of code block (use `DevdocCodeblock` group instead)
}
}

Options are set usingg:DevdocsOptionsSet().

For example, use the following configuration to generate documents with a fixed 80-character width (instead of full terminal width) and to set split window height to 30 lines.

vim9script
callg:DevdocsOptionsSet({format: {use_terminal_width: false}, height:30})

If you installed documentation for multiple languages, you can set theslugs list to limit the fuzzy search to specific documentation trees. Furthermore, you can use thefiletypeevent to set a list of slugs based on the filetype you are working on.

vim9script
autocmdFileTypePythoncallg:DevdocsOptionsSet({slugs:['Python ~3.12','Python ~3.11']})

Syntax Highlighting

The following syntax groups control the look and feel of the document. They are linked by default to Vim groups as follows:

Group	Default
DevdocCodeblock	Special
DevdocBlockquote	None
DevdocLink	Underlined
DevdocCode	String
DevdocUnderline	Underlined
DevdocSection	Comment
DevdocDefn	PreProc
DevdocH1	PreProc
DevdocH2	PreProc
DevdocH3	PreProc
DevdocH4	PreProc
DevdocH5	PreProc
DevdocH6	PreProc

Popup Window

The appearance of the popup window can be configured usingborderchars, borderhighlight,highlight,scrollbarhighlight,thumbhighlight,and other:h popup_create-arguments.To configure these settings, use popup.OptionsSet().

For instance, to set the border of the popup window to theCommenthighlight group:

importautoload'devdocs/popup.vim'dp
dp.OptionsSet({borderhighlight: ['Comment']})

or,

devdocs#popup#OptionsSet(#{borderhighlight: ['Comment']})

TheDevdocMenuMatchhighlight group modifies the appearance of characters searched so far. By default, it is linked to theSpecialgroup.

Other Plugins to Enhance Your Workflow

1. Vimcomplete- enhances autocompletion in Vim.

2. Scope.vim- fuzzy find anything.

3. VimBits- curated suite of lightweight Vim plugins.

4. VimSuggest- autocompletion for Vim's command-line.