Matugen + Neovim

Note

This theme is primarily a proof-of-concept with sample colors chosen. While it is usable and somewhat complete, the colors themselves may not necessarily look the best, so it's important you style them accordingly if you are unsatisfied with the result. Additionally, this setup only styles basic Neovim colors + Lualine. Other plugins that manage their own highlight groups are not covered by this guide (e.g. Neogit)

The `base16-colorscheme` Plugin

As with any program broad and free as Neovim, there are infinite ways to go about styling it. However, the easiest approach is to utilize the base16-colorscheme plugin. This plugin allows you to pass in an arbitrary list of 16 color values, and it will automatically propagate them to all highlight groups in a reasonable fashion.

-- THIS IS NOT THE ENTIRE TEMPLATE FILE
-- To see why, continue reading below...
require('base16-colorscheme').setup({
  base00 = "{{colors.background.default.hex}}",
  base01 = "{{colors.surface_container_lowest.default.hex}}",
  base02 = "{{colors.surface_container_low.default.hex}}",
  base03 = "{{colors.outline_variant.default.hex}}",
  base04 = "{{colors.on_surface_variant.default.hex}}",
  base05 = "{{colors.on_surface.default.hex}}",
  base06 = "{{colors.inverse_on_surface.default.hex}}",
  base07 = "{{colors.surface_bright.default.hex}}",
  base08 = "{{colors.tertiary.default.hex | lighten: -5}}",
  base09 = "{{colors.tertiary.default.hex}}",
  base0A = "{{colors.secondary.default.hex}}",
  base0B = "{{colors.primary.default.hex}}",
  base0C = "{{colors.tertiary_container.default.hex}}",
  base0D = "{{colors.primary_container.default.hex}}",
  base0E = "{{colors.secondary_container.default.hex}}",
  base0F = "{{colors.secondary.default.hex | lighten: -10}}",
})

While this .setup() call takes care of mostly everything, some additional calls to nvim_set_hl may be needed to tweak colors to your liking:

-- Make selected text stand out more
vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'Visual', {
  bg = '{{colors.primary_container.default.hex}}',
  fg = '{{colors.background.default.hex}}',
})

Lualine (and plugins that manage their own colors)

Because Lualine has its own specific named highlight groups, the base16-colorscheme plugin cannot style it within its setup function. Thankfully, Lualine is flexible enough to offer the following configuration option, which aids the process a little:

require('lualine').setup({
  options = {
    theme = "base16",
  }
})

Setting this option tells Lualine to base its highlight group colors off of some internal 16 base values (which base16-colorscheme sets). While this helps, it unfortunately does not give us full hot-reloading out of the box. In addition to this, Lualine must be re-sourced upon every matugen update in order to refresh its colors.

If you are using an unmodified (or simple) Lualine configuration, all you need to do add a require('lualine').setup({}) to the end of matugen's template.lua, which will re-setup Lualine as the output file gets sourced. However, if your Lualine setup is a bit complex, it can be sub-optimal to copy its entire setup function into the matugen template file.

One solution to this is to refactor your Lualine setup into its own file, and then just call dofile() on said file from both your init.lua and matugen template. (This is not necessary, but helps tidy your configuration up)

Init Hook

It's a good idea to attempt to source matugen's generated file upon Neovim's startup, falling back to a default colorscheme when the matugen file is unavailable. The following code snippet can be added in your init.lua or adjacent to safely perform this source:

local function source_matugen()
  -- Update this with the location of your output file
  local matugen_path = os.getenv("HOME") .. "/.config/nvim/generated.lua"  -- dofile doesn't expand $HOME or ~

  local file, err = io.open(matugen_path, "r")
  -- If the matugen file does not exist (yet or at all), we must initialize a color scheme ourselves
  if err ~= nil then
    -- Some placeholder theme, this will be overwritten once matugen kicks in
    vim.cmd('colorscheme base16-catppuccin-mocha')

    -- Optionally print something to the user
    vim.print("A matugen style file was not found, but that's okay! The colorscheme will dynamically change if matugen runs!")
  else
    dofile(matugen_path)
    io.close(file)
  end
end

Updating Neovim with New Colors

Neovim does not support hot-reloading directly, so we must register an autocmd to listen process signals and execute Lua code as a result. This is fairly simply, as shown below:

[!NOTE] The below autocmd is only tested for Linux. Separate workarounds may be required for other systems.

-- Register an autocmd to listen for matugen updates
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("Signal", {
  pattern = "SIGUSR1",
  callback = auxiliary_function,
})


-- Main entrypoint on matugen reloads
local function auxiliary_function()
  -- Load the matugen style file to get all the new colors
  source_matugen()

  -- Because reloading base16 overwrites lualine configuration, just source lualine here
  dofile(os.getenv("HOME") .. '/.config/nvim/config/plugins/lualine-nvim.lua') -- path of your lualine setup

  -- Any other options you wish to set upon matugen reloads can also go here!
  vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "Comment", { italic = true })
end

Matugen Config

Create an entry in matugen's config.toml as shown below:

[templates.neovim]
input_path = './template.lua'
output_path = '~/.config/nvim/generated.lua'
post_hook = 'pkill -SIGUSR1 nvim'

With any luck, your Neovim should now be stylized to match your wallpaper!

5.7 KiB Raw Blame History