Files
neovim/INSTALL.md
Michael Henry 5f8d4a248a feat(provider): detect venv python via "pynvim-python" tool #35273
Problem:
Detection of the pynvim module is currently done by finding the first
Python interpreter in the `PATH` and checking if it can import pynvim.
This has several problems:
- Activation of an unrelated Python virtual environment will break
  automatic detection, unless pynvim is also installed in that
  environment.
- Installing pynvim to the expected location is difficult. User
  installation into the system-wide or user-wide Python site area is now
  deprecated.  On Ubuntu 24.04 with Python 3.12, for example, the
  command `pip install --user pynvim` now fails with the error message
  `error: externally-managed-environment`.
- Users may create a dedicated virtual environment in which to install
  pynvim, but Nvim won't detect it; instead, they must either activate
  it before launching Nvim (which interferes with the user of other
  virtual environments) or else hard-code the variable
  `g:python3_host_prog` in their `init.vim` to the path of the correct
  Python interpreter.  Neither option is desirable.

Solution:
Expose pynvim's Python interpreter on the `PATH` under the
name `pynvim-python`.  Typical user-flow:

1. User installs either uv or pipx.
2. User installs pynvim via:
   ```
   uv tool install --upgrade pynvim
   # Or:
   pipx install --upgrade pynvim
   ```

With corresponding changes in pynvim https://github.com/neovim/pynvim/issues/593
the above user-flow is all that's needed for Nvim to detect the
installed location of pynvim, even if an unrelated Python virtual
environments is activated.  It uses standard Python tooling to automate
the necessary creation of a Python virtual environment for pyenv and the
publication of `pynvim-python` to a directory on `PATH`.
2025-08-16 14:48:08 -07:00

14 KiB

You can install Neovim from download, package, or source in just a few seconds.



Install from download

Downloads are available on the Releases page.

Install from package

Packages are listed below. (You can also build Neovim from source.)

Windows

Windows 8+ is required. Windows 7 or older is not supported.

Winget

  • Release: winget install Neovim.Neovim

Chocolatey

  • Latest Release: choco install neovim (use -y for automatically skipping confirmation messages)
  • Development (pre-release): choco install neovim --pre

Scoop

scoop bucket add main
scoop install neovim
  • Release: scoop install neovim

Several Neovim GUIs are available from scoop (extras): scoop.sh/#/apps?q=neovim

Pre-built archives

  1. If you are missing VCRUNTIME140.dll, install the Visual Studio 2015 C++ redistributable (choose x86_64 or x86 depending on your system).
  2. Choose a package (nvim-winXX.zip) from the releases page.
  3. Unzip the package. Any location is fine, administrator privileges are not required.
    • $VIMRUNTIME will be set to that location automatically.
  4. Run nvim.exe from a terminal.

Optional steps:

  • Add the bin folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\nvim\bin) to your PATH.
    • This makes it easy to run nvim from anywhere.
  • If :set spell does not work, create the %LOCALAPPDATA%/nvim-data/site/spell folder. You can then copy your spell files over (for English, located here and here);
  • For Python plugins you need the pynvim module. Installation via uv (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) is recommended; the --upgrade switch ensures installation of the latest version:
    uv tool install --upgrade pynvim
    
    • Run :checkhealth and read :help provider-python for more details.
  • init.vim ("vimrc"): If you already have Vim installed you can copy %userprofile%\_vimrc to %userprofile%\AppData\Local\nvim\init.vim to use your Vim config with Neovim.

macOS / OS X

Pre-built archives

The Releases page provides pre-built binaries for macOS 10.15+.

For x86_64:

curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/download/nightly/nvim-macos-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzf nvim-macos-x86_64.tar.gz
./nvim-macos-x86_64/bin/nvim

For arm64:

curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/download/nightly/nvim-macos-arm64.tar.gz
tar xzf nvim-macos-arm64.tar.gz
./nvim-macos-arm64/bin/nvim

Homebrew on macOS or Linux

brew install neovim

MacPorts

sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install neovim

Linux

Pre-built archives

The Releases page provides pre-built binaries for Linux systems.

curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/latest/download/nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /opt/nvim
sudo tar -C /opt -xzf nvim-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Then add this to your shell config (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, ...):

export PATH="$PATH:/opt/nvim-linux-x86_64/bin"

AppImage ("universal" Linux package)

The Releases page provides an AppImage that runs on most Linux systems. No installation is needed, just download nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage and run it. (It might not work if your Linux distribution is more than 4 years old.) The following instructions assume an x86_64 architecture; on ARM Linux replace with arm64.

curl -LO https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/latest/download/nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage
chmod u+x nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage
./nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage

To expose nvim globally:

mkdir -p /opt/nvim
mv nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage /opt/nvim/nvim

And the following line to your shell config (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, ...):

export PATH="$PATH:/opt/nvim/"

If the ./nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage command fails, try:

./nvim-linux-x86_64.appimage --appimage-extract
./squashfs-root/AppRun --version

# Optional: exposing nvim globally.
sudo mv squashfs-root /
sudo ln -s /squashfs-root/AppRun /usr/bin/nvim
nvim

Arch Linux

Neovim can be installed from the community repository:

sudo pacman -S neovim

Alternatively, Neovim can be also installed using the PKGBUILD neovim-git, available on the AUR.

Alternatively, Neovim Nightly builds can be also installed using the PKGBUILD neovim-nightly-bin, available on the AUR.

The Python module is available from the community repository:

sudo pacman -S python-pynvim

Ruby modules (currently only supported in neovim-git) are available from the AUR as ruby-neovim.

CentOS 8 / RHEL 8

Neovim is available through EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux)

yum install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
yum install -y neovim python3-neovim

Clear Linux OS

Neovim is available through the neovim bundle

sudo swupd bundle-add neovim

Python (:python) support is available if the python-basic bundle is installed.

sudo swupd bundle-add python-basic

Debian

Neovim is in Debian.

sudo apt-get install neovim

Python (:python) support is installable via the package manager on Debian unstable.

sudo apt-get install python3-neovim

Exherbo Linux

Exhereses for scm and released versions are currently available in repository ::medvid. Python client (with GTK+ GUI included) and Qt5 GUI are also available as suggestions:

cave resolve app-editors/neovim --take dev-python/neovim-python --take app-editors/neovim-qt

Fedora

Neovim is in Fedora starting with Fedora 25:

sudo dnf install -y neovim python3-neovim

You can also get nightly builds of git master from the Copr automated build system:

dnf copr enable agriffis/neovim-nightly
dnf install -y neovim python3-neovim

See the blog post for information on how these are built.

Flatpak

You can find Neovim on Flathub. Providing you have Flatpak set up:

flatpak install flathub io.neovim.nvim
flatpak run io.neovim.nvim

You can add /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin (or ~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/bin if you used --user) to the $PATH and run it with io.neovim.nvim.

Note that Flatpak'ed Neovim will look for init.vim in ~/.var/app/io.neovim.nvim/config/nvim instead of ~/.config/nvim.

Gentoo Linux

An ebuild is available in Gentoo's official portage repository:

emerge -a app-editors/neovim

GNU Guix

Neovim can be installed with:

guix install neovim

GoboLinux

Neovim can be installed with:

sudo -H Compile NeoVim

Nix / NixOS

Neovim can be installed with:

nix-env -iA nixpkgs.neovim

Or alternatively, if you use flakes:

nix profile install nixpkgs#neovim

Mageia 7

urpmi neovim

To install the Python modules:

urpmi python3-pynvim

makedeb Package Repository (MPR)

Neovim is available inside the MPR. You can install it with:

git clone https://mpr.makedeb.org/neovim
cd neovim/
makedeb -si

OpenSUSE

Neovim can be installed with:

sudo zypper in neovim

To install the Python modules:

sudo zypper in python-neovim python3-neovim

PLD Linux

Neovim is in PLD Linux:

poldek -u neovim
poldek -u python-neovim python3-neovim
poldek -u python-neovim-gui python3-neovim-gui

Slackware

See neovim on SlackBuilds.

Source Mage

Neovim can be installed using the Sorcery package manager:

cast neovim

Solus

Neovim can be installed using the default package manager in Solus (eopkg):

sudo eopkg install neovim

Snap

Neovim nightly and stable are available on the snap store.

Stable Builds

sudo snap install nvim --classic

Nightly Builds

sudo snap install --edge nvim --classic

Ubuntu

As in Debian, Neovim is in Ubuntu.

sudo apt install neovim

Python (:python) support seems to be automatically installed

sudo apt install python3-neovim

Neovim has been added to a "Personal Package Archive" (PPA). This allows you to install it with apt-get. Follow the links to the PPAs to see which versions of Ubuntu are currently available via the PPA. Choose stable or unstable:

Important: The Neovim team does not maintain the PPA packages. For problems or questions about the PPA specifically contact https://launchpad.net/~neovim-ppa.

To be able to use add-apt-repository you may need to install software-properties-common:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

If you're using an older version Ubuntu you must use:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

Run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neovim-ppa/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install neovim

Prerequisites for the Python modules:

sudo apt-get install python-dev python-pip python3-dev python3-pip

If you're using an older version Ubuntu you must use:

sudo apt-get install python-dev python-pip python3-dev
sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools
sudo easy_install3 pip

Void-Linux

Neovim can be installed using the xbps package manager

sudo xbps-install -S neovim

Alpine Linux

Neovim can be installed using the apk package manager

sudo apk add neovim

BSD

FreeBSD

Neovim can be installed using pkg(8):

pkg install neovim

or from the ports tree:

cd /usr/ports/editors/neovim/ && make install clean

To install the pynvim Python modules using pkg(8) run:

pkg install py36-pynvim

OpenBSD

Neovim can be installed using pkg_add(1):

pkg_add neovim

or from the ports tree:

cd /usr/ports/editors/neovim/ && make install

Android

Termux offers a Neovim package.

Install from source

If a package is not provided for your platform, you can build Neovim from source. See BUILD.md for details. If you have the prerequisites then building is easy:

make CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
sudo make install

For Unix-like systems this installs Neovim to /usr/local, while for Windows to C:\Program Files. Note, however, that this can complicate uninstallation. The following example avoids this by isolating an installation under $HOME/neovim:

rm -r build/  # clear the CMake cache
make CMAKE_EXTRA_FLAGS="-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/neovim"
make install
export PATH="$HOME/neovim/bin:$PATH"

Uninstall

There is a CMake target to uninstall after make install:

sudo cmake --build build/ --target uninstall

Alternatively, just delete the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX artifacts:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/nvim
sudo rm -r /usr/local/share/nvim/