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neovim/runtime/doc/dev_arch.txt
2025-08-17 20:45:40 -07:00

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*dev_arch.txt* Nvim
NVIM REFERENCE MANUAL
How to develop Nvim, explanation of modules and subsystems *dev-arch*
The top of each major module has (or should have) an overview in a comment at
the top of its file. The purpose of this document is to give:
1. an overview of how it all fits together
2. how-to guides for common tasks such as:
- deprecating public functions
- adding a new public (API) function
- adding a new public (UI) event
3. TODO: move src/nvim/README.md into this doc.
Type |gO| to see the table of contents.
==============================================================================
Data structures
Use `kvec.h` for most lists. When you absolutely need a linked list, use
`lib/queue_defs.h` which defines an "intrusive" linked list.
==============================================================================
UI events
The source files most directly involved with UI events are:
1. `src/nvim/ui.*`: calls handler functions of registered UI structs (independent from msgpack-rpc)
2. `src/nvim/api/ui.*`: forwards messages over msgpack-rpc to remote UIs.
UI events are defined in `src/nvim/api/ui_events.in.h` , this file is not
compiled directly, rather it parsed by
`src/nvim/generators/gen_api_ui_events.lua` which autogenerates wrapper
functions used by the source files above. It also generates metadata
accessible as `api_info().ui_events`.
See commit d3a8e9217f39c59dd7762bd22a76b8bd03ca85ff for an example of adding
a new UI event.
UI events are deferred to UIs, which implies a deepcopy of the UI event data.
Remember to bump NVIM_API_LEVEL if it wasn't already during this development
cycle.
Other references:
- |msgpack-rpc|
- |ui|
- https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/3246
- https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/18375
- https://github.com/neovim/neovim/pull/21605
==============================================================================
API
*dev-api-fast*
API functions and Vimscript "eval" functions may be marked as |api-fast| which
means they are safe to call in Lua callbacks and other scenarios. A functions
CANNOT be marked as "fast" if could trigger `os_breakcheck()`, which may
"yield" the current execution and start a new execution of code not expecting
this:
- accidentally recursing into a function not expecting this.
- changing (global) state without restoring it before returning to the
"yielded" callsite.
In practice, this means any code that could trigger `os_breakcheck()` cannot
be "fast". For example, commit 3940c435e405 fixed such a bug with
`nvim__get_runtime` by explicitly disallowing `os_breakcheck()` via the
`EW_NOBREAK` flag.
Common examples of non-fast code: regexp matching, wildcard expansion,
expression evaluation.
==============================================================================
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