A minimalist Vim plugin manager.
Pros.
Easy to set up: Single file. No boilerplate code required.
Easy to use: Concise, intuitive syntax
Super-fast parallel installation/update
(with any of +job, +python, +python3, +ruby, or Neovim)
Creates shallow clones to minimize disk space usage and download time
On-demand loading for faster startup time
Can review and rollback updates
Branch/tag/commit support
Post-update hooks
Support for externally managed plugins
Installation
Download plug.vim
and put it in the "autoload" directory.
Vim
Unix
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
You can automate the process by putting the command in your Vim configuration
file as suggested here.
Windows (PowerShell)
iwr-usebhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim|`
ni$HOME/vimfiles/autoload/plug.vim-Force
Neovim
Unix, Linux
sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'
Linux (Flatpak)
curl -fLo ~/.var/app/io.neovim.nvim/data/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
Windows (PowerShell)
iwr-usebhttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim|`
ni"$(@($env:XDG_DATA_HOME,$env:LOCALAPPDATA)[$null-eq$env:XDG_DATA_HOME])/nvim-data/site/autoload/plug.vim"-Force
Getting Help
See tutorial page to learn the basics of vim-plug
See tips and FAQ pages for common problems and questions
See requirements page for debugging information & tested configurations
Create an issue
Usage
Add a vim-plug section to your ~/.vimrc (or stdpath('config') . '/init.vim' for Neovim)
Begin the section with call plug#begin()
List the plugins with Plug commands
call plug#end() to update &runtimepath and initialize plugin system
Automatically executes filetype plugin indent on and syntax enable.
You can revert the settings after the call. e.g. filetype indent off, syntax off, etc.
Example
" Specify a directory for plugins
" - For Neovim: stdpath('data') . '/plugged'
" - Avoid using standard Vim directory names like 'plugin'
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
" Make sure you use single quotes
" Shorthand notation; fetches https://github.com/junegunn/vim-easy-align
Plug 'junegunn/vim-easy-align'
" Any valid git URL is allowed
Plug 'https://github.com/junegunn/vim-github-dashboard.git'
" Multiple Plug commands can be written in a single line using | separators
Plug 'SirVer/ultisnips' | Plug 'honza/vim-snippets'
" On-demand loading
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }
" Using a non-default branch
Plug 'rdnetto/YCM-Generator', { 'branch': 'stable' }
" Using a tagged release; wildcard allowed (requires git 1.9.2 or above)
Plug 'fatih/vim-go', { 'tag': '*' }
" Plugin options
Plug 'nsf/gocode', { 'tag': 'v.20150303', 'rtp': 'vim' }
" Plugin outside ~/.vim/plugged with post-update hook
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': './install --all' }
" Unmanaged plugin (manually installed and updated)
Plug '~/my-prototype-plugin'
" Initialize plugin system
call plug#end()
Reload .vimrc and :PlugInstall to install plugins.
Commands
Command
Description
PlugInstall [name ...] [#threads]
Install plugins
PlugUpdate [name ...] [#threads]
Install or update plugins
PlugClean[!]
Remove unlisted plugins (bang version will clean without prompt)
PlugUpgrade
Upgrade vim-plug itself
PlugStatus
Check the status of plugins
PlugDiff
Examine changes from the previous update and the pending changes
PlugSnapshot[!] [output path]
Generate script for restoring the current snapshot of the plugins
Plug options
Option
Description
branch/tag/commit
Branch/tag/commit of the repository to use
rtp
Subdirectory that contains Vim plugin
dir
Custom directory for the plugin
as
Use different name for the plugin
do
Post-update hook (string or funcref)
on
On-demand loading: Commands or -mappings
for
On-demand loading: File types
frozen
Do not update unless explicitly specified
Global options
Flag
Default
Description
g:plug_threads
16
Default number of threads to use
g:plug_timeout
60
Time limit of each task in seconds (Ruby & Python)
g:plug_retries
2
Number of retries in case of timeout (Ruby & Python)
g:plug_shallow
1
Use shallow clone
g:plug_window
vertical topleft new
Command to open plug window
g:plug_pwindow
above 12new
Command to open preview window in PlugDiff
g:plug_url_format
https://git::@github.com/%s.git
printf format to build repo URL (Only applies to the subsequent Plug commands)
Keybindings
D - PlugDiff
S - PlugStatus
R - Retry failed update or installation tasks
U - Update plugins in the selected range
q - Close the window
:PlugStatus
L - Load plugin
:PlugDiff
X - Revert the update
Example: A small sensible Vim configuration
call plug#begin()
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'
call plug#end()
On-demand loading of plugins
" NERD tree will be loaded on the first invocation of NERDTreeToggle command
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }
" Multiple commands
Plug 'junegunn/vim-github-dashboard', { 'on': ['GHDashboard', 'GHActivity'] }
" Loaded when clojure file is opened
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }
" Multiple file types
Plug 'kovisoft/paredit', { 'for': ['clojure', 'scheme'] }
" On-demand loading on both conditions
Plug 'junegunn/vader.vim', { 'on': 'Vader', 'for': 'vader' }
" Code to execute when the plugin is lazily loaded on demand
Plug 'junegunn/goyo.vim', { 'for': 'markdown' }
autocmd! User goyo.vim echom 'Goyo is now loaded!'
The for option is generally not needed as most plugins for specific file types
usually don't have too much code in the plugin directory. You might want to
examine the output of vim --startuptime before applying the option.
Post-update hooks
There are some plugins that require extra steps after installation or update.
In that case, use the do option to describe the task to be performed.
Plug 'Shougo/vimproc.vim', { 'do': 'make' }
Plug 'ycm-core/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': './install.py' }
If the value starts with :, it will be recognized as a Vim command.
Plug 'fatih/vim-go', { 'do': ':GoInstallBinaries' }
If you need more control, you can pass a reference to a Vim function that
takes a single argument.
function! BuildYCM(info)
" info is a dictionary with 3 fields
" - name: name of the plugin
" - status: 'installed', 'updated', or 'unchanged'
" - force: set on PlugInstall! or PlugUpdate!
if a:info.status == 'installed' || a:info.force
!./install.py
endif
endfunction
Plug 'ycm-core/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': function('BuildYCM') }
Both forms of post-update hook are executed inside the directory of the plugin
and only run when the repository has changed, but you can force it to run
unconditionally with the bang-versions of the commands: PlugInstall! and
PlugUpdate!.
Make sure to escape BARs and double-quotes when you write the do option inline
as they are mistakenly recognized as command separator or the start of the
trailing comment.
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': 'yes \| ./install' }
But you can avoid the escaping if you extract the inline specification using a
variable (or any Vimscript expression) as follows:
let g:fzf_install = 'yes | ./install'
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': g:fzf_install }
PlugInstall! and PlugUpdate!
The installer takes the following steps when installing/updating a plugin:
git clone or git fetch from its origin
Check out branch, tag, or commit and optionally git merge remote branch
If the plugin was updated (or installed for the first time)
Update submodules
Execute post-update hooks
The commands with the ! suffix ensure that all steps are run unconditionally.
Articles
Collaborators
Jan Edmund Lazo - Windows support
Jeremy Pallats - Python installer
License
MIT