mason.nvim VS LunarVim

I recently started coding with Neovim using kickstart.nvim as the template for my editor configuration. I downloaded the python-lsp-server package using Mason, but I was disappointed to discover that the IntelliSense on my third party dependencies didn't work. The LSP was resolving to my global Python installation, which did not have the packages from my virtual environment (venv) installed.

https://github.com/hrsh7th/nvim-cmp This is an autocompletion engine https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter This allows NeoVim to install parsing scripts so NeoVim can do things like code highlighting. https://github.com/williamboman/mason.nvim Not strictly necessary, but allows you to access a repo of LSP, install them, and configure them for without you actively messing about in config files. https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig Also not strictly necessary, but vastly simplifies LSP setup. https://github.com/williamboman/mason-lspconfig.nvim This lets the above two plugins talk to each other more easily.

I'm using mason.nvim to install my dependencies, I've this snippet at nvim/plugin/mason.lua so after cloning my dotfiles I can just run:

The suggestion from this thread fixed it for me. I just needed to unset GOOS and GOARCH then restart neovim.

For instance, I'm trying to install rust-analyzer in lazyvim from https://github.com/williamboman/mason.nvim. The installation instructions are:

I have pyright installed via mason which apparently support "semantic token highlighting" but have been having a hard time getting these colors to show up in a buffer. It seems Neovim has changed how it handles semantic highlighting a few times so there's still some conflicting information online. It's hard to know what's current and what's not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Use mason to install the language servers you want.

Because null-ls.nvim & mason.nvim together do everything I wanted CoC for

LunarVim

I would suggest to start getting into vim by first trying out popular vim keybinding plugins available on your favorite code editor and get used to those first. Then, if you want to dive deeper into the power of Neovim, try out popular configs like LazyVim, LunarVim, NvChad... Taking Neovim from a mere text editor to a full-featured IDE with features like intellisense, debugging, testing, etc... on your own takes quite a lot of work and configuration.

I used Helix for a while due to its support for LSP out-of-the-box, which my Vim config at the time couldn't live up to. I switched back to NeoVim after finding LunarVim[1] which had everything I was trying to get setup in my own config.

[1] https://www.lunarvim.org/

I'll admit I didn't look into it, but Helix sounds like something like LunarVim (https://www.lunarvim.org/)

Personally I much prefer that the editor NOT ship with something like that by default, especially when it's so easy to set up. I have several different vim config I use, including a pretty bare-bones one for headless systems, and I much prefer the ability to customize something very specifically.

Build tools that can compose together, rather than a single do-it-all tool. That is the power of the low level editors vs IDE's.

I can't comment on any implementation details, but at least with LunarVim (which I use for daily coding), a slowdown when interacting with LSP is very noticeable. Some others have attested to this on a GitHub issue.

I'm not doubting your experiences with the lack of a slowdown, but there is truth that others do experience it. That might be more of a problem with LunarVim itself rather than Vim, but how likely am I (as someone who would like to avoid what he calls "config hell") or other newcomers to avoid whatever pitfalls there are, if a distribution designed for ease of use by people who know better fall into them?

https://github.com/LunarVim/LunarVim/discussions/3359

Anyways, although i have not used them, LazyVim and LunarVim comes highly recommended. You can try these and see what suits you .