startup.nvim VS vim-rooter

I'm currently using alpha.nvim (https://github.com/goolord/alpha-nvim). It tries to be more generic than the others, to the point it can recreate most of the other popular ones. It even has template for for example the dashboard layout. startup-nvim (https://github.com/startup-nvim/startup.nvim) seems to do a similar thing, although I dont' have experience with that one. The only other one I've tried before is the classic vim-startify (https://github.com/mhinz/vim-startify), which is a little older I think and locks you into its layout.

https://github.com/startup-nvim/startup.nvim - but i customized it

I'm using alpha.nvim. But I also know this new plugin (https://github.com/startup-nvim/startup.nvim).

You could use startup.nvim (self promotion)

Startup.nvim

This or users may have monorepo style projects and vim-rooter to auto-set cwd to specific directories within the project based on certain file markers (e.g. makefile, package.json, ...etc), to accomplish something like :e dir1/file.go | make would run make and then :e dir2/file2.ts | make would run npm.

maybe you are already doing this and you want to access files outside the project directory but if not I use vim-rooter to set the root dir of the project automatically when I open vim

The airblade/vim-rooter plugin is an essential part of my Neovim workflow. It automatically changes current directory (:h current-directory) for every buffer to a more natural one (like to path of its Git repository). For me this has the following benefits:

It depends where you open vim. If you are in home and open a file (even in sub directories) like nvim directory/file.txt, uour vim's current working directory (aka cwd) will be home. A way to make this automatic I think is the built in autocd (or something like that) and plugins like vim-rooter.

An alternative would be using a plugin like vim-rooter : https://github.com/airblade/vim-rooter

I just use rooter and avoid thinking about it...

There's vim-rooter, which is great.

No, it doesn't change current directory. For that, use sessions or airblade/vim-rooter (or wait around couple of months for planned 'mini.root' :) ). And, of course, you can create custom items which will change current directory.