Tutorials

Guided introduction to working with overseer.nvim

If you're simply looking for the easiest way to define custom tasks, overseer supports most of VS Code's tasks.json format. There are tons of resources online for that, just search!

Build a C++ file
Run a file on save

Build a C++ file

In this tutorial, you will create a custom task that builds a C++ file.

First, change your call to setup() to include the following option:

require("overseer").setup({
  templates = { "builtin", "user.cpp_build" },
})

Next, create the file lua/overseer/template/user/cpp_build.lua inside your neovim config directory (:echo stdpath('config')). Add the following content:

-- /home/stevearc/.config/nvim/lua/overseer/template/user/cpp_build.lua
return {
  name = "g++ build",
  builder = function()
    -- Full path to current file (see :help expand())
    local file = vim.fn.expand("%:p")
    return {
      cmd = { "g++" },
      args = { file },
      components = { { "on_output_quickfix", open = true }, "default" },
    }
  end,
  condition = {
    filetype = { "cpp" },
  },
}

Now when you are editing a cpp file, you can run :OverseerRun and select "g++ build". This will build your file and, if there are errors, display the output in quickfix.

Run a file on save

In this tutorial, you will create a task that re-runs a script every time it's saved, and view the output in a split. If there are errors, they will be displayed inline.

First, change your call to setup() to include the following option:

require("overseer").setup({
  templates = { "builtin", "user.run_script" },
})

Next, create the file lua/overseer/template/user/run_script.lua inside your neovim config directory (:echo stdpath('config')). Add the following content:

-- /home/stevearc/.config/nvim/lua/overseer/template/user/run_script.lua
return {
  name = "run script",
  builder = function()
    local file = vim.fn.expand("%:p")
    local cmd = { file }
    if vim.bo.filetype == "go" then
      cmd = { "go", "run", file }
    end
    return {
      cmd = cmd,
      components = {
        { "on_output_quickfix", set_diagnostics = true },
        "on_result_diagnostics",
        "default",
      },
    }
  end,
  condition = {
    filetype = { "sh", "python", "go" },
  },
}

Now open up a shell script or go file and run :OverseerRun. Select "run script".

If you want a test file to use, try the following go script:

// test.go
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
	fmt.Println("Hello world")
}

or a bash file:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "Hello world"

The next step is to display the output in a vertical split. For that, we are going to use actions. Run :OverseerQuickAction and select "open vsplit". This will open the output in a vertical split next to your file.

Try changing your script to have an error, then restart the task. The output should be updated, and you should see inline diagnostics for the error (see :help vim.diagnostic).

Lastly, we would like to restart this task every time we save the file. Once more use :OverseerQuickAction and this time select "watch". It will prompt you for a path to watch, you should enter the path to the file. Now every time you :w the file it should re-run and update the output!

Finally, you can create a custom command to do all of these steps at once:

vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("WatchRun", function()
  local overseer = require("overseer")
  overseer.run_template({ name = "run script" }, function(task)
    if task then
      task:add_component({ "restart_on_save", paths = {vim.fn.expand("%:p")} })
      local main_win = vim.api.nvim_get_current_win()
      overseer.run_action(task, "open vsplit")
      vim.api.nvim_set_current_win(main_win)
    else
      vim.notify("WatchRun not supported for filetype " .. vim.bo.filetype, vim.log.levels.ERROR)
    end
  end)
end, {})

Now you can do :WatchRun on any supported file and it will run the file, open the output in a split, and re-run on save.

Final note: to stop watching the file use the "dispose" action from :OverseerQuickAction.

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