| name | neovim-help |
| description | Look up Neovim (Nvim) help docs from the LOCAL runtime on disk (no network). Use whenever the task involves Nvim APIs, options, Lua stdlib, vim.pack, autocmds, lsp, lspconfig, filetype, plugin development, or any `:help <topic>` reference. Authoritative for the user's installed Nvim version. |
Neovim Help (Local Docs)
Look up Nvim documentation from the local runtime on disk. This matches the
user's installed Nvim version and requires no network.
Runtime location
The help files live under $VIMRUNTIME/doc/:
- Typical path:
/usr/share/nvim/runtime/doc/
- Resolve dynamically (works on any install/Nix/macOS): print
vim.env.VIMRUNTIME via a headless nvim, or fall back to
/usr/share/nvim/runtime.
VRT="$(nvim --headless +'lua io.write(vim.env.VIMRUNTIME)' +qa 2>/dev/null)"
VRT="${VRT:-/usr/share/nvim/runtime}"
echo "$VRT/doc"
Key concept: topics ≠ filenames
A :help foo topic maps to a file via tags, not filenames. The tag
|vim.pack| lives inside runtime/doc/pack.txt, not vim.pack.txt.
Always resolve the topic to its file first, then read the section.
Resolve a topic to a file+line via the tag index:
grep -rl '\*vim\.pack\*' "$VRT/doc" | head
grep -n '\*vim\.pack\*' "$VRT/doc/pack.txt"
Tag convention: topics are wrapped in *asterisks* in the source, e.g.
*vim.pack*, *vim.pack.add()*, *'clipboard'*, *autocmd*. Escape dots.
Common doc files
| Want | File |
|---|
:help vim.pack, plugin mgmt | pack.txt |
Options (vim.opt, 'foo') | options.txt |
Lua stdlib, vim.fn, vim.api | lua.txt, builtin.txt |
vim.api.nvim_* | api.txt |
Autocmds / events (PackChanged) | autocmd.txt |
LSP, vim.lsp, vim.diagnostic | lsp.txt, diagnostic.txt |
| LSP server config | lspconfig.txt (if present) |
Filetypes / vim.filetype | filetype.txt |
| Diagnostics, highlights | diagnostic.txt, syntax.txt |
| News / changelog | news.txt |
| Treesitter | treesitter.txt |
| Standard built-in plugins | pack.txt (*standard-plugin*) |
| Quick UI / floating windows | api.txt, vim.fn in builtin.txt |
Reading a section
sed -n "$((LINE-5)),$((LINE+60))p" "$VRT/doc/pack.txt"
Prefer read with offset/limit over sed when possible.
Interactive fallback (queries the real help system)
Use this to confirm a topic exists or get exact rendered output:
nvim --headless \
+'lua io.write(vim.api.nvim_cmd({cmd="help",args={"vim.pack.add()"}},{output=true}))' \
+qa
If output is empty, the topic may not exist in this Nvim version, verify with:
nvim --headless +'lua print(vim.fn.exists(":help"))' +qa
Cross-references in docs
Follow |foo| links by grepping the tag in the same doc/ dir. Section
headers look like ==...== Title *tag*; grep for the tag to jump.
When NOT to use this skill
- The task is about the user's plugin source code (read the repo instead).
- The user explicitly asks for the latest/master doc, then fetch from
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/neovim/neovim/master/runtime/doc/<file>.txt
and say so, noting it may differ from the installed version.
Gotchas
- The rendered web URL
neovim.io/doc/user/<file>#<tag> 404s for some files;
don't rely on it.
lua-stdlib types are not on the global vim. namespace; see lua.txt.- Help is plain text, strip nothing special, but
|tags| and *tags* are
markup, not literal text.
