vim9-packman

A minimal, fast Vim9script package manager with parallel git operations.

Aim

The aim of vim9-packman is to provide the possibility to have a minimal vimrc and automatically deploy your entire Vim working environment on the first start. Just define your plugin list, add the bootstrap snippet, and vim9-packman will:

• Install all missing plugins synchronously on first run
• Load all plugins before your vimrc continues executing
• Allow plugin-specific configuration immediately after packman#PackmanInit()
• Work identically across machines with the same vimrc

Features

• Parallel plugin install/update via Vim's job_start() API
• Synchronous init function (PackmanInit) to block vimrc until plugins are installed and loaded
• Vim-script lockfile for reproducible plugin installs
• Plugin status overview (installed/outdated/missing)

Installation

Step 1: Remove old plugin code from ~/.vimrc

Step 2: Add bootstrap snippet

Add this bootstrap snippet to the very top of your ~/.vimrc (before any other configuration):

vim9script

# Plugin list (supports "user/repo" format)
g:packman_plugins = [
  'greeschenko/vim9-packman',  # Self-update support
  'greeschenko/cyberpunk99.vim',
  'yegappan/lsp',
  #...
]

# vim9-packman auto initialization
const P = expand('~/.vim/pack/plugins/opt/vim9-packman')
if !isdirectory(P) && executable('git')
  mkdir(P, 'p')
  system('git clone --depth 1 ' .. shellescape('https://github.com/greeschenko/vim9-packman.git') .. ' ' .. shellescape(P))
endif

execute 'packadd vim9-packman'
packman#PackmanInit()

Note: All other options (g:packman_plugin_dir, g:packman_lockfile, etc.) are optional and have sensible defaults.

Step 3: Restart Vim

Save your ~/.vimrc and restart Vim. Plugins will be installed and loaded automatically.

Commands

All commands use the Packman prefix:

Command	Description
:PackmanInit [plugin...]	Sync init: install missing + load plugins (blocks vimrc)
:PackmanInstall [plugin...]	Install all/missing/specified plugins (parallel, async)
:PackmanInstallSync [plugin...]	Deprecated: use PackmanInit instead
:PackmanUpdate [plugin...]	Update all/specified plugins (parallel, updates lockfile)
:PackmanClean	Remove plugins not in g:packman_plugins
:PackmanStatus	Show plugin state (installed/outdated/missing/commit)
:PackmanLock	Generate/update lockfile with current commit hashes

Package management commands (manual use):

• :PackmanUpdate - Update plugins (async, manual only)
• :PackmanClean - Remove unused plugins
• :PackmanStatus - Show plugin status
• :PackmanLock - Generate/update lockfile

Lockfile

The lockfile (~/.vim/packman.lock) pins plugins to exact commits for reproducible environments. It is automatically updated when running :PackmanUpdate and can be manually generated with :PackmanLock.

Example lockfile:

vim9script
g:packman_lock = {
  'greeschenko/vim9-packman': 'a1b2c3d4e5f6',
  'yegappan/lsp': '1234abcd5678',
}

Requirements

• Vim 9.0+ (Vim9script support)
• Git installed and available in PATH