nvim-aqua

Neovim plugin to detect macOS appearance change. I use it with themes and other plugins that observe background, like with Monokai NighTasty and some of the lualine.nvim themes.

Note

There is a linking issue with Swift scripts on macOS Sonoma. The workaround requires the Xcode toolchain, sorry.

Dependencies

This script only uses Cocoa system frameworks, not anything requiring the full Xcode SDK.

You just need Xcode Command Line Tools (and agreeing to the license).

To install/agree:

xcode-select --install

# or if already installed but license not agreed:
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

No full Xcode.app install needed.

Install and Setup

Install using your favourite Neovim package manager. What my lazy.nvim plugin config looks like:

return {
  "rancorm/nvim-aqua",
  lazy = false, -- Make sure to load this plugin during startup
  priority = 1000, -- Make sure to load this before all other start plugins
  version = "0.x",
  config = function()
    require("nvim-aqua").setup {
      change = function(value)
        -- Note the comparison is done with a string not an integer
        if value == "1" then
          -- Light
          vim.opt.background = "light"
        else
          -- Dark
          vim.opt.background = "dark"
        end
      end
    }
  end
}

Or if you would like, you can use the light and dark functions.

return {
  "rancorm/nvim-aqua",
  lazy = false, -- Make sure to load this plugin during startup
  priority = 1000, -- Make sure to load this before all other start plugins
  version = "0.x",
  config = function()
    require("nvim-aqua").setup {
      light = function()
        vim.opt.background = "light"
      end,
      dark = function()
        vim.opt.background = "dark"
      end
    }
  end
}

Observer

The plugin includes a Swift script, observer.swift, designed to monitor macOS appearance changes.

The script is triggered under specific conditions (e.g., on startup or during certain events) and outputs either 1 (light mode) or 0 (dark mode) to standard output when changes are detected.

The Lua component of the plugin is responsible for launching the Swift script and employs a callback mechanism to handle the script's output. The callback function receives the value (1 or 0) and passes it to a user-defined function, allowing users to incorporate the information as needed.