Minimal & Powerful: The Perfect NeoVim Setup for 2026

Welcome to this Neovim 0.12 from scratch configuration guide - fully updated for 2026. We are going to build a tastefully minimal but modern and powerful config using the new built-in package manager (vim.pack). We will create a clean, powerful Neovim setup with Treesitter, LSP, linting, formatting, and completion, and all within a strict 10-plugin limit. Join me and create a fully up-to-date 2026 NeoVim config for the refined gentleman! Let's go! Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction & Why 2026 is the perfect time to learn NeoVim 01:20 - Installing NeoVim (Nightly 0.12) 04:53 - Setting the Colorscheme 05:52 - NeoVim Options 15:02 - Creating our own statusline 18:11 - Defining our keymaps 23:25 - Autocommands 26:13 - introducing vim.pack: the builtin package manager for NeoVim 0.12 28:41 - nvim-tree file explorer 31:13 - mini.nvim 33:43 - git integration 35:38 - migrating to the latest Treesitter API 38:58 - LSP: lspconfig & mason.nvim 45:35 - linting & formatting with efm-langserver 52:29 - formatting on save with autocommands 53:12 - completion capabilities with blink.cmp & luasnip 57:22 - setting up a floating terminal 58:41 - theme transparency 59:35 - wrap up and other plugins to consider Links: Source code: https://github.com/radleylewis/nvim-lite NeoVim 0.12: https://neovim.io/roadmap nvim-tree: https://github.com/nvim-tree/nvim-tre... mini.nvim: https://github.com/nvim-mini/mini.nvim mason.nvim: https://github.com/mason-org/mason.nvim blink.cmp: https://github.com/saghen/blink.cmp nvim-lspconfig: https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig gitsigns.nvim: https://www.github.com/lewis6991/gits... fzf-lua: https://www.github.com/ibhagwan/fzf-lua nvim-treesitter: https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nv... efmls-configs-nvim: https://github.com/creativenull/efmls... luasnip: https://github.com/L3MON4D3/LuaSnip Honorable mentions: lspsaga.nvim: https://github.com/nvimdev/lspsaga.nvim windsurf/codeium: https://windsurf.com zen-mode: https://github.com/folke/zen-mode.nvim nvim-dap-ui: https://github.com/rcarriga/nvim-dap-ui which-key: https://github.com/folke/which-key.nvim vim-fugitive: https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive My GitHub: https://www.github.com/radleylewis My Blog: https://www.radleylewis.com Languages covered: golang: gopls, gofmt, go_revive python: pyright, black, flake8 typescript/javascript: ts_ls, prettier, eslint bash: bashls, shellcheck, shfmt lua: lua-language-server, stylua, luacheck json: fixjson c/c++: clangd, cpplint, clangfmt Thank you to all of the developers and maintainers of NeoVim and its ecosystem! #neovim #neovim012 #neovimsetup #neovimootb