nvim-lsp-endhints 🪧

Minimal plugin that displays LSP inlay hints at the end of the line, rather than within the line.

Color scheme: nightfox.nvim, dawnfox variant

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• Background
• FAQ
  • How to display hints only for the current line?
  • How to enable inlay hints for a language?
• About the author

Installation

Requirements

• nvim >= 0.10
• LSP client that supports inlay hints (textDocument/inlayHint)
• Inlay hints enabled in the config of the LSP

-- lazy.nvim
{
	"chrisgrieser/nvim-lsp-endhints",
	event = "LspAttach",
	opts = {}, -- required, even if empty
},

-- packer
use {
	"chrisgrieser/nvim-lsp-endhints",
}

Configuration

The .setup() call is required.

-- default settings
require("lsp-endhints").setup {
	icons = {
		type = "󰜁 ",
		parameter = "󰏪 ",
		offspec = " ", -- hint kind not defined in official LSP spec
		unknown = " ", -- hint kind is nil
	},
	label = {
		truncateAtChars = 20,
		padding = 1,
		marginLeft = 0,
		sameKindSeparator = ", ",
	},
	extmark = {
		priority = 50,
	},
	autoEnableHints = true,
}

The hints use the default highlight group LspInlayHint.

Usage

By default, the plugin automatically enables inlay hints when attaching to an LSP, there is nothing to do other than loading the plugin.

All regular inlay hint functions like vim.lsp.inlay_hint.enable() work the same as before. Use them as described in the Neovim documentation to enable/disable/toggle hints manually.

You can switch between displaying inlay hints at the end of the line (this plugin) and within the line (Neovim default) by using the enable, disable and toggle functions:

-- inlay hints will show at the end of the line (default)
require("lsp-endhints").enable()

-- inlay hints will show as if the plugin was not installed
require("lsp-endhints").disable()

-- toggle between the two
require("lsp-endhints").toggle()

Background

• The LSP specification stipulates that inlay hints have a fixed position in the line, which Neovim core follows.
• However, for many people, hints being positioned within the line disturbs the flow of vim motions. This is particularly troublesome for languages with long type hints, such as TypeScript.
• nvim-inlayhint did pretty much the same thing for nvim < 0.10, but it is archived by now. Other than being maintained, nvim-lsp-endhints just overrides the textDocument/inlayHint handler introduced in nvim 0.10, resulting in a much simpler and more maintainable implementation (~250 LoC instead of ~1000 LoC).

FAQ

How to display hints only for the current line?

That is not supported by the plugin. However, it only takes a small snippet to implement it yourself. (Note that the linked snippet is not compatible with this plugin.)

How to enable inlay hints for a language?

[!NOTE] Not all LSPs support inlay hints. The following list is not exhaustive, there are more LSPs that support inlay hints. Please refer to your LSP's documentation.

-- lua-ls
require("lspconfig").lua_ls.setup {
	settings = {
		Lua = {
			hint = { enable = true },
		},
	},
}

-- tsserver
local inlayHints = {
	includeInlayParameterNameHints = "all",
	includeInlayParameterNameHintsWhenArgumentMatchesName = false,
	includeInlayFunctionParameterTypeHints = true,
	includeInlayVariableTypeHints = true,
	includeInlayVariableTypeHintsWhenTypeMatchesName = false,
	includeInlayPropertyDeclarationTypeHints = true,
	includeInlayFunctionLikeReturnTypeHints = true,
	includeInlayEnumMemberValueHints = true,
}
require("lspconfig").tsserver.setup {
	settings = {
		typescript = {
			inlayHints = inlayHints,
		},
		javascript = {
			inlayHints = inlayHints,
		},
	},
}

-- gopls
require("lspconfig").gopls.setup {
	settings = {
		hints = {
			rangeVariableTypes = true,
			parameterNames = true,
			constantValues = true,
			assignVariableTypes = true,
			compositeLiteralFields = true,
			compositeLiteralTypes = true,
			functionTypeParameters = true,
		},
	},
}

-- clangd
require("lspconfig").clangd.setup {
	settings = {
		clangd = {
			InlayHints = {
				Designators = true,
				Enabled = true,
				ParameterNames = true,
				DeducedTypes = true,
			},
			fallbackFlags = { "-std=c++20" },
		},
	},
}

About the author

In my day job, I am a sociologist studying the social mechanisms underlying the digital economy. For my PhD project, I investigate the governance of the app economy and how software ecosystems manage the tension between innovation and compatibility. If you are interested in this subject, feel free to get in touch.

I also occasionally blog about vim: Nano Tips for Vim

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