bug: which-key menu not showing up for `<localleader>` mappings

[Subjective]

Did you check docs and existing issues?

• [X] I have read all the which-key.nvim docs
• [X] I have searched the existing issues of which-key.nvim
• [X] I have searched the existing issues of plugins related to this issue

Neovim version (nvim -v)

NVIM v0.10.0-dev-646+gc4df2f08b

Operating system/version

MacOS 13.4

Describe the bug

Hitting the <localleader> key doesn't trigger the which-key menu for buffer local mappings involving the <localleader> key. Interestingly enough, it loads properly after loading the which-key menu for <leader> in the same buffer prior to pressing <localleader>. This is primarily an issue with plugins like spectre, vimtex, diffview, etc. which set keybindings for a specific plugin related filetype.

Btw, this is a duplicate of #172 (sorry), but I noticed that it still seems to be around so I thought I might bring it up again. The workaround suggested in that issue works, but is rather cumbersome:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  desc = "Set up Spectre Which-Key descriptions",
  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("spectre_mapping_descriptions", { clear = true }),
  pattern = "spectre_panel",
  callback = function()
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<localleader>", function() require("which-key").show "," end, { buffer = true })
  end,
})

Steps To Reproduce

1. Enter a buffer with buffer local mappings (in the provided config, :Spectre or hit <leader>s
2. Hit the localleader key
3. Which-key menu doesn't show up

Expected Behavior

I would expect the which-key menu to display for localleader mappings in a specific buffer.

Repro

-- DO NOT change the paths and don't remove the colorscheme
local root = vim.fn.fnamemodify("./.repro", ":p")

-- set stdpaths to use .repro
for _, name in ipairs({ "config", "data", "state", "cache" }) do
	vim.env[("XDG_%s_HOME"):format(name:upper())] = root .. "/" .. name
end

-- bootstrap lazy
local lazypath = root .. "/plugins/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
	vim.fn.system({ "git", "clone", "--filter=blob:none", "https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git", lazypath })
end
vim.opt.runtimepath:prepend(lazypath)

vim.g.mapleader = " "
vim.g.maplocalleader = ","

-- install plugins
local plugins = {
	"folke/tokyonight.nvim",
	{ "folke/which-key.nvim", opts = {} },
	{
		"nvim-pack/nvim-spectre",
		cmd = "Spectre",
		dependencies = "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim",
		init = function()
			local wk = require "which-key"
		end,
		opts = function()
			local prefix = "<localleader>"

			return {
				open_cmd = "new",
				mapping = {
					send_to_qf = { map = prefix .. "q" },
					replace_cmd = { map = prefix .. "c" },
					show_option_menu = { map = prefix .. "o" },
					run_current_replace = { map = prefix .. "r" },
					run_replace = { map = prefix .. "R" },
					change_view_mode = { map = prefix .. "v" },
					resume_last_search = { map = prefix .. "l" },
				},
			}
		end,
		keys = { { "<leader>s", function() require("spectre").open() end, desc = "Spectre", }, },
	},
}
require("lazy").setup(plugins, {
	root = root .. "/plugins",
})

vim.cmd.colorscheme("tokyonight")

[phortonssf]

This approach used to work for me recently. Specifically for fugitive, mapping local leader and getting a menu for that file type. It just stopped working not sure why.

[jpasquier]

Same for me. I was also using this workaround, but it recently stopped working.

[januz]

I'm also experiencing this issue. Is there anything we can do to have <localleader> invoke which-key without having to press <leader> first?

[ericukk]

Another consequence of this is that the localleader mappings use the default waiting time of timeoutlen. It made me think that the keymaps weren't being mapped, but actually they were, it just that I was being too slow in the key chords. e.g. <localleader>e was executing end-of-word instead.

[sailingbonbini]

This also makes one of the key features of Neorg not work. I frequently jump to the index file with :Neorg index, create a new note with <localleader>nn, and jump back to where I was with :Neorg return. This made it work for me:

-- this is to fix bug: https://github.com/folke/which-key.nvim/issues/476
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  desc = "Set up neorg Which-Key descriptions",
  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("neorg_mapping_descriptions", { clear = true }),
  pattern = "norg",
  callback = function()
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<localleader>", function() require("which-key").show "," end, { buffer = true })
  end,
  })
end,

[phortonssf]

This also makes one of the key features of Neorg not work. I frequently jump to the index file with :Neorg index, create a new note with <localleader>nn, and jump back to where I was with :Neorg return. This made it work for me:

-- this is to fix bug: https://github.com/folke/which-key.nvim/issues/476
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  desc = "Set up neorg Which-Key descriptions",
  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("neorg_mapping_descriptions", { clear = true }),
  pattern = "norg",
  callback = function()
    vim.keymap.set("n", "<localleader>", function() require("which-key").show "," end, { buffer = true })
  end,
  })
end,

Your approach worked thank you. I couldn't find anything about the show method in the docs. How did you find out about it? I did make one small adjustment and moved the code to the ftplugin folder vs the autocmd. More of a flavor choice. Cheers!

[tgallacher]

having the same issue, but not just on specific plugins. I have a lot of buffer specific keymaps using <localleader>, and hitting localleader doesn't trigger "which-key" for me either.

edit: Managed to get the above workaround working for my use case

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