Tips

Create A Directory

You can add a directory by adding a / at the end of the path.

Entering multiple directories BASE/foo/bar/baz will add directory foo, then bar and add a file baz to it.

Change Window Options

You can update tree local window options for the tree by setting

require("nvim-tree.view").View.winopts.MY_OPTION = MY_OPTION_VALUE

Toggle Tree Without Focusing Explorer

toggle has a second parameter which allows to toggle without focusing the explorer, see :help nvim-tree.api.tree

require("nvim-tree.api").tree.toggle(false, true)

Vinegar

You can allow nvim-tree to behave like vinegar: :help nvim-tree-vinegar

Open On The Left

If you :set nosplitright, the files will open on the left side of the tree, placing the tree window in the right side of the file you opened.

Hide .git Directory

You can hide the .git folder via a custom filter, see :help nvim-tree.filters.custom

filters = { custom = { "^.git$" } }

Disable Icons

To disable the display of icons see :help nvim-tree.renderer.icons.show

Netrw Keeps Popping Up

Eagerly disable Netrw: :help nvim-tree.disable_netrw

Open vim-startify along with nvim-tree.lua on startup/setup

If you are using init.lua:

require("nvim-tree").setup{
  open_on_setup = true,
  ignore_buffer_on_setup = true,
}

If you are using init.vim:

lua << EOF
require("nvim-tree").setup{
  open_on_setup = true,
  ignore_buffer_on_setup = true,
}
EOF

Why this? Because, only open_on_setup = true, opens nvim-tree.lua on startup but doesn't open vim-startify

While open_on_setup = true, & ignore_buffer_on_setup = true, opens vim-startify along with nvim-tree.lua and puts the cursor in the vim-startify window

Don't Open nvim-tree When Creating Git Commit Message

Opening nvim-tree on setup adds little value when executing git commit ... and can be annoying when using update_focused_file. Stop it:

open_on_setup = true,
open_on_setup_file = true,
ignore_ft_on_setup = {
  "gitcommit",
},

Vinegar Style

nvim-tree can behave like vinegar. To allow this, you will need to configure it in a specific way:

Use require"nvim-tree".open_replacing_current_buffer() instead of the default open command. You can easily implement a toggle using this too:

local function toggle_replace()
  local view = require"nvim-tree.view"
  local api = require"nvim-tree.api"
  if view.is_visible() then
    api.tree.close()
  else
    require"nvim-tree".open_replacing_current_buffer()
  end
end

Use the edit_in_place action to edit files. It's bound to <C-e> by default, vinegar uses <CR>. You can override this with:

require"nvim-tree".setup {
  view = {
    mappings = {
      list = {
        { key = "<CR>", action = "edit_in_place" }
      }
    }
  }
}

Going up a dir is bound to - by default in nvim-tree which is identical to vinegar, no change is needed here.

You'll also need to set nvim-tree.hijack_netrw to true during setup. A good functionality to enable is nvim-tree.hijack_directories.