Zonvie

Zonvie is a Fast, feature-rich Neovim GUI built with Zig, native on macOS and Windows.

• Native Performance: Zig core with Metal (macOS) and D3D11 (Windows) rendering
• Zero-allocation Hot Paths: Optimized for minimal latency during redraw/flush
• Full Neovim UI API Compliance: Supports ext_cmdline, ext_popupmenu, ext_messages, ext_tabline
• Remote Development:
  • SSH connection to remote hosts
  • Devcontainer support for containerized development environments
• Customizable: TOML configuration file

• macOS: AppKit + Swift + Metal
• Windows: Win32 + D3D11/DXGI + DirectWrite

Build from source (requires Xcode):

xcodebuild -project macos/zonvie.xcodeproj -scheme zonvie -configuration Release build

Build from source (requires Zig 0.15.x):

zig build windows -Dtarget=x86_64-windows-gnu -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

zonvie [OPTIONS] [--] [NVIM_ARGS...]

# Open a file
zonvie file.txt

# Use custom nvim config
zonvie -- -u ~/.config/nvim/minimal.lua

# Connect to remote host via SSH
zonvie --ssh=user@example.com

# Run in devcontainer
zonvie --devcontainer=/path/to/project

# Attach to a Neovim server already running (e.g. started elsewhere with
# `nvim --headless --listen /tmp/nvim.sock` or `:detach`'d from another UI)
zonvie --connect-nvim=/tmp/nvim.sock          # POSIX: Unix socket
zonvie --connect-nvim=127.0.0.1:6789          # POSIX: TCP
zonvie --connect-nvim=\\.\pipe\nvim.31920.0  # Windows: named pipe

Configuration file location:

• ~/.config/zonvie/config.toml
• Or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zonvie/config.toml

[neovim]
path = "nvim"
wsl = false
wsl_distro = "Ubuntu"
ssh = false
ssh_host = "user@example.com"
ssh_port = 22
ssh_identity = "~/.ssh/id_rsa"

[font]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
size = 14
linespace = 2

[window]
blur = true
opacity = 0.85
blur_radius = 20

[scrollbar]
enabled = true
show_mode = "scroll"  # "always", "hover", "scroll", or combinations like "hover,scroll"
opacity = 0.7
delay = 1.0

[cmdline]
external = true

[popup]
external = true

[messages]
external = true
msg_pos = { ext-float = "window", mini = "grid" }  # display, window, or grid

# Where each class of message goes. These retarget the built-in routes, so
# most setups need nothing else.
view = "ext-float"          # ordinary messages
view_error = "ext-float"    # emsg, echoerr, lua_error, rpc_error
view_warn = "ext-float"     # wmsg
view_history = "split"      # :messages / :history
view_search = "mini"        # search_count

# Optional rules for anything the settings above cannot express. They are
# prepended to the built-in routes, never a replacement: events you do not
# mention keep their defaults.
[[messages.routes]]
event = "msg_show"
min_height = 20             # long output is easier to read in a split
view = "split"

[[messages.routes]]
event = "msg_ruler"
skip = true                 # hide it outright

[tabline]
external = true
style = "titlebar"  # "titlebar", "menu", or "sidebar"
sidebar_position = "left"  # "left" or "right" (for sidebar style)
sidebar_width = 200  # 100-500 (for sidebar style)
agent_indicator = true  # show AI-agent status icon on terminal tabs
agent_notification = true  # OS notification when an AI agent finishes

[windows]
external = false  # Each Neovim window as a separate OS window

[log]
enabled = false
path = "/tmp/zonvie.log"

[performance]
glyph_cache_ascii_size = 512
glyph_cache_non_ascii_size = 256
hl_cache_size = 2048
shape_cache_size = 4096
atlas_size = 2048

[ime]
disable_on_activate = false
disable_on_modechange = false
option_as_meta = "both"  # "both", "none", "only_left", "only_right"
preedit_mode = "overlay"  # "overlay" (floating overlay) or "extmark" (inline virt_text)

[input]
swap_colon_semicolon = false  # swap the `:` and `;` keys (single keypresses only)

[server]
single_instance = false  # route `zonvie <file>` to a running instance (Windows only)
open_mode = "tab"        # "tab" (new tab) or "current" (replace current window)
close_to_tray = false    # close button hides to the notification area instead of quitting (Windows only)

[shaders]
enabled = false
post_process = "after_bloom"  # only "after_bloom" is implemented today
preserve_alpha = false  # true = keep window transparency/blur showing through the shader
# Drop-in compatible with Shadertoy / Ghostty GLSL shaders. Multiple
# entries form a chain: each shader's output feeds the next; the
# final pass writes to the swapchain. Paths MUST be absolute — they
# are opened verbatim, so launches from Finder / Explorer (whose
# CWD is set to the system root) won't find relative entries.
paths = [
    # "/absolute/path/to/your/ghostty-shaders/starfield.glsl",
    # "/absolute/path/to/your/ghostty-shaders/cursor_blaze.glsl",
]

View types are "mini", "ext-float", "confirm", "split", "none" and "notification". Each view has its own auto-hide default: "mini" and "ext-float" hide after 4 seconds, while "split", "confirm" and "notification" stay until dismissed. A route's timeout overrides that.

Routes you declare are consulted before the built-in ones and never replace them, so declaring a rule for msg_show leaves :messages and the mode/command indicators on their defaults. The first match wins.

return_prompt is never routed: Zonvie answers the press-enter prompt for you, because the message it is confirming has already been displayed.

Interactive prompts ("confirm", "confirm_sub", "number_prompt") are not configurable: they always reach the confirm view, with no timeout. Neovim blocks until one is answered, so a route that sent a prompt to another view, skipped it, or let it auto-hide would hang the editor on a question the user cannot see or answer. Such routes are overridden, including a route that targets "confirm" itself but attaches a timeout.

("confirm" and "confirm_sub" never enter routing at all — they are handled as a single live dialog rather than as messages — so the override exists for "number_prompt" and to keep the guarantee independent of that.)

Supported uniforms (Shadertoy + Ghostty 1.1+): iResolution, iTime, iTimeDelta, iFrame, iFrameRate, iSampleRate, iDate, iWindowOffset, iWindowSize (drop-in for ext windows), iCurrentCursor, iPreviousCursor, iCurrentCursorColor, iPreviousCursorColor, iTimeCursorChange. iMouse is reserved but currently unimplemented (always zero).

iChannel0 aliases the terminal contents (back buffer) so existing Ghostty / Shadertoy shaders that sample texture(iChannel0, uv) work without modification.

Zonvie exposes several Neovim-side variables and RPC notifications for runtime customization.

Set automatically on startup. Contains the RPC channel ID for communication with Zonvie.

Configure a bloom/glow post-processing effect for specific highlight groups:

vim.g.zonvie_glow = {
  groups = { "Keyword", "String", "Function" },  -- or "all" for every cell
  radius = 6,       -- blur radius in pixels (2-16)
  intensity = 0.8,  -- glow brightness (0.0-1.0)
}

Zonvie reads this variable on startup (with automatic retry for lazy plugin initialization) and applies a Dual Kawase bloom shader to matching highlight groups.

Dynamically change the Option-as-Meta behavior at runtime, equivalent to Neovim-Qt's macmeta option:

vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.zonvie_channel, "zonvie_option_as_meta", "both")
-- Values: "both", "none", "only_left", "only_right"

This can also be set statically via the [ime] option_as_meta config key.

Programmatically disable the IME input method:

vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.zonvie_channel, "zonvie_ime_off")

Useful for automatically switching off IME when entering normal mode via autocommands.

MIT License