intro.txt Nvim
NVIM REFERENCE MANUAL
Nvim ref reference
Type gO to see the table of contents.
==============================================================================
Introduction intro
Vim is a text editor which includes most commands from the Unix program "Vi"
and many new ones.
An overview of this manual can be found in the file "help.txt", help.txt.
It can be accessed from within Vim with the <Help> or <F1> key and with the
:help command (just type ":help", without the bars or quotes).
The 'helpfile' option can be set to the name of the help file, in case it
is not located in the default place. You can jump to subjects like with tags:
Use CTRL-] to jump to a subject under the cursor, use CTRL-T to jump back.
pronounce
Vim is pronounced as one word, like Jim. So Nvim is "En-Vim", two syllables.
This manual is a reference for all Nvim editor and API features. It is not an
introduction; instead for beginners, there is a hands-on tutor, lua-guide,
and user-manual.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources resources
internet www distribution
Nvim home page:
https://neovim.io/
book
There are many resources to learn Vi, Vim, and Nvim. We recommend:
- "Practical Vim" by Drew Neil. Acclaimed for its focus on quickly learning
common editing tasks with Vim.
- "Modern Vim" by Drew Neil. Explores new features in Nvim and Vim 8.
- https://vimcasts.org/publications/
- "Vim - Vi Improved" by Steve Oualline. This was the first book dedicated to
Vim. Parts of it were included in the Vim user manual. frombook ISBN:
0735710015
- For more information try one of these:
- https://iccf-holland.org/click5.html
- https://www.vim.org/iccf/click5.html
- Vim FAQ: https://vimhelp.org/vim_faq.txt.html
bugs bug-report feature-request
Report bugs and request features here: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues
Be brief, yet complete. Always give a reproducible example and try to find
out which settings or other things trigger the bug. If Nvim crashed, try to
get a backtrace (see dev-tools-backtrace).
==============================================================================
Installing Nvim install
download upgrade ubuntu
To install or upgrade Nvim, you can...
- Download a pre-built archive:
https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases
- Use your system package manager:
https://github.com/neovim/neovim/blob/master/INSTALL.md#install-from-package
- Build from source:
https://github.com/neovim/neovim/blob/master/INSTALL.md#install-from-source
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Un-installing Nvim uninstall
To uninstall Nvim:
- If you downloaded a pre-built archive or built Nvim from source (e.g.
`make install`), just delete its files, typically located in:
/usr/local/bin/nvim
/usr/local/share/nvim
- To find where Nvim is installed, run these commands:
:echo v:progpath
:echo $VIMRUNTIME
- If you installed via package manager, read your package manager's
documentation. Common examples:
- APT (Debian, Ubuntu, …): `apt-get remove neovim`
- Homebrew (macOS): `brew uninstall neovim`
- Scoop (Windows): `scoop uninstall neovim`
==============================================================================
Sponsor Vim/Nvim development register
Fixing bugs and adding new features takes a lot of time and effort. To show
your appreciation for the work and motivate developers to continue working on
Vim please send a donation.
The money you donated will be mainly used to help children in Uganda. See
uganda. But at the same time donations increase the development team
motivation to keep working on Vim!
For the most recent information about sponsoring look on the Vim web site:
https://www.vim.org/sponsor/
Nvim development is funded separately from Vim:
https://neovim.io/#sponsor
==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaar Bram Moolenaar Bram-Moolenaar brammool
Nvim is a fork of the Vim ("Vi IMproved") text editor, which was originally
developed by Bram Moolenaar. Searching his name within the source code of
Nvim will reveal just how much of his work still remains in Nvim.
On August 3, 2023, he passed away at the age of 62. If Vim or Nvim have been
of use to you in your life, please read Uganda and consider honoring his
memory however you may see fit.
- Obituary Articles: https://github.com/vim/vim/discussions/12742
- Say Farewell: https://github.com/vim/vim/discussions/12737
==============================================================================
Notation notation
When syntax highlighting is used to read this, text that is not typed
literally is often highlighted with the Special group. These are items in [],
{} and <>, and CTRL-X.
Note that Vim uses all possible characters in commands. Sometimes the [], {}
and <> are part of what you type, the context should make this clear.
- [] Characters in square brackets are optional.
count [count]
- [count] An optional number that may precede the command to multiply
or iterate the command. If no number is given, a count of one
is used, unless otherwise noted. Note that in this manual the
[count] is not mentioned in the description of the command,
but only in the explanation. This was done to make the
commands easier to look up. If the 'showcmd' option is on,
the (partially) entered count is shown at the bottom of the
window. You can use <Del> to erase the last digit (N<Del>).
[quotex]
- ["x] An optional register designation where text can be stored.
See registers. The x is a single character between 'a' and
'z' or 'A' and 'Z' or '"', and in some cases (with the put
command) between '0' and '9', '%', '#', or others. The
uppercase and lowercase letter designate the same register,
but the lowercase letter is used to overwrite the previous
register contents, while the uppercase letter is used to
append to the previous register contents. Without the ""x" or
with """" the stored text is put into the unnamed register.
{}
- {} Curly braces denote parts of the command which must appear,
but which can take a number of different values. The
differences between Vim and Vi are also given in curly braces
(this will be clear from the context).
{char1-char2}
- {char1-char2} A single character from the range char1 to char2. For
example: {a-z} is a lowercase letter. Multiple ranges may be
concatenated. For example, {a-zA-Z0-9} is any alphanumeric
character.
{motion} movement
- {motion} A command that moves the cursor. These are explained in
motion.txt.
- Examples:
- w to start of next word
- b to begin of current word
- 4j four lines down
- /The<CR> to next occurrence of "The"
- This is used after an operator command to move over the
text that is to be operated upon.
- If the motion includes a count and the operator also has
a count, the two counts are multiplied. For example:
"2d3w" deletes six words.
- The motion can be backwards, e.g. "db" to delete to the
start of the word.
- The motion can also be a mouse click. The mouse is not
supported in every terminal though.
- The ":omap" command can be used to map characters while an
operator is pending.
- Ex commands can be used to move the cursor. This can be
used to call a function that does some complicated motion.
The motion is always charwise exclusive, no matter what
":" command is used. This means it's impossible to
include the last character of a line without the line
break (unless 'virtualedit' is set). If the Ex command
changes the text before where the operator starts or jumps
to another buffer the result is unpredictable. It is
possible to change the text further down. Jumping to
another buffer is possible if the current buffer is not
unloaded.
{Visual}
- {Visual} A selected text area. It is started with the "v", "V", or
CTRL-V command, then any cursor movement command can be used
to change the end of the selected text.
This is used before an operator command to highlight the
text that is to be operated upon.
See Visual-mode.
<character>
- <character> A special character from the table below, optionally with
modifiers, or a single ASCII character with modifiers.
'character'
- 'c' A single ASCII character.
CTRL-{char}
- CTRL-{char} {char} typed as a control character; that is, typing {char}
while holding the CTRL key down. The case of {char} is
ignored; thus CTRL-A and CTRL-a are equivalent. But in
some terminals and environments, using the SHIFT key will
produce a distinct code (e.g. CTRL-SHIFT-a); in these
environments using the SHIFT key will not trigger commands
such as CTRL-A.
'option'
- 'option' An option, or parameter, that can be set to a value, is
enclosed in single quotes. See options.
quotecommandquote
- "command" A reference to a command that you can type is enclosed in
double quotes.
- command New style command, this distinguishes it from other quoted
text and strings.
key-notation key-codes keycodes
These names for keys are used in the documentation. They can also be used
with the ":map" command.
notation meaning equivalent decimal value(s)
<Nul> zero CTRL-@ 0 (stored as 10) <Nul>
<BS> backspace CTRL-H 8 backspace
<Tab> tab CTRL-I 9 tab Tab
linefeed
<NL> linefeed CTRL-J 10 (used for <Nul>)
<CR> carriage return CTRL-M 13 carriage-return
<Return> same as <CR> <Return>
<Enter> same as <CR> <Enter>
<Esc> escape CTRL-[ 27 escape <Esc>
<Space> space 32 space
<lt> less-than < 60 <lt>
<Bslash> backslash \ 92 backslash <Bslash>
<Bar> vertical bar | 124 <Bar>
<Del> delete 127
<CSI> command sequence intro ALT-Esc 155 <CSI>
<EOL> end-of-line (can be <CR>, <NL> or <CR><NL>,
depends on system and 'fileformat') <EOL>
<Ignore> cancel wait-for-character <Ignore>
<NOP> no-op: do nothing (useful in mappings) <Nop>
<Up> cursor-up cursor-up cursor_up
<Down> cursor-down cursor-down cursor_down
<Left> cursor-left cursor-left cursor_left
<Right> cursor-right cursor-right cursor_right
<S-Up> shift-cursor-up
<S-Down> shift-cursor-down
<S-Left> shift-cursor-left
<S-Right> shift-cursor-right
<C-Left> control-cursor-left
<C-Right> control-cursor-right
<F1> - <F12> function keys 1 to 12 function_key function-key
<S-F1> - <S-F12> shift-function keys 1 to 12 <S-F1>
<Help> help key
<Undo> undo key
<Find> find key
<Select> select key
<Insert> insert key
<Home> home home
<End> end end
<PageUp> page-up page_up page-up
<PageDown> page-down page_down page-down
<kUp> keypad cursor-up keypad-cursor-up
<kDown> keypad cursor-down keypad-cursor-down
<kLeft> keypad cursor-left keypad-cursor-left
<kRight> keypad cursor-right keypad-cursor-right
<kHome> keypad home (upper left) keypad-home
<kEnd> keypad end (lower left) keypad-end
<kOrigin> keypad origin (middle) keypad-origin
<kPageUp> keypad page-up (upper right) keypad-page-up
<kPageDown> keypad page-down (lower right) keypad-page-down
<kDel> keypad delete keypad-delete
<kPlus> keypad + keypad-plus
<kMinus> keypad - keypad-minus
<kMultiply> keypad * keypad-multiply
<kDivide> keypad / keypad-divide
<kPoint> keypad . keypad-point
<kComma> keypad , keypad-comma
<kEqual> keypad = keypad-equal
<kEnter> keypad Enter keypad-enter
<k0> - <k9> keypad 0 to 9 keypad-0 keypad-9
<S-…> shift-key shift <S-
<C-…> control-key control ctrl <C-
<M-…> alt-key or meta-key META ALT <M-
<A-…> same as <M-…> <A-
<T-…> meta-key when it's not alt <T-
<D-…> command-key or "super" key <D-
Note:
- Availability of some keys (<Help>, <S-Right>, …) depends on the UI or host
terminal.
- If numlock is on the TUI receives plain ASCII values, so mapping <k0>,
<k1>, ..., <k9> and <kPoint> will not work.
- Nvim supports mapping multibyte chars with modifiers such as <M-ä>. Which
combinations actually work depends on the UI or host terminal.
- When a key is pressed using a meta or alt modifier and no mapping exists for
that keypress, Nvim may behave as though <Esc> was pressed before the key.
- It is possible to notate combined modifiers (e.g. <M-C-T> for CTRL-ALT-T),
but your terminal must encode the input for that to work. tui-input
<>
Examples are often given in the <> notation. Sometimes this is just to make
clear what you need to type, but often it can be typed literally, e.g., with
the ":map" command. The rules are:
1. Printable characters are typed directly, except backslash and "<"
2. Backslash is represented with "\\", double backslash, or "<Bslash>".
3. Literal "<" is represented with "\<" or "<lt>". When there is no
confusion possible, "<" can be used directly.
4. "<key>" means the special key typed (see the table above). Examples:
- <Esc> Escape key
- <C-G> CTRL-G
- <Up> cursor up key
- <C-LeftMouse> Control- left mouse click
- <S-F11> Shifted function key 11
- <M-a> Meta- a ('a' with bit 8 set)
- <M-A> Meta- A ('A' with bit 8 set)
The <> notation uses <lt> to escape the special meaning of key names. Using a
backslash also works, but only when 'cpoptions' does not include the 'B' flag.
Examples for mapping CTRL-H to the six characters "<Home>":
:imap <C-H> \<Home>
:imap <C-H> <lt>Home>
The first one only works when the 'B' flag is not in 'cpoptions'. The second
one always works.
To get a literal "<lt>" in a mapping:
:map <C-L> <lt>lt>
The notation can be used in a double quoted strings, using "\<" at the start,
e.g. "\<C-Space>". This results in a special key code. To convert this back
to readable text use keytrans().
==============================================================================
Modes, introduction vim-modes-intro vim-modes
Vim has seven BASIC modes:
Normal Normal-mode command-mode
- Normal mode: In Normal mode you can enter all the normal editor
commands. If you start the editor you are in this
mode. This is also known as command mode.
- Visual mode: This is like Normal mode, but the movement commands
extend a highlighted area. When a non-movement
command is used, it is executed for the highlighted
area. See Visual-mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VISUAL --" is shown
at the bottom of the window.
- Select mode: This looks most like the MS-Windows selection mode.
Typing a printable character deletes the selection
and starts Insert mode. See Select-mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- SELECT --" is shown
at the bottom of the window.
- Insert mode: In Insert mode the text you type is inserted into the
buffer. See Insert-mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- INSERT --" is shown
at the bottom of the window.
- Cmdline mode: In Command-line mode (also called Cmdline mode) you
can enter one line of text at the bottom of the
window. This is for the Ex commands, ":", the pattern
search commands, "?" and "/", and the filter command,
"!". Cmdline-mode
- Ex mode: Like Command-line mode, but after entering a command
you remain in Ex mode. Very limited editing of the
command line. Ex-mode
Terminal-mode
- Terminal mode: In Terminal mode all input (except CTRL-\) is sent to
the process running in the current terminal buffer.
If CTRL-\ is pressed, the next key is sent unless it
is CTRL-N (CTRL-\_CTRL-N) or CTRL-O (t_CTRL-\_CTRL-O).
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- TERMINAL --" is shown
at the bottom of the window.
There are six ADDITIONAL modes. These are variants of the BASIC modes:
Operator-pending Operator-pending-mode
- Operator-pending mode: This is like Normal mode, but after an operator
command has started, and Vim is waiting for a {motion}
to specify the text that the operator will work on.
- Replace mode: Replace mode is a special case of Insert mode. You
can do the same things as in Insert mode, but for
each character you enter, one character of the existing
text is deleted. See Replace-mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- REPLACE --" is
shown at the bottom of the window.
- Virtual Replace mode: Virtual Replace mode is similar to Replace mode, but
instead of file characters you are replacing screen
real estate. See Virtual-Replace-mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- VREPLACE --" is
shown at the bottom of the window.
- Insert Normal mode: Entered when CTRL-O is typed in Insert mode (see
i_CTRL-O). This is like Normal mode, but after
executing one command Vim returns to Insert mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) --" is
shown at the bottom of the window.
- Insert Visual mode: Entered when starting a Visual selection from Insert
mode, e.g., by using CTRL-O and then "v", "V" or
CTRL-V. When the Visual selection ends, Vim returns
to Insert mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) VISUAL --"
is shown at the bottom of the window.
- Insert Select mode: Entered when starting Select mode from Insert mode.
E.g., by dragging the mouse or <S-Right>.
When the Select mode ends, Vim returns to Insert mode.
If the 'showmode' option is on "-- (insert) SELECT --"
is shown at the bottom of the window.
==============================================================================
Switching from mode to mode mode-switching
If for any reason you do not know which mode you are in, you can always get
back to Normal mode by typing <Esc> twice. This doesn't work for Ex mode
though, use ":visual".
You will know you are back in Normal mode when you see the screen flash or
hear the bell after you type <Esc>. However, when pressing <Esc> after using
CTRL-O in Insert mode you get a beep but you are still in Insert mode, type
<Esc> again.
i_esc
FROM mode TO mode
Normal Visual Select Insert Replace Cmd-line Ex >
Normal v V ^V *4 *1 R gR : / ? ! gQ
Visual *2 ^G c C -- : --
Select *5 ^O ^G *6 -- -- --
Insert <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- --
Replace <Esc> -- -- <Insert> -- --
Command-line *3 -- -- :start -- --
Ex :vi -- -- -- -- --
-- not possible
- 1 Go from Normal mode to Insert mode by giving the command "i", "I", "a",
"A", "o", "O", "c", "C", "s" or S".
- 2 Go from Visual mode to Normal mode by giving a non-movement command, which
causes the command to be executed, or by hitting <Esc> "v", "V" or "CTRL-V"
(see v_v), which just stops Visual mode without side effects.
- 3 Go from Command-line mode to Normal mode by:
- Hitting <CR> or <NL>, which causes the entered command to be executed.
- Deleting the complete line (e.g., with CTRL-U) and giving a final <BS>.
- Hitting CTRL-C or <Esc>, which quits the command-line without executing
the command.
In the last case <Esc> may be the character defined with the 'wildchar'
option, in which case it will start command-line completion. You can
ignore that and type <Esc> again.
- 4 Go from Normal to Select mode by:
- use the mouse to select text while 'selectmode' contains "mouse"
- use a non-printable command to move the cursor while keeping the Shift
key pressed, and the 'selectmode' option contains "key"
- use "v", "V" or "CTRL-V" while 'selectmode' contains "cmd"
- use "gh", "gH" or "g CTRL-H" g_CTRL-H
- 5 Go from Select mode to Normal mode by using a non-printable command to move
the cursor, without keeping the Shift key pressed.
- 6 Go from Select mode to Insert mode by typing a printable character. The
selection is deleted and the character is inserted.
CTRL-\_CTRL-N i_CTRL-\_CTRL-N c_CTRL-\_CTRL-N
v_CTRL-\_CTRL-N t_CTRL-\_CTRL-N
Additionally the command CTRL-\ CTRL-N or <C-\><C-N> can be used to go to
Normal mode from any other mode. This can be used to make sure Vim is in
Normal mode, without causing a beep like <Esc> would. However, this does not
work in Ex mode. When used after a command that takes an argument, such as
f or m, the timeout set with 'ttimeoutlen' applies.
CTRL-\_CTRL-G i_CTRL-\_CTRL-G c_CTRL-\_CTRL-G v_CTRL-\_CTRL-G
CTRL-\ CTRL-G works the same as CTRL-\_CTRL-N for backward compatibility.
gQ mode-Ex Ex-mode Ex EX E501
gQ Switch to Ex mode. This is like typing ":" commands
one after another, except:
- You don't have to keep pressing ":".
- The screen doesn't get updated after each command.
Use the :vi command (:visual) to exit this mode.
==============================================================================
Window contents window-contents
In Normal mode and Insert/Replace mode the screen window will show the current
contents of the buffer: What You See Is What You Get. There are two
exceptions:
- When the 'cpoptions' option contains '$', and the change is within one line,
the text is not directly deleted, but a '$' is put at the last deleted
character.
- When inserting text in one window, other windows on the same text are not
updated until the insert is finished.
Lines longer than the window width will wrap, unless the 'wrap' option is off
(see below). The 'linebreak' option can be set to wrap at a blank character.
If the window has room after the last line of the buffer, Vim will show '~' in
the first column of the last lines in the window, like this:
+-----------------------+
|some line |
|last line |
|~ |
|~ |
+-----------------------+
Thus the '~' lines indicate that the end of the buffer was reached.
If the last line in a window doesn't fit, Vim will indicate this with a '@' in
the first column of the last lines in the window, like this:
+-----------------------+
|first line |
|second line |
|@ |
|@ |
+-----------------------+
Thus the '@' lines indicate that there is a line that doesn't fit in the
window.
When the "lastline" flag is present in the 'display' option, you will not see
'@' characters at the left side of window. If the last line doesn't fit
completely, only the part that fits is shown, and the last three characters of
the last line are replaced with "@@@", like this:
+-----------------------+
|first line |
|second line |
|a very long line that d|
|oesn't fit in the wi@@@|
+-----------------------+
If there is a single line that is too long to fit in the window, this is a
special situation. Vim will show only part of the line, around where the
cursor is. There are no special characters shown, so that you can edit all
parts of this line.
The hl-NonText highlight group can be used to set special highlighting
for the '@' and '~' characters. This makes it possible to distinguish them
from real characters in the buffer.
The 'showbreak' option contains the string to put in front of wrapped lines.
wrap-off
If the 'wrap' option is off, long lines will not wrap. Only the part that
fits on the screen is shown. If the cursor is moved to a part of the line
that is not shown, the screen is scrolled horizontally. The advantage of
this method is that columns are shown as they are and lines that cannot fit
on the screen can be edited. The disadvantage is that you cannot see all the
characters of a line at once. The 'sidescroll' option can be set to the
minimal number of columns to scroll.
All normal ASCII characters are displayed directly on the screen. The <Tab>
is replaced with the number of spaces that it represents. Other non-printing
characters are replaced with "^{char}", where {char} is the non-printing
character with 64 added. Thus character 7 (bell) will be shown as "^G".
Characters between 127 and 160 are replaced with "~{char}", where {char} is
the character with 64 subtracted. These characters occupy more than one
position on the screen. The cursor can only be positioned on the first one.
If you set the 'number' option, all lines will be preceded with their
number. Tip: If you don't like wrapping lines to mix with the line numbers,
set the 'showbreak' option to eight spaces:
":set showbreak=\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ "
If you set the 'list' option, <Tab> characters will not be shown as several
spaces, but as "^I". A '$' will be placed at the end of the line, so you can
find trailing blanks.
In Command-line mode only the command-line itself is shown correctly. The
display of the buffer contents is updated as soon as you go back to Command
mode.
The last line of the window is used for status and other messages. The
status messages will only be used if an option is on:
status message option default Unix default
current mode 'showmode' on on
command characters 'showcmd' on off
cursor position 'ruler' off off
The current mode is "-- INSERT --" or "-- REPLACE --", see 'showmode'. The
command characters are those that you typed but were not used yet.
If you have a slow terminal you can switch off the status messages to speed
up editing:
:set nosc noru nosm
If there is an error, an error message will be shown for at least one second
(in reverse video).
Some commands show how many lines were affected. Above which threshold this
happens can be controlled with the 'report' option (default 2).
The name Vim and the full name of the current file name will be shown in the
title bar. When the window is resized, Vim will automatically redraw the
window. You may make the window as small as you like, but if it gets too
small not a single line will fit in it. Make it at least 40 characters wide
to be able to read most messages on the last line.
==============================================================================
Definitions definitions jargon
- buffer: Contains lines of text, usually from a file.
- screen: The whole area that Nvim uses to display things.
- window: A view on a buffer. There can be multiple windows for one buffer.
- frame: Windows are kept in a tree of frames. Each frame contains a column,
row, or window ("leaf" frame).
A screen contains one or more windows, separated by status lines and with the
command line at the bottom.
+-------------------------------+
screen | window 1 | window 2 |
| | |
| | |
|= status line =|= status line =|
| window 3 |
| |
| |
|==== status line ==============|
|command line |
+-------------------------------+
The command line is also used for messages. It scrolls up the screen when
there is not enough room in the command line.
A difference is made between four types of lines:
- buffer lines: The lines in the buffer. This is the same as the
lines as they are read from/written to a file. They
can be thousands of characters long.
- logical lines: The buffer lines with folding applied. Buffer lines
in a closed fold are changed to a single logical line:
"+-- 99 lines folded". They can be thousands of
characters long.
- window lines: The lines displayed in a window: A range of logical
lines with wrapping, line breaks, etc. applied. They
can only be as long as the width of the window allows,
longer lines are wrapped or truncated.
- screen lines: The lines of the screen that Nvim uses. Consists of
the window lines of all windows, with status lines
and the command line added. They can only be as long
as the width of the screen allows. When the command
line gets longer it wraps and lines are scrolled to
make room.
buffer lines logical lines window lines screen lines
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. one 1. one 1. +-- folded 1. +-- folded
2. two 2. +-- folded 2. five 2. five
3. three 3. five 3. six 3. six
4. four 4. six 4. seven 4. seven
5. five 5. seven 5. === status line ===
6. six 6. aaa
7. seven 7. bbb
8. ccc ccc c
1. aaa 1. aaa 1. aaa 9. cc
2. bbb 2. bbb 2. bbb 10. ddd
3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc ccc 3. ccc ccc c 11. ~
4. ddd 4. ddd 4. cc 12. === status line ===
5. ddd 13. (command line)
6. ~
API client
All external UIs and remote plugins (as opposed to regular Vim plugins) are
"clients" in general; but we call something an "API client" if its purpose is
to abstract or wrap the RPC API for the convenience of other applications
(just like a REST client or SDK such as boto3 for AWS: you can speak AWS REST
using an HTTP client like curl, but boto3 wraps that in a convenient python
interface). For example, the Nvim node-client is an API client:
https://github.com/neovim/node-client
Host
A plugin "host" is both a client (of the Nvim API) and a server (of an
external platform, e.g. python). It is a remote plugin that hosts other
plugins.
Remote plugin
Arbitrary code registered via :UpdateRemotePlugins, that runs in a separate
process and communicates with Nvim via the api.
==============================================================================
vim:tw=78:ts=8:et:sw=4:ft=help:norl: