vim-plug

A minimalist Vim plugin manager.

Pros.

• Easier to setup: Single file. No boilerplate code required.
• Easier to use: Concise, intuitive syntax
• Super-fast parallel installation/update (requires +ruby)
• On-demand loading to achieve fast startup time
• Post-update hooks
• Can choose a specific branch or tag for each plugin
• Support for externally managed plugins

Usage

Download plug.vim and put it in ~/.vim/autoload

mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim https://raw.github.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Edit your .vimrc

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')

" Make sure you use single quotes
Plug 'junegunn/seoul256.vim'
Plug 'junegunn/vim-easy-align'

" On-demand loading
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on':  'NERDTreeToggle' }
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }

" Using git URL
Plug 'https://github.com/junegunn/vim-github-dashboard.git'

" Plugin options
Plug 'nsf/gocode', { 'tag': 'go.weekly.2012-03-13', 'rtp': 'vim' }

" Plugin outside ~/.vim/plugged with post-update hook
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': 'yes \| ./install' }

" Unmanaged plugin (manually installed and updated)
Plug '~/my-prototype-plugin'

call plug#end()

Reload .vimrc and :PlugInstall to install plugins.

Commands

Command	Description
PlugInstall [name ...] [#threads]	Install plugins
PlugUpdate [name ...] [#threads]	Install or update plugins
PlugClean[!]	Remove unused directories (bang version will clean without prompt)
PlugUpgrade	Upgrade vim-plug itself
PlugStatus	Check the status of plugins
PlugDiff	See the updated changes from the previous PlugUpdate

Plug options

Option	Description
branch/tag	Branch or tag of the repository to use
rtp	Subdirectory that contains Vim plugin
dir	Custom directory for the plugin
do	Post-update hook (string or funcref)
on	On-demand loading: Commands or <Plug>-mappings
for	On-demand loading: File types
frozen	Do not install/update plugin unless explicitly given as the argument

Options for parallel installer

Flag	Default	Description
g:plug_threads	16	Default number of threads to use
g:plug_timeout	60	Time limit of each task in seconds
g:plug_retries	2	Number of retries in case of timeout

Keybindings

• D - PlugDiff
• S - PlugStatus
• R - Retry failed update or installation tasks
• q - Close the window

Example: A small sensible Vim configuration

call plug#begin()
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'
call plug#end()

On-demand loading of plugins

" NERD tree will be loaded on the first invocation of NERDTreeToggle command
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }

" Multiple commands
Plug 'junegunn/vim-github-dashboard', { 'on': ['GHDashboard', 'GHActivity'] }

" Loaded when clojure file is opened
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }

" On-demand loading on both conditions
Plug 'junegunn/vader.vim',  { 'on': 'Vader', 'for': 'vader' }

Post-update hooks

There are some plugins that require extra steps after installation or update. In that case, use do option to describe the task to be performed.

Plug 'Valloric/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': './install.sh' }

If you need more control, you can pass a reference to a Vim function that takes a single argument.

function! BuildYCM(info)
  " info is a dictionary with 3 fields
  " - name:   name of the plugin
  " - status: 'installed', 'updated', or 'unchanged'
  " - force:  set on PlugInstall! or PlugUpdate!
  if a:info.status == 'installed' || a:info.force
    !./install.sh
  endif
endfunction

Plug 'Valloric/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': function('BuildYCM') }

Both forms of post-update hook are executed inside the directory of the plugin and only run when the repository has changed, but you can force it to run unconditionally with the bang-versions of the commands: PlugInstall! and PlugUpdate!.

Make sure to escape BARs and double-quotes when you write do option inline as they are mistakenly recognized as command separator or the start of the trailing comment.

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': 'yes \| ./install' }

But you can avoid the escaping if you extract the inline specification using a variable (or any Vimscript expression) as follows:

let g:fzf_install = 'yes | ./install'
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': g:fzf_install }

FAQ/Troubleshooting

See FAQ/Troubleshooting.

Articles

• Writing my own Vim plugin manager
• Vim plugins and startup time
• Thoughts on Vim plugin dependency
  • Support for Plugfile has been removed since 0.5.0

License

MIT