You're working on a codebase. medium, large, tiny, whatever. You find yourself frequenting a small set of files and you are tired of using a fuzzy finder, :bnext & :bprev are getting too repetitive, alternate file doesn't quite cut it, etc etc.
You want to execute some project specific commands or have any number of persistent terminals that can be easily navigated to.

⇁ The Solutions

The ability to specify, or on the fly, mark and create persisting key strokes to go to the files you want.
Unlimited terminals and navigation.

⇁ Installation

neovim 0.8.0+ required
install using your favorite plugin manager (i am using packer in this case)

use "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim" -- don't forget to add this one if you don't have it yet!
use {
    "ThePrimeagen/harpoon",
    branch = "harpoon2",
    requires = { {"nvim-lua/plenary.nvim"} }
}

⇁ Getting Started

Quick Note

You will want to add your style of remaps and such to your neovim dotfiles with the shortcuts you like. My shortcuts are for me. Me alone. Which also means they are designed with dvorak in mind (My layout btw, I use dvorak btw).

harpoon:setup() IS REQUIRED

it is a requirement to call harpoon:setup(). This is required due to autocmds setup.

Basic Setup

Here is my basic setup

local harpoon = require("harpoon")

-- REQUIRED
harpoon:setup()
-- REQUIRED

vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>a", function() harpoon:list():append() end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-e>", function() harpoon.ui:toggle_quick_menu(harpoon:list()) end)

vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-h>", function() harpoon:list():select(1) end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-t>", function() harpoon:list():select(2) end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-n>", function() harpoon:list():select(3) end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<C-s>", function() harpoon:list():select(4) end)

Custom Lists

You can define custom behavior of a harpoon list by providing your own calls.

Here is a simple example where i create a list named cmd that takes the current line in the editor and adds it to harpoon menu. When list:select(...) is called, we take the contents of the line and execute it as a vim command

I don't think this is a great use of harpoon, but its meant to show how to add your own custom lists. You could imagine that a terminal list would be just as easy to create.

local harpoon = require("harpoon")

harpoon:setup({
    -- Setting up custom behavior for a list named "cmd"
    "cmd" = {

        -- When you call list:append() this function is called and the return
        -- value will be put in the list at the end.
        --
        -- which means same behavior for prepend except where in the list the
        -- return value is added
        --
        -- @param possible_value string only passed in when you alter the ui manual
        add = function(possible_value)
            -- get the current line idx
            local idx = vim.fn.line(".")

            -- read the current line
            local cmd = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, idx - 1, idx, false)[1]
            if cmd == nil then
                return nil
            end

            return {
                value = cmd,
                context = { ... any data you want ... },
            }
        end,

        --- This function gets invoked with the options being passed in from
        --- list:select(index, <...options...>)
        --- @param list_item {value: any, context: any}
        --- @param option any
        select = function(list_item, option)
            -- WOAH, IS THIS HTMX LEVEL XSS ATTACK??
            vim.cmd(list_item.value)
        end

    }
})

Config

There is quite a bit of behavior you can configure via harpoon:setup()

settings: is the global settings. as of now there isn't a global setting in use, but once we have some custom behavior i'll put them here
default: the default configuration for any list. it is simply a file harpoon
[name] = HarpoonPartialConfigItem: any named lists config. it will be merged with default and override any behavior

HarpoonPartialConfigItem Definition

---@class HarpoonPartialConfigItem
---@field encode? (fun(list_item: HarpoonListItem): string)
---@field decode? (fun(obj: string): any)
---@field display? (fun(list_item: HarpoonListItem): string)
---@field select? (fun(list_item: HarpoonListItem, options: any?): nil)
---@field equals? (fun(list_line_a: HarpoonListItem, list_line_b: HarpoonListItem): boolean)
---@field add? fun(item: any?): HarpoonListItem
---@field BufLeave? fun(evt: any, list: HarpoonList): nil
---@field VimLeavePre? fun(evt: any, list: HarpoonList): nil
---@field get_root_dir? fun(): string

Detailed Definitions

encode: how to encode the list item to the harpoon file. if encode is false, then the list will not be saved to disk (think terminals)
decode: how to decode the list
display: how to display the list item in the ui menu
select: the action taken when selecting a list item. called from list:select(idx, options)
equals: how to compare two list items for equality
add: called when list:append() or list:prepend() is called. called with an item, which will be a string, when adding through the ui menu
BufLeave: this function is called for every list on BufLeave. if you need custom behavior, this is the place
VimLeavePre: this function is called for every list on VimLeavePre.
get_root_dir: used for creating relative paths. defaults to vim.loop.cwd()

Settings

Settings can alter the experience of harpoon

Definition

---@class HarpoonSettings
---@field save_on_toggle boolean defaults to true
---@field key (fun(): string)

Descriptions

save_on_toggle: any time the ui menu is closed then we will sync the state back to the backing list
key how the out list key is looked up. This can be useful when using worktrees and using git remote instead of file path

Defaults

settings = {
    save_on_toggle = false,
    key = function()
        return vim.loop.cwd()
    end,
},

For questions about Harpoon, there's a #harpoon channel on the Primeagen's Discord server.

⇁ Note to legacy Harpoon 1 users

Original Harpoon will remain in a frozen state and i will merge PRs in with no code review for those that wish to remain on that. Harpoon 2 is significantly better and allows for MUCH greater control. Please migrate to that (will become master within the next few months).

README.md

Harpoon

Getting you where you want with the fewest keystrokes.

⇁ TOC

⇁ The Problems