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Overview

Indent Blankline adds visual indentation guides to your code, making it easier to see code structure and nesting levels. It uses Treesitter for intelligent context highlighting. Plugin: indent-blankline.nvim Config File: lua/user/indentline.lua

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Features

  • Visual indentation guides
  • Current context highlighting
  • Treesitter integration
  • Smart exclusions for special buffers
  • Customizable indent character

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Configuration

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Indent Character

The configuration uses a thin vertical line character: 
vim.g.indent_blankline_char = "▏"
Alternative characters (commented in config):
  • "│" - Full vertical line
  • "▎" - Slightly thicker line

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Context Highlighting

The plugin highlights the indentation scope of the current cursor position: 
vim.g.indent_blankline_show_current_context = true
This uses Treesitter to intelligently determine the current code block.

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Excluded Filetypes

Indent guides are hidden in these special buffers: 
vim.g.indent_blankline_filetype_exclude = {
  "help",
  "startify",
  "dashboard",
  "packer",
  "neogitstatus",
  "NvimTree",
  "Trouble",
}

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Excluded Buffer Types

vim.g.indent_blankline_buftype_exclude = { "terminal", "nofile" }

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Treesitter Integration

Indent Blankline uses Treesitter for intelligent context detection: 
vim.g.indent_blankline_use_treesitter = true

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Context Patterns

These code structures are recognized for context highlighting: 
vim.g.indent_blankline_context_patterns = {
  "class",
  "return",
  "function",
  "method",
  "^if",
  "^while",
  "jsx_element",
  "^for",
  "^object",
  "^table",
  "block",
  "arguments",
  "if_statement",
  "else_clause",
  "jsx_element",
  "jsx_self_closing_element",
  "try_statement",
  "catch_clause",
  "import_statement",
  "operation_type",
}
This covers:
  • Functions and methods
  • Control flow (if/while/for)
  • Classes and objects
  • JSX elements
  • Try/catch blocks
  • Import statements

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Display Options

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Basic Settings

vim.g.indentLine_enabled = 1
vim.g.indent_blankline_show_trailing_blankline_indent = false
vim.g.indent_blankline_show_first_indent_level = true
  • indentLine_enabled - Enable the plugin
  • show_trailing_blankline_indent - Don’t show guides on empty trailing lines
  • show_first_indent_level - Show indent guide at first level

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Color Column Workaround

-- HACK: work-around for https://github.com/lukas-reineke/indent-blankline.nvim/issues/59
vim.wo.colorcolumn = "99999"
This prevents interference with the color column feature.

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Setup Function

indent_blankline.setup({
  show_current_context = true,
})

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Customization

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Enable Context Start Line

Show an underline at the start of the current context: 
indent_blankline.setup({
  show_current_context = true,
  show_current_context_start = true,
})

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Colored Indent Guides

Use different colors for different indent levels: 
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent1 guifg=#E06C75 gui=nocombine]]
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent2 guifg=#E5C07B gui=nocombine]]
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent3 guifg=#98C379 gui=nocombine]]
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent4 guifg=#56B6C2 gui=nocombine]]
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent5 guifg=#61AFEF gui=nocombine]]
vim.cmd [[highlight IndentBlanklineIndent6 guifg=#C678DD gui=nocombine]]

indent_blankline.setup({
  show_current_context = true,
  char_highlight_list = {
    "IndentBlanklineIndent1",
    "IndentBlanklineIndent2",
    "IndentBlanklineIndent3",
    "IndentBlanklineIndent4",
    "IndentBlanklineIndent5",
    "IndentBlanklineIndent6",
  },
})

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Show Space Characters

vim.opt.list = true
vim.opt.listchars:append "space:⋅"

indent_blankline.setup({
  show_current_context = true,
  space_char_blankline = " ",
})

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Show End of Line

vim.opt.listchars:append "eol:↴"

indent_blankline.setup({
  show_current_context = true,
  show_end_of_line = true,
})

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Add More Excluded Filetypes

vim.g.indent_blankline_filetype_exclude = {
  "help",
  "startify",
  "dashboard",
  "packer",
  "neogitstatus",
  "NvimTree",
  "Trouble",
  "TelescopePrompt",
  "markdown",
  "text",
}

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Change Indent Character

vim.g.indent_blankline_char = "│"
-- or
vim.g.indent_blankline_char = "┊"
-- or
vim.g.indent_blankline_char = "┆"

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Visual Examples

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Without Indent Blankline

function hello()
  if true then
    print("Hello")
  end
end

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With Indent Blankline

function hello()
▏ if true then
▏ ▏ print("Hello")
▏ end
end

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With Context Highlighting

When cursor is on print("Hello"), the indent guides for the current if block are highlighted.

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Performance

Indent Blankline is designed for performance:
  • Uses Treesitter for efficient parsing
  • Excluded from special buffers to reduce overhead
  • Smart context calculation

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Troubleshooting

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Guides Not Showing

  1. Check if the filetype is excluded: 
    :echo &filetype
  2. Verify Treesitter is installed: 
    :TSInstallInfo
  3. Check if indentation is set correctly: 
    :set expandtab? shiftwidth? tabstop?

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Context Not Highlighting

Ensure Treesitter parser is installed for your language: 
:TSInstall <language>

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