Skip to main content
Treesitter provides superior syntax highlighting, indentation, and code understanding through incremental parsing.

​
Configuration

Treesitter is configured in lua/user/treesitter.lua.

​
Language Parsers

The configuration automatically installs and maintains parsers for: 
ensure_installed = { "lua", "markdown", "markdown_inline", "bash", "python" }
You can add more languages to the ensure_installed list or use "all" to install all available parsers.

​
Features

​
Syntax Highlighting

Treesitter provides context-aware syntax highlighting that understands code structure: 
highlight = {
  enable = true,
  disable = { "css" },  -- Disable for specific languages if needed
}

​
Smart Indentation

Automatic indentation based on code structure: 
indent = { 
  enable = true, 
  disable = { "python", "css" } 
}
Python indentation is disabled because it uses significant whitespace, and CSS is disabled to avoid conflicts.

​
Auto-pairs Integration

Treesitter integrates with nvim-autopairs for context-aware bracket pairing: 
autopairs = {
  enable = true,
}

​
Context Commentstring

Intelligent comment detection based on language context: 
context_commentstring = {
  enable = true,
  enable_autocmd = false,
}
This enables proper commenting in files with mixed languages (like HTML with embedded JavaScript).

​
Installing Language Parsers

​
Manual Installation

Install a specific parser: 
:TSInstall javascript
:TSInstall typescript
:TSInstall rust

​
Update Parsers

Update all installed parsers: 
:TSUpdate

​
View Installed Parsers

:TSInstallInfo

​
Supported Languages

Treesitter supports over 100 languages. Common ones include:
  • JavaScript/TypeScript
  • Python
  • Rust
  • Go
  • C/C++
  • Java
  • Ruby
  • PHP
  • HTML/CSS
  • Markdown
  • JSON/YAML
  • And many more

​
Usage

​
Highlighting

Treesitter highlighting is automatic once parsers are installed. No additional configuration needed.

​
Folding

Treesitter can be used for code folding: 
vim.opt.foldmethod = "expr"
vim.opt.foldexpr = "nvim_treesitter#foldexpr()"

​
Troubleshooting

​
Highlighting Issues

If syntax highlighting isn’t working:
  1. Check if the parser is installed: :TSInstallInfo
  2. Try reinstalling: :TSInstall! <language>
  3. Restart Neovim

​
Performance

For very large files, you may want to disable Treesitter: 
:TSBufDisable highlight
Some language parsers may conflict with existing syntax plugins. Disable the old plugin if you experience issues.

​
Benefits

Treesitter provides accurate syntax highlighting even for complex nested structures, unlike regex-based highlighting.
  • Accurate: Understands code structure, not just patterns
  • Fast: Incremental parsing updates only changed parts
  • Extensible: Foundation for other features like refactoring
  • Consistent: Same highlighting across different file types

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us