A version manager for neovim
Struggle to keep your Neovim versions in check? Bob provides an easy way to install and switch versions on any system!
Bob is a cross-platform and easy-to-use Neovim version manager, allowing for easy switching between versions right from the command line.
Video tutorial by Marco Peluso
2022-10-29: Moved bob's symbolic link and downloads folder on macos from /Users/user/Library/Application Support to ~/.local/share please make sure to move all of your downloads to the new folder, run bob use <your desired version> and update your PATH
2023-02-13: Bob has recently switched to using a proxy executable for running Neovim executables. To switch from the old method that Bob used, follow these steps:
~/.local/share/neovim
On Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\neovimSecondly the name of the downloads directory property in the configuration file has changed. Please refer to the updated list of properties for the new name.
2024-03-04: Due to Neovim's recent MacOS binary changes, bob now supports arm completely, but unfortunately, it comes with some breaking changes specifically for bob's proxy executable. To fix that, follow these steps (which will not be necessary soon):
nvim binary from nvim-bin which is located in the same directory the same as the neovim binaries downloads folder.nvim-binnvim-bin to nvim.2024-05-17: Support for nvim-qt is now deprecated as Neovim no longer supports it in newer releases. If you're currently using nvim-qt, we recommend switching to a different Neovim GUI or using Neovim in the terminal. Please refer to the Neovim documentation for more information on supported GUIs.
2024-05-19: Important notice for users who built Neovim from source using a commit hash before the newest Bob version: Due to recent changes in Bob, these versions will need to be rebuilt. Alternatively, you can manually add a file named full-hash.txt at the root of the directory. This file should contain the full hash of the commit used to build Neovim. This change ensures better tracking and management of versions built from source. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
2025-12-30: OpenSSL builds are now fully deprecated due to redundancy and maintenance overhead. Please switch to the standard bob builds.
Make sure you don't have Neovim already installed via other ways e.g. a package manager.
Make sure rustup is installed.
For further information refer to the Neovim wiki.
All platformsMacOS note: follow these instructions
# on Unix
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MordechaiHadad/bob/master/scripts/install.sh | bash
# on Windows (PowerShell)
powershell -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MordechaiHadad/bob/master/scripts/install.ps1 | iex"Each script downloads the latest release for your platform and links the bob binary into a user-local bin directory. If the installer warns about your PATH, add the printed directory to make bob callable from any shell.
bob-{platform}-x86_64.zipbobbob-linux-x86_64-appimage.zip or bob-linux-arm-appimage.zip) and follow the same unpack-and-run steps.Nightly releases are built every 72 hours and contain the latest changes from the dev branch. Please note that these are pre-releases and may contain bugs or unstable features. Use them at your own risk.
nightly.bob-{platform}-x86_64.zipbobbob from the extra repository using pacman: pacman -S bobbobcargo install --git https://github.com/MordechaiHadad/bob.gitbobcargo install bob-nvimbobA version-string can either be vx.x.x or x.x.x examples: v0.6.1 and 0.6.0
bob use |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|--no-install flag will prevent bob from auto invoking install command when using use
Switch to the specified version, by default will auto-invoke install command if the version is not installed already
bob run |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>| [args...]Run a specific installed Neovim version with the provided arguments. [args...] are passed directly to the Neovim instance.
Example: bob run nightly --clean my_file.txt
bob install |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|Install the specified version, can also be used to update out-of-date nightly version.
bob syncIf Config::version_sync_file_location is set, the version in that file will be parsed and installed.
bob uninstall [|nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|]Uninstall the specified version. If no version is specified a prompt is used to select all the versions to be uninstalled.
bob rollbackRollback to an existing nightly rollback
bob eraseErase any change bob ever made including Neovim installation, Neovim version downloads and registry changes.
bob listList all installed and used versions.
bob complete bash|elvish|fish|powershell|zsh|nushellGenerate shell completion.
bob update |nightly|stable|--all|Update existing version, can specify either a version or the flag --all
bob list-remoteList all remote neovim versions available for download.
This section is a bit more advanced and thus the user will have to do the work himself since bob doesn't do that.
Bob's configuration file can be written in either JSON or TOML format. The file should be located at config_dir/bob/config.json or config_dir/bob/config.toml respectively. However, the location of the configuration file can be customized as explained below, to be more specific:
/home/user/.config/bob/config.json|toml
C:\Users\\user\AppData\Roaming\bob\config.json|toml
/Users/user/Library/Application Support/bob/config.json|toml
It is possible to use GITHUB_TOKEN to prevent rate-limit for API calls. There are two ways to do it:
bob commands with GITHUB_TOKEN=<your token>GITHUB_TOKEN=<some token> bob update -aexport GITHUB_TOKEN=<your token> and then run bob commands.export GITHUB_TOKEN=<some token>
bob update -aBob's config file location can be configured by using an environment variable called $BOB_CONFIG.
Example: export BOB_CONFIG=/path/to/config/config.json|toml
| Property | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| enable_nightly_info | Will show new commits associated with new nightly release if enabled | true |
| enable_release_build | Compile neovim nightly or a certain hash version as a release build (slightly improved performance, no debug info) | false |
| downloads_location | The folder in which neovim versions will be downloaded to, bob will error if this option is specified but the folder doesn't exist | unix: /home/<username>/.local/share/bob, windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\bob |
| installation_location | The path in which the proxied neovim installation will be located in | unix: /home/<username>/.local/share/bob/nvim-bin, windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\bob\nvim-bin |
| version_sync_file_location | The path to a file that will hold the neovim version string, useful for config version tracking, bob will error if the specified file is not a valid file path | Disabled by default |
| rollback_limit | The amount of rollbacks before bob starts to delete older ones, can be up to 255 | 3 |
| github_mirror | Specify the github mirror to use instead of https://github.com, example: https://mirror.ghproxy.com |
Disabled by default |
| add_neovim_binary_to_path | Whether bob should automatically add the neovim proxy to the system PATH. If disabled, you'll need to manually add it | Prompts user on first use |
| ignore_running_instances | If true, bob will block install, update, sync, uninstall, erase, rollback, and use commands while Neovim is running. If false, these actions are allowed even if Neovim is running. | false |
…Completion files are commonly stored in /etc/bash_completion.d/ for system-wide commands, but can be stored in ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions for user-specific commands. Run the command:
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions
bob complete bash >> ~/.local/share/bash-completNo open issues yet, or sync has not completed.