coc.nvim is mostly written in TypeScript and runs on Node.js.

Requirements

• neovim >= 0.8.0 or vim >= 9.0.0483 (run :version or vim --version to find your Vim version)
• node >= 22.15.0

Install Node.js.

Note: coc.nvim finds node by calling executable('node') from within vim. Check out :h g:coc_node_path to customize the node path.

Note: NixOS users must follow these steps:

1. Install Node.js via nix-env or put it in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
2. sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Add coc.nvim to vim's runtimepath

Using vim-plug

Use coc's release branch (recommended):

Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'release'}

Build from source:

Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', { 'branch': 'master', 'do': 'npm ci' }

Run the :PlugInstall command in your (neo)vim.

Using lazy.nvim

Use the default release branch (recommended):

{ 'neoclide/coc.nvim', branch = 'release', }

Using packer.nvim

Use the default release branch (recommended):

use {'neoclide/coc.nvim', branch = 'release'}

Build from source:

use {'neoclide/coc.nvim', branch = 'master', run = 'npm ci'}

Run the :PackerInstall command in your (neo)vim.

Using dein.vim

Use release branch (recommended):

call dein#add('neoclide/coc.nvim', { 'merged': 0, 'rev': 'release' })

Build from source:

call dein#add('neoclide/coc.nvim', { 'merged': 0, 'rev': 'master', 'build': 'npm ci' })

Note: Without 'merged': 0, coc.nvim will not start.

Note: Depending on your network and CPU, the first build might take a while.

If you have trouble compiling from source when using dein, try these shell commands:

cd ~/.cache/dein/repos/github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim
git clean -xfd
npm ci

Using NeoBundle

Use release branch:

NeoBundle 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'master', 'build': 'npm ci'}

Using Paq

Use the release branch.

{"neoclide/coc.nvim", branch="release"};

Using pathogen.vim

cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone -b release https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim

Using vim8's native package manager

Get the source code from the release branch:

vim8:

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/coc/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/coc/start
git clone --branch release https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim.git --depth=1
vim -c "helptags coc.nvim/doc/ | q"

neovim:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/coc/start
cd ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/coc/start
git clone --branch release https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim.git --depth=1
nvim -c "helptags coc.nvim/doc/ | q"

Check service state

To check whether the coc.nvim service is running, use the :checkhealth command in neovim (not supported by vim). The output looks like:

Set the g:coc_node_path variable to specify the node executable used to start the coc.nvim service.

Another useful command is :CocInfo — use it after the service has started to get useful information about it.

Install extensions for programming languages you use daily

For example, for generic web development, consider :CocInstall coc-tsserver coc-json coc-html coc-css.

For Python 3: :CocInstall coc-pyright

For PHP: :CocInstall coc-phpls

and so on.

For more information, check out Using coc extensions.

Add some configuration

Run :CocConfig, which opens the main config file ~/.config/nvim/coc-settings.json (empty for a new installation). Add an empty JSON object ({}) and then add configurations for language servers not already covered by existing extensions (e.g. if you already installed coc-pyright, you don't need to configure the pyls server).

For more information, check out Using the configuration file.

Install watchman for file watching

For features like workspace_didChangeWatchedFiles to work, you will need to install watchman by following the instructions at https://facebook.github.io/watchman/docs/install.

Watchman also works well when you have multiple (neo)vim instances started in the same directory. You can configure watchman to ignore some directories using a .watchmanconfig configuration file in your project root:

{
  "ignore_dirs": [
    "dist",
    "node_modules"
  ]
}

Warning: Don't create a .watchmanconfig file in your home directory.

Note: An undocumented global configuration: put .watchman.json in your $HOME root. See https://github.com/facebook/watchman/blob/ebeb2427595e8c758a05fe9e6f9a63797216c4ab/watchman/WatchmanConfig.cpp#L97

Note: watchman can use a lot of memory. Run watchman watch-del-all in your shell to free up some memory.

Automation script

To set up coc.nvim and extensions faster on different machines, you can use a shell script, for example:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -o nounset    # error when referencing undefined variable
set -o errexit    # exit when command fails
# Install the latest Node.js
if [ ! -x "$(command -v node)" ]; then
    curl --fail -LSs https://install-node.now.sh/latest | sh
    export PATH="/usr/local/bin/:$PATH"
    # Or use package manager, e.g.
    # sudo apt-get install nodejs
fi
# Use package feature to install coc.nvim
# for vim8
mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/coc/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/coc/start
curl --fail -L https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim/archive/release.tar.gz | tar xzfv -
# for neovim
# mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/coc/start
# cd ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/coc/start
# curl --fail -L https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim/archive/release.tar.gz | tar xzfv -
# Install extensions
mkdir -p ~/.config/coc/extensions
cd ~/.config/coc/extensions
if [ ! -f package.json ]
then
  echo '{"dependencies":{}}'> package.json
fi
# Change extension names to the extensions you need
npm install coc-snippets --global-style --ignore-scripts --no-bin-links --no-package-lock --only=prod