Warning

This plugin is beta quality. Expect breaking changes and many bugs

Blink Completion (blink.cmp)

blink.cmp is a completion plugin with support for LSPs and external sources while updating on every keystroke with minimal overhead (0.5-4ms async). It achieves this by writing the fuzzy searching in SIMD to easily handle >20k items. It provides extensibility via hooks into the trigger, sources and rendering pipeline. Plenty of work has been put into making each stage of the pipeline as intelligent as possible, such as frecency and proximity bonus on fuzzy matching, and this work is on-going.

blink-cmp-demo.webm

Features

• Works out of the box with no additional configuration
• Updates on every keystroke (0.5-4ms non-blocking, single core)
• Typo resistant fuzzy with frecency and proximity bonus
• Extensive LSP support (tracker)
• Native vim.snippet support (including friendly-snippets)
• External sources support (currently incompatible with nvim-cmp sources)
• Auto-bracket support based on semantic tokens (experimental, opt-in)
• Signature help (experimental, opt-in)
• Comparison with nvim-cmp

Requirements

• Neovim 0.10+
• curl
• git

Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  'saghen/blink.cmp',
  lazy = false, -- lazy loading handled internally
  -- optional: provides snippets for the snippet source
  dependencies = 'rafamadriz/friendly-snippets',

  -- use a release tag to download pre-built binaries
  version = 'v0.*',
  -- OR build from source, requires nightly: https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/concepts/channels.html#working-with-nightly-rust
  -- build = 'cargo build --release',
  -- On musl libc based systems you need to add this flag
  -- build = 'RUSTFLAGS="-C target-feature=-crt-static" cargo build --release',

  opts = {
    highlight = {
      -- sets the fallback highlight groups to nvim-cmp's highlight groups
      -- useful for when your theme doesn't support blink.cmp
      -- will be removed in a future release, assuming themes add support
      use_nvim_cmp_as_default = true,
    },
    -- set to 'mono' for 'Nerd Font Mono' or 'normal' for 'Nerd Font'
    -- adjusts spacing to ensure icons are aligned
    nerd_font_variant = 'normal',
    
    -- experimental auto-brackets support
    -- accept = { auto_brackets = { enabled = true } }
    
    -- experimental signature help support
    -- trigger = { signature_help = { enabled = true } }
  }
}

For LazyVim/distro users, you can disable nvim-cmp via:

{ 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp', enabled = false }

mini.deps

-- use a release tag to download pre-built binaries
MiniDeps.add({
  source = "saghen/blink.cmp",
  depends = {
	"rafamadriz/friendly-snippets",
  },
  checkout = "some.version", -- check releases for latest tag
})

-- OR build from source, requires nightly: https://rust-lang.github.io/rustup/concepts/channels.html#working-with-nightly-rust
local function build_blink(params)
  vim.notify('Building blink.cmp', vim.log.levels.INFO)
  local obj = vim.system({ 'cargo', 'build', '--release' }, { cwd = params.path }):wait()
  if obj.code == 0 then
    vim.notify('Building blink.cmp done', vim.log.levels.INFO)
  else
    vim.notify('Building blink.cmp failed', vim.log.levels.ERROR)
  end
end

MiniDeps.add({
  source = 'Saghen/blink.cmp',
  hooks = {
    post_install = build_blink,
    post_checkout = build_blink,
  },
})

Highlight groups

Group	Default	Description
BlinkCmpMenu	Pmenu	The completion menu window
BlinkCmpMenuBorder	Pmenu	The completion menu window border
BlinkCmpMenuSelection	PmenuSel	The completion menu window selected item
BlinkCmpLabel	Pmenu	Label of the completion item
BlinkCmpLabelDeprecated	Comment	Deprecated label of the completion item
BlinkCmpLabelMatch	Pmenu	(Currently unused) Label of the completion item when it matches the query
BlinkCmpKind	Special	Kind icon/text of the completion item
BlinkCmpKind<kind>	Special	Kind icon/text of the completion item
BlinkCmpDoc	NormalFloat	The documentation window
BlinkCmpDocBorder	FloatBorder	The documentation window border
BlinkCmpDocCursorLine	Visual	The documentation window cursor line
BlinkCmpSignatureHelp	NormalFloat	The signature help window
BlinkCmpSignatureHelpBorder	FloatBorder	The signature help window border
BlinkCmpSignatureHelpActiveParameter	LspSignatureActiveParameter	Active parameter of the signature help

Default configuration

{
  -- for keymap, all values may be string | string[]
  -- use an empty table to disable a keymap
  keymap = {
    show = '<C-space>',
    hide = '<C-e>',
    accept = '<Tab>',
    select_prev = { '<Up>', '<C-p>' },
    select_next = { '<Down>', '<C-n>' },

    show_documentation = '<C-space>',
    hide_documentation = '<C-space>',
    scroll_documentation_up = '<C-b>',
    scroll_documentation_down = '<C-f>',

    snippet_forward = '<Tab>',
    snippet_backward = '<S-Tab>',
  },

  accept = {
    create_undo_point = true,
    auto_brackets = {
      enabled = false,
      default_brackets = { '(', ')' },
      override_brackets_for_filetypes = {},
      -- Overrides the default blocked filetypes
      force_allow_filetypes = {},
      blocked_filetypes = {},
      -- Synchronously use the kind of the item to determine if brackets should be added
      kind_resolution = {
        enabled = true,
        blocked_filetypes = { 'typescriptreact', 'javascriptreact', 'vue' },
      },
      -- Asynchronously use semantic token to determine if brackets should be added
      semantic_token_resolution = {
        enabled = true,
        blocked_filetypes = {},
        -- How long to wait for semantic tokens to return before assuming no brackets should be added
        timeout_ms = 400,
      },
    },
  },

  trigger = {
    completion = {
      -- regex used to get the text when fuzzy matching
      -- changing this may break some sources, so please report if you run into issues
      -- todo: shouldnt this also affect the accept command? should this also be per language?
      keyword_regex = '[%w_\\-]',
      -- LSPs can indicate when to show the completion window via trigger characters
      -- however, some LSPs (*cough* tsserver *cough*) return characters that would essentially
      -- always show the window. We block these by default
      blocked_trigger_characters = { ' ', '\n', '\t' },
      -- when true, will show the completion window when the cursor comes after a trigger character when entering insert mode
      show_on_insert_on_trigger_character = true,
      -- list of additional trigger characters that won't trigger the completion window when the cursor comes after a trigger character when entering insert mode
      show_on_insert_blocked_trigger_characters = { "'", '"' },
    },

    signature_help = {
      enabled = false,
      blocked_trigger_characters = {},
      blocked_retrigger_characters = {},
      -- when true, will show the signature help window when the cursor comes after a trigger character when entering insert mode
      show_on_insert_on_trigger_character = true,
    },
  },

  fuzzy = {
    -- frencency tracks the most recently/frequently used items and boosts the score of the item
    use_frecency = true,
    -- proximity bonus boosts the score of items with a value in the buffer
    use_proximity = true,
    max_items = 200,
    -- controls which sorts to use and in which order, these three are currently the only allowed options
    sorts = { 'label', 'kind', 'score' },

    prebuiltBinaries = {
      -- Whether or not to automatically download a prebuilt binary from github. If this is set to `false`
      -- you will need to manually build the fuzzy binary dependencies by running `cargo build --release`
      download = true,
      -- When downloading a prebuilt binary force the downloader to resolve this version. If this is uset
      -- then the downloader will attempt to infer the version from the checked out git tag (if any).
      --
      -- Beware that if the FFI ABI changes while tracking main then this may result in blink breaking.
      forceVersion = nil,
    },
  },

  sources = {
    -- similar to nvim-cmp's sources, but we point directly to the source's lua module
    -- multiple groups can be provided, where it'll fallback to the next group if the previous
    -- returns no completion items
    -- WARN: This API will have breaking changes during the beta
    providers = {
      { 'blink.cmp.sources.lsp', name = 'LSP' },
      { 'blink.cmp.sources.path', name = 'Path', score_offset = 3 },
      { 'blink.cmp.sources.snippets', score_offset = -3 },
      { 'blink.cmp.sources.buffer', name = 'Buffer', fallback_for = { 'LSP' } },
    },
    -- FOR REF: full example
    providers = {
      -- all of these properties work on every source
      {
          'blink.cmp.sources.lsp',
          name = 'LSP',
          keyword_length = 0,
          score_offset = 0,
          trigger_characters = { 'f', 'o', 'o' },
      }, 
      -- the following two sources have additional options
      { 
        'blink.cmp.sources.path', 
        name = 'Path',
        score_offset = 3,
        opts = {
          trailing_slash = false,
          label_trailing_slash = true,
          get_cwd = function(context) return vim.fn.expand(('#%d:p:h'):format(context.bufnr)) end,
          show_hidden_files_by_default = true,
        }
      },
      {
        'blink.cmp.sources.snippets',
        name = 'Snippets',
        score_offset = -3,
        -- similar to https://github.com/garymjr/nvim-snippets
        opts = {
          friendly_snippets = true,
          search_paths = { vim.fn.stdpath('config') .. '/snippets' },
          global_snippets = { 'all' },
          extended_filetypes = {},
          ignored_filetypes = {},
        },
      },
      { 
        'blink.cmp.sources.buffer',
        name = 'Buffer',
        fallback_for = { 'LSP' },
      }
    }
  },

  windows = {
    autocomplete = {
      min_width = 15,
      max_height = 10,
      border = 'none',
      winhighlight = 'Normal:BlinkCmpMenu,FloatBorder:BlinkCmpMenuBorder,CursorLine:BlinkCmpMenuSelection,Search:None',
      -- keep the cursor X lines away from the top/bottom of the window
      scrolloff = 2,
      -- which directions to show the window,
      -- falling back to the next direction when there's not enough space
      direction_priority = { 's', 'n' },
      -- Controls how the completion items are selected
      -- 'preselect' will automatically select the first item in the completion list
      -- 'manual' will not select any item by default
      -- 'auto_insert' will not select any item by default, and insert the completion items automatically when selecting them
      selection = 'preselect',
      -- Controls how the completion items are rendered on the popup window
      -- 'simple' will render the item's kind icon the left alongside the label
      -- 'reversed' will render the label on the left and the kind icon + name on the right
      -- 'minimal' will render the label on the left and the kind name on the right
      -- 'function(blink.cmp.CompletionRenderContext): blink.cmp.Component[]' for custom rendering
      draw = 'simple',
      -- Controls the cycling behavior when reaching the beginning or end of the completion list.
      cycle = {
        -- When `true`, calling `select_next` at the *bottom* of the completion list will select the *first* completion item.
        from_bottom = true,
        -- When `true`, calling `select_prev` at the *top* of the completion list will select the *last* completion item.
        from_top = true,
      },
    },
    documentation = {
      min_width = 10,
      max_width = 60,
      max_height = 20,
      border = 'padded',
      winhighlight = 'Normal:BlinkCmpDoc,FloatBorder:BlinkCmpDocBorder,CursorLine:BlinkCmpDocCursorLine,Search:None',
      -- which directions to show the documentation window,
      -- for each of the possible autocomplete window directions,
      -- falling back to the next direction when there's not enough space
      direction_priority = {
        autocomplete_north = { 'e', 'w', 'n', 's' },
        autocomplete_south = { 'e', 'w', 's', 'n' },
      },
      auto_show = false,
      auto_show_delay_ms = 500,
      update_delay_ms = 50,
    },
    signature_help = {
      min_width = 1,
      max_width = 100,
      max_height = 10,
      border = 'padded',
      winhighlight = 'Normal:BlinkCmpSignatureHelp,FloatBorder:BlinkCmpSignatureHelpBorder',
    },
  },

  highlight = {
    ns = vim.api.nvim_create_namespace('blink_cmp'),
    -- sets the fallback highlight groups to nvim-cmp's highlight groups
    -- useful for when your theme doesn't support blink.cmp
    -- will be removed in a future release, assuming themes add support
    use_nvim_cmp_as_default = false,
  },

  -- set to 'mono' for 'Nerd Font Mono' or 'normal' for 'Nerd Font'
  -- adjusts spacing to ensure icons are aligned
  nerd_font_variant = 'normal',

  kind_icons = {
    Text = '󰉿',
    Method = '󰊕',
    Function = '󰊕',
    Constructor = '󰒓',

    Field = '󰜢',
    Variable = '󰆦',
    Property = '󰖷',

    Class = '󱡠',
    Interface = '󱡠',
    Struct = '󱡠',
    Module = '󰅩',

    Unit = '󰪚',
    Value = '󰦨',
    Enum = '󰦨',
    EnumMember = '󰦨',

    Keyword = '󰻾',
    Constant = '󰏿',

    Snippet = '󱄽',
    Color = '󰏘',
    File = '󰈔',
    Reference = '󰬲',
    Folder = '󰉋',
    Event = '󱐋',
    Operator = '󰪚',
    TypeParameter = '󰬛',
  },
}

Community Sources

• ctags

How it works

The plugin use a 4 stage pipeline: trigger -> sources -> fuzzy -> render

Trigger: Controls when to request completion items from the sources and provides a context downstream with the current query (i.e. hello.wo|, the query would be wo) and the treesitter object under the cursor (i.e. for intelligently enabling/disabling sources). It respects trigger characters passed by the LSP (or any other source) and includes it in the context for sending to the LSP.

Sources: Provides a common interface for and merges the results of completion, trigger character, resolution of additional information and cancellation. Some sources are builtin: LSP, buffer, path, snippets

Fuzzy: Rust <-> Lua FFI which performs both filtering and sorting of the items

    Filtering: The fuzzy matching uses smith-waterman, same as FZF, but implemented in SIMD for ~6x the performance of FZF (todo: add benchmarks). Due to the SIMD's performance, the prefiltering phase on FZF was dropped to allow for typos. Similar to fzy/fzf, additional points are given to prefix matches, characters with capitals (to promote camelCase/PascalCase first char matching) and matches after delimiters (to promote snake_case first char matching)

    Sorting: Combines fuzzy matching score with frecency and proximity bonus. Each completion item may also include a score_offset which will be added to this score to demote certain sources. The snippets source takes advantage of this to avoid taking precedence over the LSP source. The parameters here still need to be tuned, so please let me know if you find some magical parameters!

Windows: Responsible for placing the autocomplete, documentation and function parameters windows. All of the rendering can be overridden following a syntax similar to incline.nvim. It uses the neovim window decoration provider to provide next to no overhead from highlighting.

Compared to nvim-cmp

Advantages

• Avoids the complexity of nvim-cmp's configuration by providing sensible defaults
• Updates on every keystroke with 0.5-4ms of overhead, versus nvim-cmp's default debounce of 60ms with 2-50ms hitches from processing
  • Setting nvim-cmp's debounce to 0ms leads to visible stuttering. If you'd like to stick with nvim-cmp, try yioneko's fork or the more recent magazine.nvim
• Boosts completion item score via frecency and proximity bonus. nvim-cmp only boosts score via proximity bonus and optionally by recency
• Typo-resistant fuzzy matching unlike nvim-cmp's fzf-style fuzzy matching
• Core sources (buffer, snippets, path, lsp) are built-in versus nvim-cmp's exclusively external sources
• Built-in auto bracket and signature help support

Planned missing features

• Less customizable with regards to trigger, sources, sorting, filtering
• Significantly less testing and documentation
• Ghost text
• Matched character highlighting
• Cmdline completions
• Windows support (You may temporarily build from source as outlined in the installation section)

Special Thanks

@hrsh7th nvim-cmp used as inspiration and nvim-path implementation modified for path source

@garymjr nvim-snippets implementation modified for snippets source

@redxtech Help with design and testing

@aaditya-sahay Help with rust, design and testing