nuwiki/development/ONBOARDING.md

# nuwiki Developer Onboarding

## Overview

nuwiki is a vimwiki-compatible Vim/Neovim plugin backed by a Rust language server. It provides full vimwiki syntax support while keeping the original file format, keymaps, and command surface intact. The substantive work happens in a Rust LSP daemon — Vim and Neovim are thin client layers that wire up keystrokes and display results.

The Rust LSP server lives in the separate [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository. This plugin repo is the Vim/Neovim client layer and is distributed independently from the server binary.

## Repository Structure

```
nuwiki/
├── plugin/                     # Universal Vim/Neovim entry point
│   └── nuwiki.vim
│
├── lua/                        # Neovim-specific Lua layer
│   └── nuwiki/
│       ├── init.lua
│       ├── config.lua
│       ├── lsp.lua
│       └── install.lua         # Binary download logic
│
├── autoload/                   # Lazy-loaded VimL (Vim compat layer)
│   └── nuwiki/
│       └── lsp.vim
│
├── ftdetect/                   # Filetype detection for .wiki files
│   └── nuwiki.vim
│
├── ftplugin/                   # Per-filetype buffer settings
│   └── nuwiki.vim
│
├── syntax/                     # Static fallback syntax highlighting (no LSP required)
│   └── nuwiki.vim
│
├── doc/                        # Vim help documentation
│   └── nuwiki.txt
│
├── scripts/                    # Plugin-runtime scripts only
│   └── download_bin.vim        # VimL binary download (used by Dein/vim-plug build hooks)
│
├── development/                # Developer-only tooling and docs (not shipped)
│   ├── ONBOARDING.md           # This file
│   ├── SPEC.md                 # Technical reference (architecture, LSP, commands)
│   ├── nuwiki-architecture.html
│   ├── start-nvim.sh           # Launch Neovim against a generated sample wiki
│   ├── start-vim.sh            # Launch Vim against a generated sample wiki
│   ├── syntax-diag.vim         # Dump highlighting state for debugging
│   └── tests/                  # Editor keymap/command harnesses (run in CI)
│       ├── test-keymaps.sh     # Neovim keymap harness
│       ├── test-keymaps.lua
│       ├── test-keymaps-vim.sh # Vim keymap harness
│       ├── test-keymaps-vim.vim
│       ├── test-calendar.sh    # Neovim calendar-vim integration harness
│       ├── test-calendar.lua
│       ├── test-calendar-vim.sh # Vim calendar-vim integration harness
│       ├── test-calendar-vim.vim
│       └── test-calendar-vim-optout.vim
│
└── .gitea/
    └── workflows/
        └── ci.yaml             # Editor (Vim/Neovim) harnesses on every push/PR
```

(The Rust server's build/release workflow lives in the separate
[nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository.)

## Server Component

The Rust LSP server (`nuwiki-ls`) lives in the separate [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository. Pre-built binaries are downloaded automatically by the plugin's `install()` function. To build from source:

```bash
git clone https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs
cd nuwiki-rs
cargo build --release -p nuwiki-ls
```

## Build & Installation

### Prerequisites
- For editor integration: Vim 9+ or Neovim 0.5+ with an LSP client (vim-lsp recommended for Vim, built-in for Neovim 0.11+)
- The `nuwiki-ls` binary is downloaded automatically; no Rust toolchain required unless building from source

### Installation via Plugin Managers

#### lazy.nvim
```lua
{
  'gffranco/nuwiki',
  build = ":lua require('nuwiki').install()",
  ft = { 'vimwiki' },
  opts = {
    wiki_root = '~/vimwiki',
  },
}
```

#### vim-plug
```vim
Plug 'gffranco/nuwiki', { 'do': 'vim -e -s -c \"source scripts/download_bin.vim\" -c \"q\"' }
```

#### Dein
```vim
call dein#add('gffranco/nuwiki', {
\ 'build': 'vim -e -s -c \"source scripts/download_bin.vim\" -c \"q\"'
\ })
```

### Manual Installation (Plain Vim)
```bash
git clone https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki ~/.vim/pack/gffranco/start/nuwiki
cd ~/.vim/pack/gffranco/start/nuwiki
vim -e -s -c "source scripts/download_bin.vim" -c "q"
```

Plain Vim users also need an LSP client — vim-lsp is recommended.

## Development Workflow

### Testing (Editor Layer)

```bash
# Run editor tests (shell + Lua harnesses in development/tests/)
./development/tests/test-keymaps.sh
./development/tests/test-calendar.sh
```

For Rust-level tests, see the [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository:

```bash
# In the nuwiki-rs repo
cargo test --workspace
cargo clippy --workspace -- -D warnings
```

### Running the LSP Server Manually (for debugging)

Build from [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) and run:

```bash
cargo run -p nuwiki-ls -- --help
```

The LSP server communicates over stdio. You can test it with an LSP client like `lspci` or by connecting from Neovim.

### Health Check (Neovim)
After installing the plugin, run:
```
:checkhealth nuwiki
```
This verifies:
- Binary exists at `{plugin_dir}/bin/nuwiki-ls`
- Binary is executable and responds to `--version`
- LSP client is running
- Filetype detection works for `.wiki` files

## Editor Layers

### VimL Layer (`plugin/nuwiki.vim`, `autoload/`)
- Universal entry point for all plugin managers
- Detects whether running in Neovim or Vim
- For Neovim: delegates to Lua layer
- For Vim: starts the LSP server via `nuwiki#lsp#start()`

### Neovim Lua Layer (`lua/nuwiki/`)
- `init.lua`: Main setup function
- `config.lua`: Configuration schema and defaults
- `lsp.lua`: Starts the LSP client using `vim.lsp.start()`
- `install.lua`: Handles binary download/build and places it in the plugin's `bin/` directory

### Vim Compatibility Layer (`autoload/nuwiki/lsp.vim`)
- Provides the `nuwiki#lsp#start()` function for Vim
- Handles binary location and LSP client startup via vim-lsp or coc.nvim

## Important Notes

- The Rust LSP server is in the separate [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository.
- This plugin repo contains only the editor client layer (VimL/Lua).
- Editor layers (VimL/Lua) contain zero logic — they are pure wiring only.
- All syntax-specific code lives in the Rust LSP server's `nuwiki-core` crate.

## Getting Started

1. Clone this plugin repository:
    ```bash
    git clone https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki
    cd nuwiki
    ```

2. Install the plugin in your Neovim/Vim configuration using your preferred plugin manager (see above examples). The `nuwiki-ls` binary will be downloaded automatically.

3. Open a .wiki file and verify:
    - Syntax highlighting works
    - `:VimwikiIndex` opens the index page
    - LSP features (go-to-definition, hover, completions) work via `:checkhealth nuwiki`

To modify the LSP server itself, clone the [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) repository and build the binary from source.

## CI/CD

This repo (editor client) uses Gitea Actions:
- CI (`.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml`): Runs editor tests on every push/PR.

The Rust LSP server lives in [nuwiki-rs](https://code.gfran.co/gffranco/nuwiki-rs) which handles:
- Release (`.gitea/workflows/release.yaml`): Triggers on `v*` tag — cross-compiles for Linux targets and creates a Gitea release with downloadable binaries.

### Releasing the plugin

This repo has no release workflow — the plugin is distributed by plugin
managers cloning the git repo, so a "release" is just a git tag. There is no
automated version stamping (the old `scripts/set-version.sh` moved to
nuwiki-rs with the Rust crates), so cut a plugin release by hand:

1. Bump `g:nuwiki_version` in `plugin/nuwiki.vim`.
2. Commit, then `git tag vX.Y.Z && git push --tags`.

The plugin and the `nuwiki-ls` server version independently; the binary is
fetched from nuwiki-rs's `latest` release at install time.

## License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0 at your option.