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swank.nvim Wiki

Pure-Lua Neovim-native Common Lisp development via the Swank protocol.

Contents

Page	Description
Architecture	How the layers fit together; async model; event dispatch
Configuration	Full setup() option reference
Completions	blink.cmp, nvim-cmp, and omnifunc setup
Keybindings	Default keymaps, LSP-compatible overrides, customisation
REPL	REPL usage, window layout, auto-open behaviour
Protocol	Swank S-expression framing internals (for contributors)
Contributing	Coverage floor, test placement, code style
Testing	Test infrastructure, how to run tests, writing new tests

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Quick start

1. Install

lazy.nvim:

{
  "corigne/swank.nvim",
  ft = { "lisp", "commonlisp" },
  opts = {},
}

2. Wire up per-buffer

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  pattern = { "lisp", "commonlisp" },
  callback = function(ev)
    require("swank").attach(ev.buf)
  end,
})

3. Open a Lisp file

Open any .lisp or .cl file. swank.nvim spawns SBCL and connects automatically. The REPL appears as soon as the server is ready.

To connect to an already-running Swank server instead (e.g. on a remote host), disable autostart and use <Leader>lc to connect manually.

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Feature overview

Feature	Status
TCP transport	✅
REPL (eval + output)	✅
Completion (blink.cmp)	✅
Autodoc / arglist	✅
Describe symbol	✅ (floating popup)
Inspect object	✅
Cross-reference (xref)	✅
Find definition	✅
Compiler notes (diagnostics)	✅
Debugger (SLDB)	✅
Trace dialog	✅