dismiss.nvim

Next to my main coding window, I usually have a sidebar on the left, a symbol outline on the right, and a quickfix or trouble list on the bottom. I always found it annoying to close one of them, because I had to navigate to that window and press <c-w>q. This plugin provides two commands to close windows without breaking your flow.

dismiss() is the smart path. You define a set of dismissible windows by filetype, buftype, or a custom match condition, and it figures out what to close:

• Current window is a float? Close it.
• Only one dismissible window open? Close it.
• Current window is dismissible? Close it (configurable).
• More than one dismissible window open? Show a labeled picker and let the user decide.

pick() skips the rules entirely and opens a labeled picker over all normal windows in the current tabpage — useful when you want to close any window, not just the ones you configured as dismissible.

🎬 Demo

🚀 API

---@param opts? dismiss.ConfigOptions
require("dismiss").setup(opts)

Initializes and configures the plugin. See Configuration.

---@return boolean
require("dismiss").dismiss()

Closes a dismissible window according to the rules described above. Returns true when a window was closed, false when nothing was dismissed (no dismissible windows, or the picker was cancelled).

---@return boolean
require("dismiss").pick()

Opens a labeled picker over all normal windows in the current tabpage, ignoring match rules. If the focused window is a float, it is closed first instead. Returns true when a window was closed, false when the picker was cancelled.

---@return boolean
require("dismiss").has_dismissable_win()

Returns true when the current tabpage contains at least one dismissible window.

⚡️ Requirements

Neovim 0.9.0 or newer

📦 Installation with lazy.nvim

{
    "tummetott/dismiss.nvim",
    lazy = true,
    ---@type dismiss.ConfigOptions
    opts = {
        -- Optional config overrides
    },
    keys = {
        {
            "<c-q>",
            function()
                require("dismiss").dismiss()
            end,
            mode = { "n", "t" },
            desc = "Dismiss window",
        },
        {
            "g<c-q>",
            function()
                require("dismiss").pick()
            end,
            mode = { "n", "t" },
            desc = "Pick window to close",
        },
    },
}

Configuration

---@type dismiss.ConfigOptions
{
    -- When true, dismiss() closes the focused window directly if it is
    -- dismissible, without showing the picker.
    prefer_focused = false,
    -- When true, dismiss() closes the current window if no dismissible windows
    -- are found in the tabpage.
    fallback_to_current = false,

    -- Rules for matching dismissible windows.
    match = {
        -- Match normal windows by filetype.
        filetypes = {},
        -- Match normal windows by buftype.
        buftypes = {},
        -- Callback that receives a window id and returns `true` when that
        -- window should be treated as dismissible.
        condition = nil,
    },

    -- Picker appearance.
    picker = {
        -- Characters used as picker labels.
        charset = "jklasdfhguiopqwertnmzxcbv",
        -- Highlight group used for the label overlay.
        hlgroup = "DismissLabel",
    },
}

Matching is additive. A window is dismissible when its buffer matches filetypes, buftypes, or condition. At least one matcher must be configured; with all matchers unset, the plugin does nothing.

match.condition is useful for windows that cannot be matched by filetype or buftype alone. For example, to make the command-line window (q:, q/) dismissible:

condition = function()
    return vim.fn.getcmdwintype() ~= ""
end

If match.condition throws an error, dismiss.nvim ignores it and treats the window as not matched.

If picker.hlgroup does not exist, the plugin derives it from Visual with bold = true.

🪟 Picker controls

• Press the displayed label to close the corresponding window.
• <Esc> or any unlabeled key cancels the operation.

👯 Similar Plugins

• s1n7ax/nvim-window-picker
• radioactivepb/smartclose.nvim