persist.nvim

A lightweight session persistence plugin for Neovim with interactive scratch buffer recovery.

Unlike the built-in :mksession, persist.nvim preserves the contents of unnamed ([No Name]) buffers and provides an interactive recovery workflow.

This means you can safely close Neovim without losing temporary notes, drafts, or command output stored in scratch buffers.

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✨ Features

• 📑 Restore tabs, windows, and split layouts
• 📝 Persist unnamed ([No Name]) scratch buffers
• 👀 Preview scratch buffers before restoring
• ✅ Restore only the tabs you want
• 🗑️ Permanently discard unwanted scratch notes
• 🚫 Automatically ignore empty tabs
• 💾 JSON-based session storage
• ⚡ Lightweight with no external dependencies

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📸 Preview

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📦 Installation

lazy.nvim

{
    "dmshvedchenko/persist.nvim",
    config = function()
        require("persist").setup()
    end,
}

packer.nvim

use {
    "dmshvedchenko/persist.nvim",
    config = function()
        require("persist").setup()
    end,
}

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🚀 Quick Start

Once installed, persist.nvim works automatically.

When Neovim exits, it saves:

• tabs
• windows
• split layouts
• unnamed scratch buffers

The next time Neovim starts, the plugin restores your previous session.

If scratch buffers are found, you'll be prompted to:

• restore all notes;
• review notes one by one;
• permanently discard unwanted notes;
• postpone restoration until later.

No additional configuration is required.

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🤔 Why not :mksession?

The built-in :mksession command restores files and window layouts, but it does not preserve the contents of unnamed ([No Name]) buffers.

persist.nvim solves this problem by storing scratch buffers separately and restoring them through an interactive workflow.

Instead of blindly restoring everything, you can:

• preview every scratch buffer;
• restore only the important ones;
• permanently delete unwanted notes;
• automatically forget empty tabs.

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🛠 Commands

Command	Description
:PersistSave	Save the current session
:PersistRestore	Restore the last saved session

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📂 Storage

Session metadata is stored in:

stdpath("state")/persist/session.json

Scratch buffers are stored in:

stdpath("state")/persist/scratch/

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📋 Requirements

• Neovim 0.10 or newer

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🗺 Roadmap

Planned improvements include:

• native :help persist documentation
• configurable behaviour
• restore hooks
• optional automatic restore
• CI and automated tests

Suggestions and feature requests are always welcome.

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🤝 Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are welcome.

If you discover a bug or have an idea that could improve the plugin, please open an issue.

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📄 License

MIT