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blak.nvim

Install

Blak installs under its own NVIM_APPNAME, so it cannot overwrite an existing Neovim configuration.

One command

Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://getblak.dev/install.sh | sh
blak

That script:

  1. Verifies Git and Neovim 0.12+ are present.
  2. Creates a sparse runtime checkout at ~/.config/blak.
  3. Writes a launcher at ~/.local/bin/blak that runs NVIM_APPNAME=blak nvim.
  4. Prints a one-line status with any caveats.

The runtime checkout includes Blak’s Lua runtime, Vim help files, picker ignore metadata, lockfile, changelog, license, notice, README, and logo. It leaves out contributor-only files such as docs/, scripts/, .github/, and generated splash source assets.

If ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH, you’ll see a hint to either add it or run NVIM_APPNAME=blak nvim directly. An optional shell alias does the same:

Terminal window
alias blak='NVIM_APPNAME=blak nvim'

What it creates

PathPurpose
~/.config/blak/Sparse runtime checkout
~/.local/bin/blakLauncher that sets NVIM_APPNAME=blak
~/.local/share/blak/Plugin data (lazy.nvim)
~/.local/state/blak/State including the extras file

Nothing under ~/.config/nvim/ is touched.

Customizing the install location

The installer respects environment variables when you want isolation for testing or multiple checkouts.

Terminal window
# Install under a different app name (e.g. blak-dev)
curl -fsSL https://getblak.dev/install.sh | BLAK_APPNAME=blak-dev sh


# Install from a fork
curl -fsSL https://getblak.dev/install.sh | \
  BLAK_REPO_URL=https://github.com/your-fork/blak.nvim.git sh


# Install a specific branch or tag from that repo
curl -fsSL https://getblak.dev/install.sh | BLAK_REF=feature-branch sh

When BLAK_APPNAME is set, the config directory and launcher both use that name. For example, BLAK_APPNAME=blak-dev creates ~/.config/blak-dev/ and ~/.local/bin/blak-dev.

From a clone (developers)

If you want to hack on Blak itself, clone first and symlink:

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/binbandit/blak.nvim ~/Developer/blak.nvim
cd ~/Developer/blak.nvim
./dev-install.sh
blak-dev

This symlinks the checkout to ~/.config/blak-dev. Edits in the checkout are live on next launch, with plugin state fully isolated from a production blak install. See Contributing for the full dev loop.

Uninstalling

Terminal window
rm -rf ~/.config/blak ~/.local/share/blak ~/.local/state/blak ~/.local/bin/blak

That’s it — no system files were touched.