Completion & Snippets

Completion Engine

LazyVim supports two completion engines. The variable vim.g.lazyvim_cmp controls which one to use:

Value	Engine	Default?
"auto"	Auto-detect via :LazyExtras	Default
"nvim-cmp"	nvim-cmp (traditional)	Installed by default
"blink.cmp"	blink.cmp (faster, newer)	Enable via coding.blink extra

Switch Between Engines

lua/config/options.lua

-- Force nvim-cmp
vim.g.lazyvim_cmp = "nvim-cmp"

-- Or force blink.cmp (after enabling the extra)
vim.g.lazyvim_cmp = "blink.cmp"

nvim-cmp (Default)

nvim-cmp is the traditional completion engine that ships with LazyVim by default.

Keymaps (Insert Mode)

Key	Action
<C-space>	Manually trigger completion
<C-n> / <C-p>	Next / previous item in menu
<C-y>	Confirm selection
<C-e>	Cancel / close menu
<C-d>	Scroll documentation down
<C-f>	Scroll documentation up
<CR>	Confirm selected item
<Tab>	Select next item (if configured via Supertab recipe)

Completion Sources

nvim-cmp fetches suggestions from these sources:

Source	Provides
LSP	Variables, functions, types from language server
Snippets (LuaSnip)	Code snippets
Buffer	Words already in current buffer
Path	File paths (./, ../)
Treesitter	Context-aware tokens
LazyDev	Lua APIs for Neovim config files

Add a Custom Source

lua/plugins/cmp.lua

return {
  "hrsh7th/nvim-cmp",
  dependencies = { "hrsh7th/cmp-emoji" },
  opts = function(_, opts)
    table.insert(opts.sources, { name = "emoji" })
  end,
}

Supertab (Tab for Completion)

Enable Tab to cycle completions and expand snippets:

lua/plugins/cmp.lua

return {
  "hrsh7th/nvim-cmp",
  opts = function(_, opts)
    local has_words_before = function()
      local line, col = unpack(vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(0))
      return col ~= 0 and vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, line - 1, line, true)[1]:sub(col, col):match("%s") == nil
    end
    local cmp = require("cmp")
    opts.mapping = vim.tbl_extend("force", opts.mapping, {
      ["<Tab>"] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
        if cmp.visible() then
          cmp.select_next_item()
        elseif vim.snippet.active({ direction = 1 }) then
          vim.schedule(function() vim.snippet.jump(1) end)
        elseif has_words_before() then
          cmp.complete()
        else
          fallback()
        end
      end, { "i", "s" }),
      ["<S-Tab>"] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
        if cmp.visible() then
          cmp.select_prev_item()
        elseif vim.snippet.active({ direction = -1 }) then
          vim.schedule(function() vim.snippet.jump(-1) end)
        else
          fallback()
        end
      end, { "i", "s" }),
    })
  end,
}

blink.cmp (Alternative)

Faster, more modern completion engine. Enable it:

lua/plugins/extras.lua

return {
  { import = "lazyvim.plugins.extras.coding.blink" },
}

blink.cmp keymaps are similar — C-space triggers, C-n/C-p navigate, C-y/CR confirm.

Snippets (LuaSnip)

LazyVim uses LuaSnip for snippet expansion with nvim-cmp.

Default Snippet Keymaps

Key	Mode	Action
<C-k>	Insert	Jump forward through snippet placeholders
<C-j>	Insert	Jump backward through snippet placeholders

Built-in Snippets

LazyVim includes snippets for common languages via friendly-snippets:

• Lua: fun, if, for, while, req (require)
• JavaScript/TypeScript: fun, arrow, class, import, export
• Python: def, class, if, for, print
• HTML: div, a, img, link, script
• Markdown: code, link, img, table

Trigger a Snippet

Type a snippet trigger word and press <C-space> to trigger completion, then select the snippet from the menu.

Example in a Python file:

1. Type def
2. Press <C-space>
3. Select def snippet from menu
4. Fill in function name, parameters, body — press <C-k> to jump between placeholders

Create Custom Snippets

Create ~/.config/nvim/snippets/ directory:

lua/plugins/snippets.lua

return {
  "L3MON4D3/LuaSnip",
  opts = function(_, opts)
    local ls = require("luasnip")
    -- Add a simple snippet
    ls.add_snippets("lua", {
      ls.snippet("log", {
        ls.text_node('print("DEBUG: " .. '),
        ls.insert_node(1),
        ls.text_node(")"),
      }),
    })
    -- Or load from snipmate format
    -- require("luasnip.loaders.from_snipmate").load({ paths = "~/.config/nvim/snippets" })
  end,
}

Snippet File Format (SnipMate)

~/.config/nvim/snippets/lua.json:

{
  "log": {
    "prefix": "log",
    "body": "print(\"DEBUG: \" .. ${1:text})",
    "description": "Print debug log"
  }
}

Or ~/.config/nvim/snippets/lua.snippets:

snippet log "Print debug log"
print("DEBUG: " .. $1)
endsnippet

Completion Flow (Keyboard-Only)

1. Type code normally                  ← LSP sources show suggestions automatically
2. Press <C-space> to trigger          ← Forces completion menu to appear
3. <C-n> / <C-p> to navigate           ← Up/down through suggestions
4. <C-y> to accept                     ← Completes the word
5. If snippet: press <C-k>             ← Jump to next placeholder
6. Type the placeholder value
7. <C-k> again when done               ← Moves to next field or finishes
8. <C-e> to close menu                 ← Cancel if you changed your mind

Related

• Configuration
• Recipes
• LazyVim Cheatsheet