Neovim for Blog Writing: Plugins, Keymaps, and a Cheatsheet

My Neovim config has always been coding-focused—LSP, treesitter, language-specific keymaps for Zig, Rust, and Go. But I recently wanted to use the same setup for writing blog posts. Here’s what I added to make Neovim a solid prose environment.

The full config is at github.com/prasincs/vim-config.

Writing-Focused Plugins

Zen Mode

zen-mode.nvim removes distractions by centering your buffer and hiding UI elements.

{
  "folke/zen-mode.nvim",
  opts = {},
  keys = {
    { "<leader>z", "<cmd>ZenMode<cr>", desc = "Zen Mode" },
  },
},

Press <Space>z to toggle. The buffer centers itself, line numbers fade, and you’re left with just your text.

The screenshot below shows what zen-mode looks like

Twilight

twilight.nvim dims inactive portions of your file. When combined with Zen Mode, it auto-activates to keep your focus on the current paragraph.

{
  "folke/twilight.nvim",
  opts = {},
},

The screenshot above also shows the dimming.

Render Markdown

render-markdown.nvim renders markdown decorations directly in the buffer—headings get background colors, code blocks are highlighted, lists show proper bullets.

{
  "MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim",
  dependencies = { "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter", "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons" },
  ft = { "markdown" },
  opts = {},
  keys = {
    { "<leader>mr", "<cmd>RenderMarkdown toggle<cr>", desc = "Toggle markdown rendering" },
  },
},

Press <Space>mr to toggle rendering on/off. This is optional if you’re using Hugo’s live server for previews—sometimes the raw markdown is easier to edit.

This was a big new and confusing to me, so here’s a helper

Markdown Configuration

Treesitter Parsers

Add markdown and markdown_inline to your treesitter config for proper syntax highlighting:

{
  "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter",
  opts = {
    ensure_installed = { "markdown", "markdown_inline", --[[ other languages ]] },
  },
},

Prose-Friendly Settings

Markdown files need different settings than code. This autocmd enables word wrap, spell checking, and hides markdown syntax:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("FileType", {
  pattern = "markdown",
  callback = function()
    vim.opt_local.wrap = true
    vim.opt_local.linebreak = true
    vim.opt_local.spell = true
    vim.opt_local.conceallevel = 2
  end,
})

• wrap + linebreak: Text wraps at word boundaries instead of mid-word
• spell: Highlights misspellings (use z= to see suggestions)
• conceallevel = 2: Hides markdown syntax like **bold**, showing just bold

Adding Images and Screenshots

One friction point in markdown blogging is adding images. You either need to manually copy files and write the markdown tag, or leave Neovim entirely. I added helpers to streamline this.

Setup: pngpaste

For clipboard paste support on macOS, you need pngpaste. I use my fork with error handling:

git clone -b error-handling https://github.com/prasincs/pngpaste.git
cd pngpaste
make && sudo make install

Or use the original via Homebrew: brew install pngpaste

Image Helper Functions

The config auto-detects your images directory (static/images, assets/images, etc.) and provides three ways to add images:

When you paste, it:

1. Saves the clipboard image to static/images/screenshot-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png
2. Inserts ![screenshot-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS](/static/images/screenshot-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png) at cursor

The :MarkdownInsertImage command copies an external file into your images directory and inserts the tag—useful for images from Downloads or other projects.

Screen Recordings

For screen recordings, there’s a dedicated workflow that converts videos to GIF automatically:

The search directories are configurable:

local markdown_media_config = {
  image_search_dir = "~/Downloads",  -- Where to search for images with <Space>mI
  recording_search_dir = "~/Desktop", -- Where to search for recordings with <Space>mR
  image_search_depth = 2,             -- How deep to search for images
  recording_search_depth = 1,         -- How deep to search for recordings
}

The <Space>mR keymap opens Telescope filtered to video files (.mov, .mp4, .webm) in your configured directory—~/Desktop by default, where macOS saves screen recordings.

The command handles spaces in filenames naturally:

:MarkdownInsertRecording ~/Desktop/Screen Recording 2025-12-26 at 4.52.47 AM.mov my-demo

The last word without / is treated as the output name, everything before it is the path. This converts the video to GIF using ffmpeg and inserts the markdown tag.

For static images, the keymaps use Telescope for fuzzy finding:

AI-Assisted Writing with Claude Code

I use claudecode.nvim for AI assistance while writing. It integrates Claude directly into Neovim.

{
  "coder/claudecode.nvim",
  dependencies = { "folke/snacks.nvim" },
  opts = {
    terminal_cmd = vim.fn.expand("~/.claude/local/claude"),
  },
  keys = {
    { "<leader>ac", "<cmd>ClaudeCode<cr>", desc = "Toggle Claude" },
    { "<leader>af", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeFocus<cr>", desc = "Focus Claude" },
    { "<leader>as", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeSend<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "Send to Claude" },
    { "<leader>ab", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeAdd %<cr>", desc = "Add current buffer" },
  },
},

Select text, hit <Space>as, and Claude sees your selection. Useful for rephrasing paragraphs or getting feedback on technical explanations.

Cheatsheet

Starting a Writing Session

Navigating Content

Editing

AI Assistance

Spell Checking

Images & Recordings

Conclusion

This setup gives me distraction-free writing with in-buffer markdown rendering, spell checking, and AI assistance—all without leaving Neovim.

It’s been over a decade since I wrote about Perfect Vim Setup for Go. The tooling has evolved dramatically, but the core idea remains: configure your editor to fit how you work.

Full config: github.com/prasincs/vim-config