tmp-edit.nvim

This plugin copies a file to the system's temporary directory ($TMPDIR or \tmp) for editing, helping reduce input lag when editing files on remote mounts (e.g., sshfs). The file is synced each time the file is saved back to its original path.

This is useful if you are mounting a file-system using sshfs and you want to edit without using ssh, which allows system wide clipboard, configration etc. The main reason is that as sshfs uses ssh as backend, it is slow, causing input lags and jitters even in the lightest of editors.

There are two main functions, start_edit_in_tmp which copies the current file to $TMPDIR and sets it to the buffer. Each time this file is written, the changes are synced back to the original file.

stop_edit_in_tmp changes the buffer back to the original file.

One can use toggle_edit_in_tmp to toggle the above functions for ease.

Note

This plugin is in active development and may not work as intended, do not use it for critical files.

This plugin restarts the LSPs for editing the temp file to prevent errors and lags when the LSPs is set to the sshfs mounted path.

There is a issue with using LSPs for different languages which may conflict with the editing of temp file, when they are in the same neovim instance

This plugin simply copies the written file back to the original file, if there are changes in the original file while in tmp-edit, the changes WILL be overwritten.

Installation

To install and add the keymaps in using lazy.nvim

return {
  "GeordyJ/tmp-edit.nvim",
  lazy = true,
  opts = { --default options
    verbose = false,
    set_timestep = true,
    tmp_dir = os.getenv("TMPDIR") or "/tmp",
  },

  keys = {
    {
      "<leader>gt", --change it to your liking
      function()
        require("tmp-edit").toggle_edit_in_tmp() -- or use start_edit_in_tmp and stop_edit_in_tmp
      end,
      desc = "Toggle Temp Edit",
    },
  },
}