Minimal Neovim pt7: File Exploration with Neotree

Neotree is a great plugin to use as a file explorer within Neovim. Neotree provides full file and directory management functions; add/remove/rename/move both files and directories, navigate up and down the directory tree, and much more.

Below is my minimal plugin spec, mostly taken from Lazy.nvim:

return {
  "nvim-neo-tree/neo-tree.nvim",
  cmd = "Neotree",
  branch = "v3.x",
  dependencies = {
    "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim",
    "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons", -- not strictly required, but recommended
    "MunifTanjim/nui.nvim",
    -- "3rd/image.nvim", -- Optional image support in preview window: See `# Preview Mode` for more information
  },
  keys = {
    {
      "<leader>fe",
      function()
        -- require("neo-tree.command").execute({ toggle = true, dir = LazyVim.root() })
        require("neo-tree.command").execute({ toggle = true, dir = vim.uv.cwd() })
      end,
      desc = "Explorer NeoTree (Root Dir)",
    },
    {
      "<leader>fE",
      function()
        require("neo-tree.command").execute({ toggle = true, dir = vim.uv.cwd() })
      end,
      desc = "Explorer NeoTree (cwd)",
    },
    { "<leader>e", "<leader>fe", desc = "Explorer NeoTree (Root Dir)", remap = true },
    { "<leader>E", "<leader>fE", desc = "Explorer NeoTree (cwd)", remap = true },
  },
  opts = {
    close_if_last_window = true,    -- closes Neovim if all non-Neotree windows are closed (i.e. after closing a window, if Neotree is the last open window, close Neovim).
    popup_border_style = "rounded"  -- fixes top half of popup menu from being cutof
  },
}

A few important notes:

Explore Root Directory

LazyNvim default binds <leader>e to open Neotree in the root directory for the project. I believe that means it traverses up the directory tree until it finds the .git directory, which is typically placed at the root of a project.

This is a very handy function, however it relies on a custom function for determining the root directory in a project, which I have not found/fully understood yet. Once I do, I will re-enable that keymap.

Fix Popup Window Render

Adding or renaming a file in Neotree is supposed to display a popup window in the Neotree window for the user to input the file name. I noticed in my minimal configuration, the top half of this window appears to be missing/cutoff. Upon closer look, the prompt text in the window also appears to be quite dark.

By chance, I added the option popup_border_style = "rounded" as this option is present in Lazyvim and noticed that the popup now displays correctly.

Neotree offers great file exporation capabilities, while also being pretty simple to add. Its unfortunate that there does not appear to be a built-in ability to open Neotree to the root project directory, or atleast if there is, it is not implemented in Lazyvim. I did file a bug report for the cutoff popup window but I cannot confirm if this is a true bug in the code or a conflict with my configuration. Either way, navigating files in projects is now far easier than via the command line.