How do I add a per-window title bar showing the current file name in Neovim?

Explanation

Neovim 0.8 introduced the winbar option: a line displayed at the top of each window, separate from the global statusline. Unlike the statusline (which can only show one window's information at a time), winbar renders independently for every split, making it easy to track which file each panel contains at a glance.

How it works

winbar accepts the same %-escapes as statusline:

• %f — relative file path (most compact)
• %F — full file path
• %t — filename only (tail)
• %m — modified flag ([+] when unsaved)
• %r — readonly flag ([RO])
• %= — separator (right-align everything after this)
• %l:%c — line and column number

A practical configuration that shows the filename left-aligned and line/column right-aligned:

set winbar=%f\ %m%=%l:%c

Or, using Neovim Lua (init.lua):

vim.opt.winbar = "%f %m%=%l:%c"

Example

With set winbar=%t %m and two vertical splits open, each split displays its own filename above its content — for instance server.go [+] on the left and client.go on the right — even while the status line at the bottom only shows information for the focused window.

Tips

• winbar is a global-local option: set it globally and then override it per-window with setlocal winbar= (empty string) to hide it for specific windows such as file trees or quickfix panels
• Use %{fnamemodify(expand('%'), ':~:.')} for a path relative to the home directory, similar to how many terminals truncate long paths
• Pair with Neovim's nvim_set_decoration_provider or BufWinEnter autocmds to populate winbar dynamically with LSP breadcrumbs or git branch information
• winbar requires Neovim 0.8 or later; it is not available in Vim