How do I add floating scratch buffers, a built-in file picker, and lazygit integration in Neovim using a single plugin?

Explanation

snacks.nvim by folke is a curated collection of small, high-quality Neovim utilities packaged as a single plugin. Unlike mega-plugins, each "snack" can be independently enabled or disabled, so you only pay for what you use.

How it works

Install with lazy.nvim:

{
  'folke/snacks.nvim',
  priority = 1000,
  lazy = false,
  opts = {
    picker = { enabled = true },       -- fuzzy file picker
    terminal = { enabled = true },     -- floating terminal
    scratch = { enabled = true },      -- scratch buffer
    lazygit = { enabled = true },      -- lazygit integration
    notifier = { enabled = true },     -- notification UI
    bigfile = { enabled = true },      -- auto-disable for large files
    words = { enabled = true },        -- highlight word occurrences
  },
}

Key commands once installed:

• :lua Snacks.picker.files() — fuzzy file picker (replaces Telescope for common cases)
• :lua Snacks.picker.grep() — live grep across project
• :lua Snacks.terminal() — floating terminal (toggle with a mapping)
• :lua Snacks.scratch() — open a persistent scratch buffer
• :lua Snacks.lazygit() — open lazygit in a floating window
• :lua Snacks.words.jump(1) — jump to next occurrence of word under cursor

Tips

• Snacks.picker is highly competitive with Telescope but has faster startup since it's Lua-native with no Plenary dependency
• Snacks.bigfile automatically disables Treesitter, LSP, and other features for files over a configurable size threshold — crucial for opening logs or minified files
• Add keymaps via lazy.nvim's keys array for zero-overhead lazy loading
• Snacks.toggle provides consistent toggle functions for diagnostics, inlay hints, spell check, and more with LSP-aware behavior