In this post, I will explain the process to configure nvim with NVChad and customize it with nerdfont.

For reference I use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Windows 11, but I assume it would work with other setups.

watari@DESKTOP:~$ pfetch
         _    watari@DESKTOP
     ---(_)   os     Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on Windows 10 [WSL2]
 _/  ---  \   host   x86_64
(_) |   |     kernel 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2
  \  --- _/   uptime 1d 18h 28m
     ---(_)   pkgs   536
              memory 967M / 3846M

watari@DESKTOP:~$

Pre-requisites

  • Neovim 0.10, delete old neovim and its folders
  • Nerd Font as your terminal font. Make sure the nerd font you set doesn’t end with Mono to prevent small icons. Example : JetbrainsMono Nerd Font and not JetbrainsMono Nerd Font Mono Ripgrep is required for grep searching with Telescope (OPTIONAL).
  • GCC / Make

Install neovim 0.10

You may already have another version installed, it’s best to delete it first otherwise we’ll have issues, to check nvim version:

watari@DESKTOP:~$ nvim --version
NVIM v0.10.2
Build type: Release
LuaJIT 2.1.1713484068
Run "nvim -V1 -v" for more info

To delete it on Ubuntu I used below:

sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove neovim
rm -rf ~/.config/nvim
rm -rf ~/.local/state/nvim
rm -rf ~/.local/share/nvim

This should remove nvim and it’s configuration, then on the terminal install neovim as below:

wget https://github.com/neovim/neovim/releases/download/v0.10.0/nvim-linux64.tar.gz
tar xzf nvim-linux64.tar.gz
sudo mv nvim-linux64/bin/nvim /bin
sudo mv nvim-linux64/lib/* /usr/local/lib/
sudo mv nvim-linux64/share/* /usr/local/share/
sudo ldconfig

Now nvim is working without issues, next we will setup nerdfonts.

Nerdfont setup

To setup nerdfonts for WSL on windows navigate to:

https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads

I downloaded BigBlue Terminal, next extract the fonts into the directory C:\Windows\Fonts, since I’m using windows terminal If you use Windows Terminal.I followed these steps:

Go to settings -> select the ubuntu distro or whatever distro you use -> scroll down to additional settings and select appearance -> For font face select the nerdfont you’ve installed then click save.

Install GCC and MAKE

Usually they are already installed, you can check their version as below:

watari@DESKTOP:~$ gcc -v
..
gcc version 13.3.0 (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04)
watari@DESKTOP:~$ make -v
GNU Make 4.3
..
watari@DESKTOP:~$

Anyways to install GCC and MAKE on Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential

Install NVChad

First install node:

sudo apt install npm

Then we install nvchad and run nvim:

git clone https://github.com/NvChad/starter ~/.config/nvim && nvim

You will be presented with below screen:

Image of the terminal showing NVChad is now installed, and presenting the options available

Now we have NVChad installed and ready to be used, you can farther customize it to support different languages and features.