Open files in a single instance of neovim

Nvim wrapper script

#!/bin/sh

socket=~/.cache/nvim/server.sock # socket path

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ -z "$WAYLAND_DISPLAY" ]; then
    # on the tty just launch nvim
    nvim "$@"
elif echo "$@" | grep vifm.rename; then
    # when bulk renaming in vifm just launch nvim
    nvim "$@"
else
    if [ -S "$socket" ]; then
        # An instance is already running.
        # Update the current working directory of the instance,
        # then open the new file. <esc><esc> is sent to make sure
        # than nvim is in normal mode before executing the rest
        # of the keystrokes.
        nvim --server "$socket" --remote-send "<esc><esc>:cd $(pwd)<cr>" > /dev/null 2>&1
        nvim --server "$socket" --remote "$@" > /dev/null 2>&1
    else
        # No instance is running yet.
        # Launch a new instance in a terminal window.
        setsid -f kitty nvim "$@" --listen "$socket" > /dev/null 2>&1
    fi
fi

Make sure you specify the socket path as the last argument when launching a new instance with --listen.

This will work:

nvim file1 --listen /path/to/socket

nvim --server /path/to/socket --remote file2

This won’t:

nvim --listen /path/to/socket file1

nvim --server /path/to/socket --remote file2