YankBank

A Neovim plugin for keeping track of more recent yanks and deletions and exposing them in a quick access menu.

What it Does

YankBank stores the N recent yanks into the unnamed register ("), then populates a popup window with these recent yanks, allowing for quick access to recent yank history. Upon opening the popup menu, the current contents of the unnamedplus (+) register are also added to the menu (if they are different from the current contents of the unnamed register).

Choosing an entry from the menu (by hitting enter) will paste it into the currently open buffer at the cursor position.

YankBank also offers persistence between sessions, meaning that you won't lose your yanks after closing and reopening a session (see persistence).

Screenshots

The menu is specific to the current session, and will only contain the contents of the current unnamedplus register upon opening in a completely new session. It will be populated further for each yank or deletion in that session.

Installation and Setup

With Persistence (Recommended)

Using lazy.nvim

{
    "ptdewey/yankbank-nvim",
    dependencies = "kkharji/sqlite.lua",
    config = function()
        require('yankbank').setup({
            persist_type = "sqlite",
        })
    end,
}

Without persistence:

Using lazy.nvim

{
    "ptdewey/yankbank-nvim",
    config = function()
        require('yankbank').setup()
    end,
}

Setup Options

The setup function also supports taking in a table of options:

Option	Type	Default
max_entries	integer number of entries to show in popup	10
sep	string separator to show between table entries	"-----"
keymaps	table containing keymap overrides	{}
keymaps.navigation_next	string	"j"
keymaps.navigation_prev	string	"k"
keymaps.paste	string	"<CR>"
keymaps.paste_back	string	"P"
keymaps.yank	string	"yy"
keymaps.close	table of strings	{ "<Esc>", "<C-c>", "q" }
num_behavior	string defining jump behavior "prefix" or "jump"	"prefix"
focus_gain_poll	boolean	nil
registers	table container for register overrides	{ }
registers.yank_register	default register to yank from popup to	"+"
persist_type	string defining persistence type "sqlite" or nil	nil
db_path	string defining database file path for use with sqlite persistence	plugin install directory

Example Configuration

{
    "ptdewey/yankbank-nvim",
    config = function()
        require('yankbank').setup({
            max_entries = 9,
            sep = "-----",
            num_behavior = "jump",
            focus_gain_poll = true,
            persist_type = "sqlite",
            keymaps = {
                paste = "<CR>",
                paste_back = "P",
            },
            registers = {
                yank_register = "+",
            },
        })
    end,
}

If no separator is desired, pass in an empty string for sep

The 'num_behavior' option defines in-popup navigation behavior when hitting number keys.

• num_behavior = "prefix" works similar to traditional vim navigation with '3j' moving down 3 entries in the bank.
• num_behavior = "jump" jumps to entry matching the pressed number key (i.e. '3' jumps to entry 3)
  • Note: If 'max_entries' is a two-digit number, there will be a delay upon pressing numbers that prefix a valid entry.

The 'focus_gain_poll' option allows for enabling an additional autocommand that watches for focus gains (refocusing Neovim window), and checks for changes in the unnamedplus ('+') register, adding to yankbank when new contents are found. This allows for automatically adding text copied from other sources (like a browser) to the yankbank without the bank opening trigger. Off by default, but I highly recommend enabling it with focus_gain_poll = true.

Persistence

For the best experience with YankBank, enabling persistence is highly recommended. If persistence is enabled, sqlite.lua will be used to create a persistent store for recent yanks in the plugin root directory. To utilize sqlite persistence, "kkharji/sqlite.lua" must be added as a dependency in your config, and persist_type must be set to "sqlite":

-- lazy
return {
    "ptdewey/yankbank-nvim",
    dependencies = "kkharji/sqlite.lua",
    config = function()
        require('yankbank').setup({
            -- other options...
            persist_type = "sqlite"
        })
    end,
}

Note: The database can be cleared with the :YankBankClearDB command or by deleting the db file (found in the plugin install directory by default).

If you run into any SQL related issues, please file an issue on GitHub. (As a temporary fix, you can also try clearing the database)

If you run into permissions issues when creating the db file (i.e. when installing using Nix), use the db_path option to change the default file path. (vim.fn.stdpath("data") should work)

Usage

The popup menu can be opened with the command::YankBank, an entry is pasted at the current cursor position by hitting enter, and the menu can be closed by hitting escape, ctrl-c, or q. An entry from the menu can also be yanked into the unnamedplus register by hitting yy.

I would personally also recommend setting a keybind to open the menu.

-- map to '<leader>y'
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>y", "<cmd>YankBank<CR>", { noremap = true })

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API (WIP)

Some plugin internals are also accessible via the YankBank api.

Examples:

-- get the ith entry in the bank
---@param i integer index to get
-- output format: { yank_text = "entry", reg_type = "v" }
local e = require("yankbank.api").get_entry(i)

-- add an entry to the bank
---@param yank_text string yank text to add to YANKS table
---@param reg_type string register type "v", "V", or "^V" (visual, v-line, v-block respectively)
require("yankbank.api").add_entry("yank_text", "reg_type")

-- remove an entry from the bank by index
---@param i integer index to remove
require("yankbank.api").remove_entry(i)

--- pin entry to yankbank so that it won't be removed when its position exceeds the max number of entries
---@param i integer index to pin
require("yankbank.api").pin_entry(i)


--- unpin bank entry
---@param i integer index to unpin
require("yankbank.api").unpin_entry(i)

For more details about the API see lua/yankbank/api.lua

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Potential Improvements

• nvim-cmp integration
• fzf integration
• telescope integration

Alternatives

• nvim-neoclip
• yanky.nvim