Setting Up Zig and ZLS in NvChad (Neovim 0.11+)

A quick guide on installing the Zig compiler, building the Zig Language Server (ZLS) from source, and integrating them seamlessly into a modern NvChad setup using native Neovim LSP configurations.

1. Environment Setup

Install Zig

Install zig using package manager (Fedora/RHEL):

sudo dnf install zig

Install ZLS (Zig Language Server)

You can install ZLS directly from neovim using :Mason , or build it from source:

# Clone the source
git clone https://github.com/zigtools/zls

# go into the repo
cd zls

# Build from source
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

# Link the binary to our local system path

sudo ln -s $(pwd)/zig-out/bin/zls /usr/local/bin/zls

2. Neovim Configuration

Step A: Register the Plugins (lua/plugins/init.lua)

Add zig.vim for syntax handling and configure nvim-treesitter to ensure the Zig parser is automatically installed.

return {
  {
    "stevearc/conform.nvim",
    -- event = 'BufWritePre', -- Uncomment to enable format-on-save globally
    opts = require "configs.conform",
  },

  {
    "neovim/nvim-lspconfig",
    config = function()
      require "configs.lspconfig"
    end,
  },

  -- Zig syntax & auto-formatting
  {
    "ziglang/zig.vim",
    ft = { "zig", "zon" },
    init = function()
      vim.g.zig_fmt_autosave = 1
    end
  },

  -- Tree-sitter highlighting parser
  {
    "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter",
    opts = {
      ensure_installed = { "zig" }
    }
  }
}

Step B: Configure the Native LSP Client (lua/configs/lspconfig.lua)

Using the neovim version 0.11++ vim.lsp.config architecture, loop through our lsp server and bind NvChad’s optimized UI capabilities and keymaps.

-- Load NvChad's diagnostic UI settings and defaults
require("nvchad.configs.lspconfig").defaults()

local servers = { "html", "cssls", "clangd", "zls" }
local nv_lsp = require("nvchad.configs.lspconfig")

-- Configure servers using native Neovim 0.11+ structures
for _, server in ipairs(servers) do
  vim.lsp.config(server, {
    autostart = true,
    capabilities = nv_lsp.capabilities,
    on_attach = nv_lsp.on_attach,
    on_init = nv_lsp.on_init,
  })
end

-- Initialize and activate the servers
vim.lsp.enable(servers)

3. Verification & Troubleshooting

• Lazy Loading check: when opening Neovim to an empty buffer, running :Lazy will show zig.vim under the Not loaded section. This is itentional. Then open any .zig file and check :Lazy again; it will show zig.vim under the Loaded category.
• LSP Status check: when inside an active .zig file, run :LspInfo to ensure zls has correctly attached to the active buffer.