vim-arb — Documentation

>_VIM-ARB — ARB IN VIM AND NEOVIM

Load it with pathogen, get full arb support in Vim / Neovim. arb is a Tcl/Tk-flavored declarative language for visualizing and modifying Unix pipelines — pipe a stream in and it spawns a ratatui TUI or a served web page from a small spec, on fusevm/JIT. vim-arb registers the arb filetype for *.arb files and arb shebangs, highlights with a standalone arb grammar (widgets, query verbs, input sources, directives, keywords, widget paths, -flags, /regex/), indents with a brace-aware indenter, wires :make / :ArbRun through the arb binary, registers arb --check as an ALE linter, and registers arb --lsp for vim-lsp and coc.nvim (plus arb --dap guidance for nvim-dap).

Install

The arb binary must be on $PATH for running, linting and LSP. Then drop the plugin into your runtimepath:

# pathogen
cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone https://github.com/MenkeTechnologies/vim-arb
# then, inside vim:  :Helptags

# vim-plug (add to ~/.vimrc / init.vim)
Plug 'MenkeTechnologies/vim-arb'

# native packages (Vim 8+ / Neovim)
git clone https://github.com/MenkeTechnologies/vim-arb \
    ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start/vim-arb

Open any .arb file and it lights up — no further configuration. Help: :help vim-arb.

What you get

Filetype detection

Every *.arb file becomes filetype=arb. Extensionless scripts with a #!/usr/bin/env arb shebang are detected too.

Syntax highlighting

A standalone arb grammar — widgets, query verbs, input sources, directives, control flow, declarations, widget paths, -flags, /regex/, strings, durations/sizes, and operators — built from arb's own LSP corpus.

Indentation

A standalone brace-aware indenter — indents after a line that opens a block / paren / bracket, dedents lines that start with a closing delimiter.

Run & lint

:compiler arb wires :make to arb --check into the quickfix list; :ArbRun executes the buffer via arb %. ALE runs the same lint inline.

Language server & debugger

Registers arb --lsp for vim-lsp (filetype arb) — diagnostics, hover, completion; coc.nvim + nvim-dap (arb --dap) snippets in the README. Each is invoked with only its flag (no appended --stdio), and the wiring is guarded so the plugin still loads cleanly if the binary is absent.

Zero config

No settings required. Opt-outs: g:vim_arb_no_ale, g:vim_arb_no_lsp, and g:vim_arb_no_maps to skip an integration or the run mapping.

Token categories

The grammar classifies tokens into the categories arb's language defines — built from the verb / widget / directive corpus the arb binary ships:

Group	Tokens (sample)
Widgets	`text` `tail` `table` `list` `gauge` `spark` `bars` `histo` `chart` `select` `input` `tabs` `block` `frame` `grid`
Input sources	`in` `in.json` `in.csv` `in.tsv` `in.xml` `in.html` `in.yaml` `in.toml` `in.logfmt`
Directives	`source` `bind` `configure` `grid` `import` `out` `search` `timeout` `expect`
Control flow	`if` `elif` `else` `for` `while` `match` `case` `when` `break` `continue` `return`
Declarations	`fn` `var` `let` `import` `save` `as`
Query verbs	`field` `fields` `find` `attr` `where` `pick` `map` `tally` `count` `sum` `sort_by` `group_by` `uniq` `percentile` `sma`
Actions	`alert` `beep` `exec` `flash` `quit`
Widget paths	`.codes` `.errors` `.ps.sel`
Flags	`-label` `-max` `-cols` `-color` `-prompt` `-tabs`

Regex literals (/.../, optional trailing i), single- and double-quoted strings with escapes, the |> / <- / => operators, durations / sizes, numbers, and the full operator set are handled too. Everything links to standard highlight groups, so every colorscheme covers it without bespoke tuning.

Layout

vim-arb/
├── ftdetect/arb.vim     # *.arb + arb shebang -> filetype=arb
├── syntax/arb.vim       # standalone arb grammar (widgets, verbs, sources)
├── scripts/gen_syntax.sh # stamps syntax/arb.vim with the arb version
├── ftplugin/arb.vim     # commentstring '# %s', :compiler arb, :ArbRun
├── compiler/arb.vim     # :make via arb --check -> quickfix
├── indent/arb.vim       # standalone brace-aware indenter
├── plugin/arb.vim       # ALE linter + vim-lsp + coc + nvim-dap wiring
└── doc/arb.txt          # :help vim-arb

Standard Vim runtime layout, so pathogen / vim-plug / native packages add it to runtimepath with no special handling. Licensed MIT.

Compatibility

Editor / plugin	Status
Vim 8+	Filetype, syntax, indent, ftplugin, compiler
Neovim	Same runtime files
ALE	`arb --check` linter
vim-lsp	`arb --lsp` language server
coc.nvim	`languageserver` config in README
nvim-dap	`arb --dap` debug adapter config in README