A zero-config debugging experience for Neovim 0.12+. One plugin install, full IDE-class debugging: inline variable values, hover inspection, persistent breakpoints, watch expressions, and modal keybindings that just work.

Inspired by Turbo Pascal — the first IDE where you could just hit a key and start debugging.

Install

vim.pack.add("swaits/turbo-debug")

That's it. No other config needed. See :help turbo-debug for customization.

How It Works

turbo-debug is modal. Press <leader>dd and you enter debug mode — the dap-ui layout opens, keybindings activate, virtual text lights up, and you're debugging. Press <leader>dd again (or q) and everything disappears: the session terminates, the UI closes, and every keybinding is restored to exactly what it was.

This modal approach is inspired by debugmaster.nvim. During a debug session you navigate code and inspect state; you don't edit. So debug mode shadows editing keys (c, d, s, r, x) with debug actions and leaves all navigation keys untouched (h, j, k, l, w, b, e, f, /, n, etc.).

A nice text and GUI debugger

The modal keymap is deliberately left-hand optimized so the right hand stays on the mouse for interacting with the dap-ui panes:

Left hand on keyboard: c s d r C x X D W E q R fire the twelve rapid-use debug actions without leaving home row.
Right hand on mouse: click into Watches/Scopes/Stacks/Breakpoints panes to expand trees, jump to frames, add watch expressions, or toggle breakpoints from the GUI.

Only two modal keys live on the right hand, both by universal convention: K for hover (matches the LSP hover key) and ? for help.

Inside dap-ui panes, the native dap-ui mappings still work — d removes a watch, r sends to REPL, e edits. The modal d (step-into) and r (step-out) yield to dap-ui in those buffers so you can manage the GUI without exiting debug mode.

Keybindings

Everything lives under <leader>d (with which-key support if installed):

Key	Action
`<leader>dd`	Toggle debug mode
`<leader>dx`	Toggle breakpoint
`<leader>dX`	Conditional breakpoint
`<leader>dD`	Clear all breakpoints

During debug mode, single-key controls:

Key	Action	Key	Action
`c`	Continue	`x`	Toggle breakpoint
`s`	Step over	`X`	Conditional breakpoint
`d`	Step into	`D`	Clear all breakpoints
`r`	Step out	`W`	Watch expression
`C`	Run to cursor	`K`	Hover / inspect
`q`	Terminate session	`E`	Eval in REPL
`R`	Restart session	`?`	Help popup

Press ? during debug mode for a quick reference that also lists dap-ui's native in-pane bindings (<CR>, e, o, d, r, t).

Extending keymaps

Every key is user-overridable. Remap, disable, or add bindings via setup():

require("turbo-debug").setup({
  keys = {
    step_over = "n",   -- remap a modal key
    watch = false,     -- disable a modal key
  },
  global_keys = {
    toggle = "<leader>D",   -- change the toggle chord
  },
  sidebar = "right",        -- "left" (default) or "right"
  help_on_enter = false,    -- disable the help splash
  quit_exits_mode = false,  -- q terminates but stays in debug mode
})

Statusline integration

If you want a live debug indicator in your statusline, add require("dap").status() as a lualine/heirline component — it returns a progress message while debugging and an empty string when idle.

Supported Languages

turbo-debug ships adapter configs for 12 languages. You install the adapter binary (via mason.nvim, your package manager, or manually) — turbo-debug handles all the configuration.

Language	Adapter	Language	Adapter
Python	debugpy	C#	netcoredbg
JavaScript / TS	js-debug	Java	java-debug-adapter
Go	delve	Kotlin	kotlin-debug
C / C++	codelldb	PHP	php-debug
Rust	codelldb	Ruby	rdbg
Swift	codelldb	Lua (Neovim)	osv

Rust gets special treatment: pressing c runs cargo build automatically and picks the binary via vim.ui.select.

What This Plugin Actually Does

turbo-debug is glue. It does not implement a debugger, a UI framework, virtual text rendering, or breakpoint persistence. It configures and wires together these excellent plugins into a single cohesive experience:

Plugin	What it provides
nvim-dap	DAP client — the core debug engine
nvim-dap-ui	Scopes, stacks, watches, REPL, console UI
nvim-nio	Async IO (required by nvim-dap-ui)
nvim-dap-virtual-text	Inline variable values in source code
persistent-breakpoints.nvim	Breakpoints that survive restarts

All five are loaded automatically via vim.pack.add. You never declare them.

Adapter configurations are inlined from the work of these projects (no runtime dependency, we just studied their configs and wrote plain Lua tables):

License

MIT