hologram.nvim
A cross-platform terminal image viewer for Neovim that displays inline images directly in buffers using the Kitty Graphics Protocol.
What is hologram.nvim?
Hologram.nvim is a terminal image viewer plugin for Neovim that allows developers to view images inline within their editor buffers. It solves the problem of needing to switch to external applications to preview images when working with markdown files, documentation, or any text containing image references. The plugin uses the Kitty Graphics Protocol to render images directly in compatible terminals.
Neovim users who work with markdown files, documentation, or any text-based content containing image references and want to preview images without leaving their terminal workflow.
Developers choose Hologram.nvim because it provides seamless inline image viewing in terminal-based Neovim with high performance through Lua/C implementation, extensibility through a public API, and support for advanced terminal graphics protocols.
Overview
👻 A cross platform terminal image viewer for Neovim. Extensible and fast, written in Lua and C. Works on macOS and Linux.
Use Cases
Best For
- Previewing images in markdown files without leaving Neovim
- Viewing image references in documentation directly in the editor
- Developing Neovim plugins that require image display capabilities
- Working with image-heavy text files in terminal-based workflows
- Creating live previews for technical documentation with images
- Building custom image display functionality on top of the exposed API
Not Ideal For
- Users on Windows or terminals that don't support the Kitty Graphics Protocol
- Projects requiring a stable, production-ready plugin without breaking changes
- Teams needing support for image formats beyond PNG, like JPG or GIF
Pros & Cons
Pros
Enables viewing images directly in Neovim buffers with proper positioning and transparency retention, as demonstrated in the showcase GIF and feature list.
Written in Lua and C with efficient image transmission, allowing fast display and dynamic adjustments without re-transmitting data, as noted in the performance claims.
Exposes a Lua API for programmatic image manipulation, enabling integration with other plugins and custom use cases, as shown in the image.lua examples.
Supports real-time image adjustments like size and position changes without flicker or delay, detailed in the display method documentation.
Cons
Marked as highly experimental with expected breaking changes in the README, making it unreliable for critical or long-term projects.
Only works with terminals supporting the Kitty Graphics Protocol on macOS and Linux, excluding Windows and other protocols like iTerm2 without roadmap implementation.
Auto-display feature is WIP and prone to issues, requiring manual API calls for reliable image display, as admitted in the setup notes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
image.nvim🖼️ Bringing images to Neovim.
img-clip.nvimEmbed images into any markup language, like LaTeX, Markdown or Typst
cord.nvim🚀 Discord Rich Presence for Neovim
clipboard-image.nvimNeovim Lua plugin to paste image from clipboard.
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.