nldates.nvim

Natural language dates for Neovim. Parse date strings like "next Friday", "tomorrow", or "2 weeks ago" into formatted dates.

Features

• Parse natural language dates using chrono-node
• Format dates with moment.js
• Visual mode integration - select text and transform in place

Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.9.0
• Node.js >= 18
• npm

Run :checkhealth provider in Neovim to verify your Node provider is working.

Installation

Lazy.nvim

return {
   "obsidian-nvim/nldates.nvim",
   build = function()
      if not vim.g.node_host_prog then
         vim.g.node_host_prog = vim.fn.exepath("neovim-node-host")
      end
      vim.fn.jobstart("cd rplugin/node/nldates; npm install")
      vim.cmd("UpdateRemotePlugins")
   end,
}

Manual npm Installation

cd ~/.local/share/nvim/lazy/nldates.nvim/rplugin/node/nldates
npm install

Restart Neovim after installation.

Node Provider Setup

1. Install Node.js >= 18
2. Install the neovim npm package: npm install -g neovim
3. Run :checkhealth provider in Neovim to verify

Usage

Select a date string in visual mode and run:

:'<,'>lua require("nldates").replace_selection()

Keybinding

Replace date

vim.keymap.set("v", "<leader>nd", function()
   require("nldates").replace_selection()
end)

Select next friday and press gd → becomes 2025-02-21

Format with moment.js

See https://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/format/ for full reference.

vim.keymap.set("v", "<leader>nd", function()
   require("nldates").replace_selection({ format = "[[][[]YYYY-MM-DD[]][]]" })
end)

Select next friday and press gd → becomes 2025-02-21

API

require("nldates").replace_selection(opts?)

Parses the visual selection as a natural language date and replaces it.

Options:

• format (string): Output format. Default: "YYYY-MM-DD"

Supported Date Formats

• Relative: "tomorrow", "next week", "2 days ago"
• Specific: "January 15th", "2025-01-15"
• Day names: "next friday", "last monday"
• Time: "at 3pm", "tomorrow morning"