FAQ

Why is nvim-dap-view GONE when switching tabs?

nvim-dap-view's defaults aim to be unintrusive: it won't be invoked if not called explicitly. Which means that, by default, it won't reopen when switching tabs. If you would rather have nvim-dap-view's windows "follow" the current tab, you can toggle the option follow_tab:

-- Your nvim-dap-view config
return {
    follow_tab = true,
}
lua

How can I see the value of an expression under cursor (hover)?

You can use nvim-dap's built-in hover widget by calling require("dap.ui.widgets").hover(). See :help dap-widgets for details.

Why is DapViewWatch not adding the whole variable?

In normal mode, :DapViewWatch expands the <cexpr> under the cursor (see :help <cexpr>). By default, this setting works really well for C-like languages, but it can be cumbersome for others. To handle that, you can tweak the value for the 'iskeyword' option (see :h 'iskeyword'). For instance, with PHP, you can use set iskeyword+=$.

How to control which window will be used when jumping to a breakpoint or a call in the stack?

nvim-dap-view ships its own switchbuf (see :help 'switchbuf'), which supports a subset of Neovim's built-in options: newtab, useopen, usetab and uselast. You can customize it with:

-- Your nvim-dap-view config
return {
    switchbuf = "useopen",
}
lua

You can use commas to define fallback behavior (e.g., "useopen,newtab" creates a new tab if the buffer is not found). If there's no match even for the fallback behavior, nvim-dap-view just opens a top-level split.

Why is nvim-dap overriding one of the nvim-dap-view's windows when the program stops?

When windows.terminal.position is set to right, the main window may be used to display the current frame, because nvim-dap has its own internal switchbuf setting (see :help 'switchbuf'), which defaults to the global switchbuf option. A common solution is to set nvim-dap's switchbuf to another value. For instance:

-- Don't change focus if the window is visible,
-- otherwise jump to the first window (from any tab) containing the buffer
--
-- If no window contains the buffer, create a new tab
--
-- See :help dap-defaults to learn more
require("dap").defaults.fallback.switchbuf = "usevisible,usetab,newtab"
lua
Last update at: 2025/09/01 00:35:00