goolord / alpha-nvim

a lua powered greeter like vim-startify / dashboard-nvim

α alpha-nvim

alpha is a fast and fully programmable greeter for neovim.

share or snipe some custom themes @ #16

Quick Start

vim-startify theme

EXAMPLES

With lazy.nvim:

{
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    dependencies = { 'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons' },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.config)
    end
};

With packer:

use {
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    requires = { 'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons' },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.config)
    end
}

..or using paq:

require "paq" {
    "goolord/alpha-nvim";
    "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons";
}
require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.config)

dashboard-nvim theme

EXAMPLES

With lazy.nvim:

{
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.dashboard'.config)
    end
};

With packer:

use {
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.dashboard'.config)
    end
}

..or using paq:

require "paq" {
    "goolord/alpha-nvim";
    "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons";
}
require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.dashboard'.config)

Theta theme

EXAMPLES

With lazy.nvim:

{
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    dependencies = {
        'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons',
        'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim'
    },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.theta'.config)
    end
};

With packer:

use {
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    requires = {
        'nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons',
        'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim'
    },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.dashboard'.config)
    end
}

..or using paq:

require "paq" {
    "goolord/alpha-nvim";
    "nvim-tree/nvim-web-devicons";
    'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim';
}
require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.dashboard'.config)

if you want sessions, see

• https://github.com/Shatur/neovim-session-manager
• :h :mks

this theme makes some assumptions about your default keybindings to customize the buttons, see :h alpha-example

Elevator pitch

alpha is really a general purpose neovim ui library with some conveniences for writing a greeter ui. it has a functional, data-oriented api design. themes are expressed entirely as data, which is what makes alpha "fully programmable". alpha is also the fastest greeter I've benchmarked (which is why I daily drive it myself!).

Profiling Results

• using https://github.com/lewis6991/impatient.nvim
• only config! doesn't measure drawing, some startup plugins won't measure drawing either

Special Thanks

• https://github.com/glepnir/dashboard-nvim - inspiration, code reference
• https://github.com/mhinz/vim-startify - inspiration

alpha-nvim's Issues

Error 5108: Invalid buffer id: 1

I can't quite figure out why this is happening, but I'm getting the above error occasionally (see screenshot):

Utf8 header not center

Your function longest_line failed in uft8, I suggest create a function to count utf8 length similar to this

Create bookmarks to files and keep the icons.

Right now I have something like this to have bookmarks to files:

    startify.section.bottom_buttons.val = {
        startify.button(
            "c",
            "~/.config/nvim/lua/config.lua",
            ":e ~/.config/nvim/lua/config.lua<CR>"
        ),
        startify.button("i", "~/.config/nvim/init.lua", ":e ~/.config/nvim/init.lua<CR>"),
        startify.button(
            "P",
            "~/.config/nvim/lua/modules/plugins/init.lua",
            ":e ~/.config/nvim/lua/modules/plugins/init.lua<CR>"
        ),

But, as you can see, it doesn't show up with icons.

This is just a nitpick and I'm happy with it not showing icons for those files, but I was wondering if it was possible to make it so I can create bookmarks to files and have it with icons.

Also, not related to this issue but how can I change and add titles ? I've looking through the docs and playing around with a few options but can't figure it out.

For example, I'd like to add "Bookmarks" above those files. and I'd like to change the MRU from this image:

To something else.

Ability to add commands like startify_commands?

With startify there is possibility to add commands, session dir and bookmarks.
Is there any way to achieve such for alpha-nvim?

refactor: Extract common theme elements

Make Alpha more approachable for theming by pulling out things like the header out to a common module that themes can use. alpha.themes.common, for example.

Startify theme: attempt to index a nil value

Hi,

when I configure alpha to use startify theme:

    use {
        'goolord/alpha-nvim',
        config = function()
            require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.opts)
        end
    }

I get error on startup:

packer.nvim: Error running config for alpha-nvim: ...ck/packer/start/alpha-nvim/lua/alpha/themes/startify.lua:64: attempt to index a nil value

Any idea how to solve?
Thanks

Error on startup: attempt to call global 'from_nil'

Hi,

I tried install your nice plugin but right after startup I got:

E5108: Error executing lua ...are/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/alpha-nvim/lua/alpha.lua:82: attempt to call global 'from_nil' (a nil value)

Installed using packer:

use {
        'goolord/alpha-nvim',
        requires = {'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons'},
        config = function()
            require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.opts)
        end
}

Thanks for fixing :)

[Help ] How to disable another plugin when in dashboard

I am usingindent-blankline.nvim. And disable it when in the dashboard like this.

require("indent_blankline").setup { space_char_blankline = " ", show_current_context = true, context_patterns = { "def", "class", "return", "function", "method", "^if", "^while", "jsx_element", "^for" -- ... and you can add more }, buftype_exclude = {"terminal"}, filetype_exclude = {"dashboard"} }
Did I do anything wrong?

highlight group for fortunes doesn't work

first off, tyvm for your work on this 👍

i'm setting hl="Comment" for my footer, but sadly it doesn't work

here is the code that i'm using

local fortune = require "alpha.fortune"()
local footer = {
    type = "text",
    val = fortune,
    opts = {
      position = "center",
      hl = "Comment",
      hl_shortcut = "Comment",
    },
  }

and this is what i get

also when i add this part

local fortune = require "alpha.fortune"()
fortune = fortune:gsub("^%s+", ""):gsub("%s+$", "")

i get sth like this

do you have any idea why it doesn't work?
here is my config in case you need it
https://github.com/abzcoding/lvim/blob/main/lua/user/dashboard.lua#L50

[Feature request] Map `q` to exit startup screen.

I know I can do this on my own, but vim-startify does this by default and it's a standard that a lot of other UI related plugins follow, where q exits out (e.g nvim-tree, startify, neogit, etc ...)

slow startuptime on old cpu

hi! I had used dashboard-nvim before and it was quite fast and written in vimscript . I have a low end machine with pentium cpu so the startuptime matters for me!

alpha :

dashboard-nvim :

lazy rendering

new layout element type pseudocode:

{
  type = "lazy", placeholder = {"--", "--", "--"}, 
  val = async function () return {type = "text", val = io()} end
}

show cmd output in floating window

dashboard.nvim has the ability to cat files and put the output as a floating term on the dashboard screen
would be cool if we could have it here as well
it also allows for piping into lolcat etc
see: https://github.com/danielnehrig/nvim/blob/71d05338354edf3b8f1b8cc30fdec77ad74b5e60/lua/plugins/dashboard/init.lua

Error with cmp when opening files from startify `Cursor position outside buffer`

1. Open file from startify.
2. Start typing until completion menu shows up (I use cmp).
3. I get the following error:

Error executing vim.schedule lua callback: ...e/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/nvim-cmp/lua/cmp/float.lua:94: Vim
(call):E5108: Error executing lua ...are/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/alpha-nvim/lua/alpha.lua:442: Cursor posi
tion outside buffer

If I open the file directly (e.g. nvim file) I don't get any error. Only happens when opening files from startify e.g. MRU, bookmars, etc...

I did some testing and it seems like commit 923ea86 is where things break.

implement something like startify_change_to_dir

Auto hide tabline doesn't work anymore (noautocmd)

After commit 658aff2, setting autocmd FileType alpha set showtabline=0 | autocmd BufUnload <buffer> set showtabline=2 won't work anymore (all autocmds are now disabled for the filetype alpha)

Doing this help getting the behavior back.

--- a/lua/alpha.lua
+++ b/lua/alpha.lua
@@ -385,7 +385,8 @@ local function enable_alpha(opts)
     -- I don't have the patience to sort out a better way to do this
     -- or seperate out the buffer local options.
     vim.cmd([[
-        noautocmd silent! setlocal bufhidden=wipe nobuflisted colorcolumn= foldlevel=999 foldcolumn=0 matchpairs= nocursorcolumn nocursorline nolist nonumber norelativenumber nospell noswapfile signcolumn=no synmaxcol& buftype=nofile filetype=alpha nowrap
+        silent! setlocal filetype=alpha
+        noautocmd silent! setlocal bufhidden=wipe nobuflisted colorcolumn= foldlevel=999 foldcolumn=0 matchpairs= nocursorcolumn nocursorline nolist nonumber norelativenumber nospell noswapfile signcolumn=no synmaxcol& buftype=nofile nowrap

         augroup alpha_temp
         au!

But if the commit was intended, is there a workaround (instead of touching the code like above)?

fotune text got clipped in dashboard theme.

This is my config for dashboard theme:

local alpha = require("alpha")
local dashboard = require("alpha.themes.dashboard")

-- Set header
dashboard.section.header.val = {
    "                                                     ",
    "  ███╗   ██╗███████╗ ██████╗ ██╗   ██╗██╗███╗   ███╗ ",
    "  ████╗  ██║██╔════╝██╔═══██╗██║   ██║██║████╗ ████║ ",
    "  ██╔██╗ ██║█████╗  ██║   ██║██║   ██║██║██╔████╔██║ ",
    "  ██║╚██╗██║██╔══╝  ██║   ██║╚██╗ ██╔╝██║██║╚██╔╝██║ ",
    "  ██║ ╚████║███████╗╚██████╔╝ ╚████╔╝ ██║██║ ╚═╝ ██║ ",
    "  ╚═╝  ╚═══╝╚══════╝ ╚═════╝   ╚═══╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚═╝ ",
    "                                                     ",
}

-- Set menu
dashboard.section.buttons.val = {
    dashboard.button( "Leader f f", "  > Find file", ":Leaderf file --popup<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "Leader f r", "  > Recent files"   , ":Leaderf mru --popup<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "Leader f g", "  > Project grep" , ":Leaderf rg --popup<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "e", "  > New file" , ":enew <CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "q", "  > Quit NVIM", ":qa<CR>"),
}

local fortune = require("alpha.fortune")
dashboard.section.footer.val = fortune()

alpha.setup(dashboard.opts)

-- Send config to alpha
alpha.setup(dashboard.opts)

I observed that some fortune text get clipped and become incomplete, for example:

How to remove statusline

I wanted to remove statusline, but I didn't see how to do it

Adding a listing to see sessions or 3 last used files?

Also recent used sessions or seeing 3 final files that has being used could be cool.
Is this possible with alpha?

Like

g.startify_custom_indices = {'a', 's', 'd', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i'}
g.startify_bookmarks
g.startify_session_dir = '~/.config/nvim/session'

I've actually gotten attached to use dashboard view, but some tools from startify has being itching to get.

[Feature] Show dashboard with directory as first argument

In the code, you are already handling files as first argument.
It would be nice, if we could have an option to show the dashboard when the first argument a directory is.

Don't add spaces to center on lines with empty content

In my setup I like to highlight trailing spaces in lines so I can easily remove them when I accidentally add, and this cause alpha to behave like the image bellow when there are lines with empty content (the light yellow ones).

I was wondering if its possible for the plugin to check if the current line being printed is empty and if so just break the line instead of adding the spaces to center it.

Similar vim-startify features

I want to migrate to this plugin so I can removed another viml dependence.
Right now of Startify I use various features https://github.com/mte90/dotfiles/blob/master/.vim/custom/custom-startify.vim

First of all I specify an ASCII custom text and center it.
I specify also the amount of files to see from recent files but also to show only Recent files and custom bookmarks.

Reading the documentation I didn't found anything about those settings.

Can you help me troubleshooting that?

Issue in choosing option using 'enter' key with fzf-lua

I am using the following config with alpha :

alpha.lua

local alpha = require'alpha'
local dashboard = require'alpha.themes.dashboard'

dashboard.section.header.val = {
	 [[                               __                ]],
	 [[  ___     ___    ___   __  __ /\_\    ___ ___    ]],
	 [[ / _ `\  / __`\ / __`\/\ \/\ \\/\ \  / __` __`\  ]],
	 [[/\ \/\ \/\  __//\ \_\ \ \ \_/ |\ \ \/\ \/\ \/\ \ ]],
	 [[\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____/\ \___/  \ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\]],
	 [[ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/___/  \/__/    \/_/\/_/\/_/\/_/]],
}

dashboard.section.buttons.val = {
	dashboard.button( "e", "  New file" , ":ene <BAR> startinsert <CR>"),
	dashboard.button( "f", "  > Find file", "<cmd>FzfLua files<CR>"),
	dashboard.button( "r", "  > Recent"   , ":FzfLua oldfiles<CR>"),
	dashboard.button( "s", "  > Settings" , ":e $MYVIMRC | :FzfLua files cwd=~/.config/nvim<CR>"),
	dashboard.button( "q", "  Quit NVIM" , ":qa<CR>"),
}

local fortune = require("alpha.fortune")
dashboard.section.footer.val = fortune()

alpha.setup(dashboard.opts)

-- Disable folding on alpha buffer
vim.cmd([[
    autocmd FileType alpha setlocal nofoldenable
]])

I am not able to use the options f , r and s by pressing enter key on them. The fzf-lua opens and closes immediately. I can open these choices by pressing f , r and s keys respectively. Other choices can be selected with enter key. For s choice, selecting with enter key on it opens init.vim but not fzf-lua window. Using s key opens both.

Alpha not passing through things that export their use of nvim (manpager for instance)?

Hi @goolord!

Great plugin; one odd thing I'm having an issue with..

In my zsh config, I use nvim for $MANPAGER like so: export MANPAGER="$EDITOR +Man!" (I have $EDITOR assigned to use nvim).

When i invoke man <term> from a shell, it opens nvim, but stops at the alpha "dashboard/startscreen"; is there some other option either for nvim or for alpha-nvim that I might need to set let it allow arguments to be passed in/called?

Bug: String cannot contain newlines

I'm getting this error using startfy

Question: How can change the header using the dashboard or the startify theme?

Hi 😄

Awesome work with this plugin but how can change or customize the dashboard or the startify theme?

I didn't found this option in the readme or in the docs thanks for your help 👍🏼

Please do not commit your doc/tags to remote repo

The same issue here. Tags will be generated by plugin managers. There is no need to commit your tags file into remote repo, which will cause merging issues when git pull your remote reopo.

Sessions help

I am trying to move over to this plugin from startify but having trouble getting sessions to work. This bit of the readme leads me to think sessions should show up somehow but I am not able to see them using either of the themes. Sorry if I missed something but just a bit confused 🙏

How can I go to a path from the menu?

IDK if its a collision with other plugin key-binds but I can't open any file.
Its there any documentation part that I am missing?

my config:

local startify = require("alpha.themes.startify")
require("alpha").setup(startify.opts)

I use NVIM v0.6.0-dev+644-ge4976cbd2

Alpha (maybe) blocking -c commands?

Hi! I have a shell alias journal that maps to nvim -c "WikiJournal" (using wiki.vim). The issue: running journal from shell takes me to my alpha start screen instead of to my journal in wiki.vim. From the alpha start screen, I can run:WikiJournal without any issues, but passing in commands from shell doesn't seem to cooperate.
I'm synced with main, nvim v0.5.0.

Love the plugin! Happy to help fix, I just don't know where to start.

cd into bookmark

cd into bookmarks

This question is similar to this issue.

First of all, thank you very much for this awesome plugin!

I have been looking for something like mhinz/startify but written in lua for some time now. This is great, the only thing that is preventing me to switch to it is that the bookmarks do not cd into the directory of the file itself.

local startify = require("alpha.themes.startify")

-- disable MRU
startify.section.mru.val = { { type = "padding", val = 0 } }
-- disable MRU cwd
startify.section.mru_cwd.val = { { type = "padding", val = 0 } }

startify.section.top_buttons.val = {
  -- I would like to cd into the directory first
  startify.button("vi", "vim config", ":cd ~/Dotfiles/nvim/.config/nvim/<CR>:e init.lua<CR>"),

  -- while also maintaining the format of the normal bookmark file button like this one:
  startify.file_button("~/Dotfiles/nvim/.config/nvim/init.lua", "vit"),
}

startify.section.bottom_buttons.val = {
  startify.button("q", "Quit Nvim", ":qa<CR>"),
  startify.button("e", "New file", ":ene <BAR> startinsert <CR>"),
}

require("alpha").setup(startify.opts)

Why do I think this is needed ?

This is because I usually jump to the bookmark and then open Telescope to reach files in the same directory. For example, when jumping to init.lua generally I also want to see my plugins file or other nvim config files. With the current behavior of the plugin, when opening Telescope or other file searching tree/finder, the directory is the one I opened nvim from and not the one where the file is located.

Is this possible with the available functionality ?

Error executing alpha.lua line 372

I am getting this error when I press as example 1 or g.
I am getting this on terminal but also inside neovim-qt.

Feat: Implement a default theme

It would be great if this worked:

use {
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    requires = { 'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons' },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup {}
    end
}

I would default to Startify, as it doesn't depend on specific plugins or keycaps and it just works out of the box.

How to centralize the startify theme

How to achieve a similar effect with dashboard theme like centered startify?

Random colours

I want to generate a new dashboard colour at every vim start. I wrote this script but apparently the random_colours function generates the same colour everytime I start vim.

function random_colours(colours)
   return colours[math.random(1, #colours)]
end
colours = {'cyan', 'red', 'yellow', 'orange', 'magenta', 'white', 'violet', 'lightyellow', 'seagreen', 'slateblue'}
vim.cmd(string.format('highlight dashboard guifg=%s guibg=bg', random_colours(colours)))
dashboard.section.header.opts.hl = 'dashboard'

The whole config is here:

vim.g.indentLine_fileTypeExclude = {'alpha'}


local alpha = require'alpha'
local dashboard = require'alpha.themes.dashboard'

dashboard.section.header.val = {
   "                                   ",
   "                                   ",
   "                                   ",
   "   ⣴⣶⣤⡤⠦⣤⣀⣤⠆     ⣈⣭⣿⣶⣿⣦⣼⣆          ",
   "    ⠉⠻⢿⣿⠿⣿⣿⣶⣦⠤⠄⡠⢾⣿⣿⡿⠋⠉⠉⠻⣿⣿⡛⣦       ",
   "          ⠈⢿⣿⣟⠦ ⣾⣿⣿⣷    ⠻⠿⢿⣿⣧⣄     ",
   "           ⣸⣿⣿⢧ ⢻⠻⣿⣿⣷⣄⣀⠄⠢⣀⡀⠈⠙⠿⠄    ",
   "          ⢠⣿⣿⣿⠈    ⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣛⣳⣤⣀⣀   ",
   "   ⢠⣧⣶⣥⡤⢄ ⣸⣿⣿⠘  ⢀⣴⣿⣿⡿⠛⣿⣿⣧⠈⢿⠿⠟⠛⠻⠿⠄  ",
   "  ⣰⣿⣿⠛⠻⣿⣿⡦⢹⣿⣷   ⢊⣿⣿⡏  ⢸⣿⣿⡇ ⢀⣠⣄⣾⠄   ",
   " ⣠⣿⠿⠛ ⢀⣿⣿⣷⠘⢿⣿⣦⡀ ⢸⢿⣿⣿⣄ ⣸⣿⣿⡇⣪⣿⡿⠿⣿⣷⡄  ",
   " ⠙⠃   ⣼⣿⡟  ⠈⠻⣿⣿⣦⣌⡇⠻⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇ ⠛⠻⢷⣄ ",
   "      ⢻⣿⣿⣄   ⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟ ⠫⢿⣿⡆     ",
   "       ⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⢀⣀⣤⣾⡿⠃     ",
   "                                   ",
}
-- # TODO: get this shit working
-- random coloured dragon fuck yeah!!!
function random_colours(colours)
   return colours[math.random(1, #colours)]
end
colours = {'cyan', 'red', 'yellow', 'orange', 'magenta', 'white', 'violet', 'lightyellow', 'seagreen', 'slateblue'}
vim.cmd(string.format('highlight dashboard guifg=%s guibg=bg', random_colours(colours)))

dashboard.section.header.opts.hl = 'dashboard'

dashboard.section.buttons.val = {
    dashboard.button( "n", "  New file", ":ene <BAR> startinsert <CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "f", "  Find File", ":Telescope find_files<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "r", "  Recents", ":Telescope frecency<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "w", "  Find Word", ":Telescope live_grep<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "b", "  Bookmarks", ":Telescope marks<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "s", "  Load Last Session", ":SessionLoad<CR>"),
    dashboard.button( "q", "  Quit NVIM", ":qa<CR>"),
    }

local handle = io.popen('fortune')
local fortune = handle:read("*a")
handle:close()
dashboard.section.footer.val = fortune
alpha.setup(dashboard.opts)

`fortune` footer example is very slow

            local handle = io.popen('fortune')
            local fortune = handle:read("*a")
            handle:close()
            dashboard.section.footer.val = fortune

this adds like +25ms to the config time on my machine

25ms is not such a big deal, but it's mildly suspicious. if i can't figure out something faster to recommend, i should either remove the fortune example or mention its 'slowness' in the docs

alpha-nvim hijacks the Man buffer

I am using neovim as my man pager using the following shell config:

if [[ "$(command -v nvim)" ]]; then
    export EDITOR='nvim'
    export MANPAGER='nvim +Man!'
    export MANWIDTH=999
fi

without alpha nvim, it works well when I run man ls. After using alpha-nvim, nvim opens, but the alpha-nvim start page is shown instead of the man page.

Option to ignore file types

Is there an option to ignore certain file or file types? Something akin to Startify's skiplist

Couldn't find anything in the docs

[BUG] Attempt to get length of local "fn_start"

Hey, I updated the plugin today and it seems something broke.

I didn't change anything since installing it so it's likely something internal.

On nvim startup, I get this error

Usage:
require("alpha").setup(require("alpha.themes.startify").opts)

Let me know if i can provide any other info to help with debugging.

Center for groups

Looking at the code the position is not supported for groups but I am getting this:

I would like to have also groups centered.

[Question] Close empty buffer after file open

Hi, I have a question.

Any idea how to remove empty buffer after file is open from dashboard or startify?

current

desired

feature request: image support

Hi, would it be possible to implement image support? https://github.com/edluffy/hologram.nvim can help with displaying the images

Use `noautocmd` when setting 'alpha' buffer local options

I've found a way to visibly reduce startup time with this plugin if setting local options is done with noautocmd. So it would become noautocmd silent! setlocal ....

Here considerable speedup is achieved because setting filetype=alpha might trigger a lot of FileType autocommands. In order to have a way for others to run autocommand after 'alpha' buffer is opened, you can issue your custom event with doautocmd (doautocmd User AlphaBuffer).

Didn't make a PR because wasn't sure if it would affect anything else.

Wrong skip condition

This commit should consider the -u ${config_file} case.
Currently it skips in that case though it should not.

MRU on Branch

It's possible to alpha-stratify be aware of MRU files in the current branch?

Rendered incorrectly with trigger key åäö

👋🏼

I'm noting that the button is rendered slightly off when using a key like ö. I'm using this:

dashboard.button('ö', '📝  Find file', ':lua require("plugins.navigation.telescope").find_files()<CR>'),

which renders to:

config help

hey, a lua newbie here.
using the config example form the readme file:

use {
    'goolord/alpha-nvim',
    requires = { 'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons' },
    config = function ()
        require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.opts)
    end
}

gives me:

E5113: Error while calling lua chunk: .config/nvim/lua/init.lua:122: attempt to call global 'use' (a nil value)

Some custom buttons respond slow

Adding custom buttons to dashboard theme is slow for some keys.
So far, I've tried this with keys c and d. Both wait for like 1 second to execute command.

For Example :-

dashboard.button( "c", "open config" , ":e ~/.config/nvim/init.lua"),

But if I replace c with something like s, it executes instantly.

[Question] How to select multiple files?

How to select multiple files like? In the vim-startify I can select the file pressing t key.

[Feature]Add an option to toggle Open and Close.

Adding an option to toggle will be helpful to set a keybind and go back and forth.
Similar to Startify, If you would call :Alpha if alpha is already open, then alpha would close.