Error message "[Comment.nvim] nil" when plugin is used with vim.pack

I am experimenting with moving from Lazy to the new vim.pack plugin manager in Neovim nightly. Looks mostly OK, but I may be configuring Comment.nvim incorrectly. When using key bindings like gcc, all I get is the error message "[Comment.nvim] nil", which is not too helpful in itself.

How does one correctly configure this plugin for vim.pack? The following does not seem to work:

return {
  'numToStr/Comment.nvim',
  config = function()
    require('Comment').setup()
  end,
}

I'm seeing the same thing while using lazy in neovim nightly.

Oh. I did not consider that this might be an issue with the nightly Neovim build in general. I experienced the problem for the first time after I started my vim.pack tests.

Seems like it's caused by this change in neovim: neovim/neovim@fd1e019

fix: take into account a `nil` returned by `get_parser`

@faergeek

@faergeek Thanks for the fix, it works for me.

I also started getting this after I upgraded to Nvim 0.12. I don't think #518 is a good solution, as it just avoids using tree-sitter for the commenting logic, which is not ideal. The real problem (in my case at least) was that tree-sitter broke when I upgraded from 0.11 to 0.12.

To fix tree-sitter, I had to move the nvim-treesitter plugin from the master branch to the main branch. The code in master is compatible with Nvim < 0.12 only, and the code in main is for 0.12. Unfortunately the configuration for the main branch changed in an incompatible way. This is what I found to work for me:

    {
        'nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter',
        lazy = false,
        branch = "main",
        build = ":TSUpdate",
        init = function()
            require('nvim-treesitter').install({ 'python', 'javascript', 'typescript', 'jsx', 'tsx', 'go', 'rust', 'html', 'css', 'lua', 'vim' })
        end,
    },

In addition, the version in main requires a fairly recent version of the tree-sitter-cli tool to be installed. I took care of this by running:

cargo install --locked tree-sitter-cli

With this, comments started to work again, including the trickier cases like jsx/tsx files, which rely on tree-sitter contextual information to provide the correct commenting style.

In my previous configuration I relied on the auto_install feature to ensure there was always a tree-sitter parser available. It does not appear to be a similar option for the most recent version of the plugin, so it is important to make sure all the languages that you need are explicitly loaded.

Sadly, the nvim-treesitter repository has been archived just a couple of days ago, and I'm not sure what to do about that. But for the time being everything seems to work.

I hope this helps others with the same issue!

I don't think #518 is a good solution, as it just avoids using tree-sitter for the commenting logic, which is not ideal

Saying something is not a good solution just because it doesn't solve your particular problem is a bit rough, don't you think? Comment.nvim supports not only languages that are supported by tree-sitter. There is a ton of languages which do not have a tree-sitter parser. That "not good solution" makes it work in such cases.

@faergeek

@faergeek I wouldn't worry about the "not a good solution" comment. Your fix resolved my immediate issue, which is undoubtedly a good thing. I also believe in the old adage that perfect should not be allowed to stand in the way of good.

@faergeek

@faergeek apologies, my choice of words was terrible, and I had no intention to offend anyone. Your solution is good, as it is the only way to make things work when you do not have a tree-sitter grammar installed for your language.

feat(comments): disabled Comment.nvim in favor of mini.comment

@LongYinStudio

@LongYinStudio Downgrading to Neovim 0.11 is not an option, what with vim.pack only being available in versions 0.12.0 and later. 😉

@LongYinStudio

@LongYinStudio Now I have to ask: Did you even read the comments in this issue? The reason behind this problem is quite clear, and @faergeek made a fix available three weeks ago. I can see no mystery here.

@faergeek

@faergeek Is there a way you can also add fix for block commenting? Its still returning nil.
Its the only reason I haven't switched to mini.comment

@vijay-git-hub3

@vijay-git-hub3 I've switched to mini.comment and I'm not really interested in fixing something I don't use anymore.

I have nvim 0.12.3 it doesn't work. I have lazy with zero config just basic setup. It just gives a warning "nil" with nothing else. I think it used to work on nvim 0.12 until recently. Either upgrading this plugin or going from 0.12 to 0.12.3 broke something but nothing works on my side.
I have treesitter main branch with proper config, reinstalled every treesitter parser etc.

My setup: nvim 0.12.3

I have some languages configured with this plugin:

language	works
elixir	nil
erlang	nil
gleam	nil
go	yes
javascript	nil
lua	nil
python	nil
rust	nil
sh	nil
typescript	nil
yaml	nil

The plugin doesn't load automatically when nvim starts, to start the plugin I run:

:lua require('Comment').setup()

Once the plugin is loaded I can use it with .go files, but the rest of my configuration doesn't work.

Here's my full configuration:

require('Comment').setup(
  {
    ---Add a space b/w comment and the line
    padding = true,
    ---Whether the cursor should stay at its position
    sticky = true,
    ---Lines to be ignored while (un)comment
    ignore = nil,
    ---LHS of toggle mappings in NORMAL mode
    toggler = {
        ---Line-comment toggle keymap
        line = '<leader>c',
        ---Block-comment toggle keymap
        block = '<leader>C',
    },
    ---LHS of operator-pending mappings in NORMAL and VISUAL mode
    opleader = {
        ---Line-comment keymap
        line = '<leader>c',
        ---Block-comment keymap
        block = '<leader>C',
    },
    ---LHS of extra mappings
    extra = {
        ---Add comment on the line above
        above = 'gcO',
        ---Add comment on the line below
        below = 'gco',
        ---Add comment at the end of line
        eol = 'gcA',
    },
    ---Enable keybindings
    ---NOTE: If given `false` then the plugin won't create any mappings
    mappings = {
        ---Operator-pending mapping; `gcc` `gbc` `gc[count]{motion}` `gb[count]{motion}`
        basic = true,
        ---Extra mapping; `gco`, `gcO`, `gcA`
        extra = true,
    },
    ---Function to call before (un)comment
    pre_hook = nil,
    ---Function to call after (un)comment
    post_hook = nil,
  }
)

local ft = require('Comment.ft')

ft.go = {'//%s', '//%s'}
ft.javascript = {'//%s', '/*%s*/'}
ft.yaml = '#%s'
ft.rust = {'//%s', '/*%s*/'}
ft.typescript = {'//%s', '/*%s*/'}
ft.elixir = {'#%s', '#%s'}
ft.erlang = {'%% %s', '%% %s'}
ft.gleam = {'//%s', '//%s'}
ft.lua = {'--%s', '--[[%s]]'}
ft.sh = {'#%s', '#%s'}
ft.python = {'#%s', '#%s'}
ft.haskell = {'--%s', '{-%s-}'}

I installed this plugin using the new package manager from nvim 0.12

Note: I already tried changing the timeoutlen setting.

@miguelgrinberg

@miguelgrinberg nvim-treesitter got unarchived yesterday, is the fix that you described part of a PR or something?

It works for lua files, but for python I get the error

Found a workaround: using load = function() in the vim.pack spec and calling require("Comment").setup() there fixes the [Comment.nvim] nil error

fix(nvim): fix Comment.nvim breaking on Neovim 0.12

A temporary solution is for any plugin fixed in the PR and not merged yet: use forke repo and setting branch
from PR pages:

{
    "faergeek/Comment.nvim",
    branch = "nvim-0.12-compatibility",
    opts = {},
}

lua: migrate to mini.comment

fix: take into account a `nil` returned by `get_parser`

fix(nvim): fix Comment.nvim breaking on Neovim 0.12

fix: take into account a `nil` returned by `get_parser`

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Error message "[Comment.nvim] nil" when plugin is used with vim.pack #517

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Error message "[Comment.nvim] nil" when plugin is used with vim.pack #517

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babelfish commented on Mar 20, 2026

rseichter commented on Mar 20, 2026

faergeek commented on Mar 21, 2026

rseichter commented on Mar 21, 2026

miguelgrinberg commented on Apr 5, 2026

faergeek commented on Apr 6, 2026

rseichter commented on Apr 6, 2026

miguelgrinberg commented on Apr 6, 2026

rseichter commented on May 6, 2026

rseichter commented on May 6, 2026

vijay-git-hub3 commented on May 18, 2026

faergeek commented on May 18, 2026

ilan-schemoul commented on Jun 16, 2026

4k1k0 commented on Jul 4, 2026

Jouo commented on Jul 19, 2026

redvedev commented on Jul 27, 2026

darianmorat commented on Aug 17, 2026

ayoubelmhamdi commented on Aug 23, 2026

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