What is avante.nvim?

avante.nvim is a plugin for Neovim, a modernised version of the classic Vim text editor, that turns the editor into something that behaves like Cursor, a popular AI-powered code editor. You install it once and your Neovim gains a side panel where you can chat with an AI about the file you are editing, ask it to suggest changes, and apply those changes back to your source code in one keystroke. The headline features are AI-driven code assistance scoped to the file you currently have open, one-click application of the AI's suggested edits, and per-project instruction files. The instruction file, called avante.md by default, sits in the project root and lets you tell the AI what role to play, which technologies your project uses, and which coding conventions to follow, the plugin loads it automatically during workspace changes. There is also a so-called Zen Mode that launches Neovim straight into avante's interface so that running a single command, aliased to something short like avante, feels like opening a coding-agent CLI while still being a full Neovim underneath, with your normal Vim keybindings and plugins available. Through ACP support it can also drive external coding-agent CLIs. You would install avante.nvim if you already live inside Neovim and want the same kind of AI editing experience that Cursor users get, without leaving your editor or learning a new one. It is mostly written in Lua, with some Rust components, and requires Neovim 0.10 or newer. The README notes that the project is iterating quickly with more features planned. The full README is longer than what was provided.