Peek.nvim not opening WebView on NixOS with Lazy setup

[kodonaut]

Describe the bug
It doesn't work, installed via Lazy with default config, no error message when using peekopen.

To Reproduce
Installed via Lazy and ran PeekOpen on README.md.

Expected behavior
I expected a WebView to open :)

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: NixOS 24.11.20241219.b47fd6f (Vicuna)

• nvim --version:
  NVIM v0.10.2
  Build type: Release
  LuaJIT 2.1.1713773202

• deno --version:
  deno 2.1.4 (stable, release, x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu)
  v8 13.0.245.12-rusty
  typescript 5.6.2

• plugin setup:

return {
    "toppair/peek.nvim",
    event = { "VeryLazy" },
    build = "deno task build:fast",
    config = function()
        require("peek").setup()
        vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("PeekOpen", require("peek").open, {})
        vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("PeekClose", require("peek").close, {})
    end,
}

Additional context

INFO 3846125 11/02/2025, 14:23:20.622 DENO_ENV: undefined
INFO 3846125 11/02/2025, 14:23:20.645 deno: 2.1.4 v8: 13.0.245.12-rusty typescript: 5.6.2
INFO 3846125 11/02/2025, 14:23:20.646 listening on localhost:43735
INFO 3846125 11/02/2025, 14:23:20.702 webview closed, code: 1
INFO 3846217 11/02/2025, 14:23:48.677 DENO_ENV: undefined
INFO 3846217 11/02/2025, 14:23:48.700 deno: 2.1.4 v8: 13.0.245.12-rusty typescript: 5.6.2
INFO 3846217 11/02/2025, 14:23:48.701 listening on localhost:34695
INFO 3846217 11/02/2025, 14:23:48.756 webview closed, code: 1
INFO 3847687 11/02/2025, 14:27:25.255 DENO_ENV: undefined
INFO 3847687 11/02/2025, 14:27:25.278 deno: 2.1.4 v8: 13.0.245.12-rusty typescript: 5.6.2
INFO 3847687 11/02/2025, 14:27:25.280 listening on localhost:39113
INFO 3847687 11/02/2025, 14:27:25.341 webview closed, code: 1
INFO 3847759 11/02/2025, 14:27:34.524 DENO_ENV: undefined --help
INFO 3847759 11/02/2025, 14:27:34.548 deno: 2.1.4 v8: 13.0.245.12-rusty typescript: 5.6.2
INFO 3847759 11/02/2025, 14:27:34.549 listening on localhost:32943
INFO 3847759 11/02/2025, 14:27:34.613 webview closed, code: 1
INFO 3847824 11/02/2025, 14:27:39.036 DENO_ENV: undefined
INFO 3847824 11/02/2025, 14:27:39.060 deno: 2.1.4 v8: 13.0.245.12-rusty typescript: 5.6.2
INFO 3847824 11/02/2025, 14:27:39.061 listening on localhost:43869
INFO 3847824 11/02/2025, 14:27:39.124 webview closed, code: 1

[Jackaed]

The issue here is that libwebkit2gtk4 isn't installed and available in $LD_LIBRARY_PATH. You can circumvent this with a lot of effort using nix-ld and export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$NIX_LD_LIBRARY_PATH but even then you're likely to run into a lot of issues.

[kodonaut]

The issue here is that libwebkit2gtk4 isn't installed and available in $LD_LIBRARY_PATH. You can circumvent this with a lot of effort using nix-ld and export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$NIX_LD_LIBRARY_PATH but even then you're likely to run into a lot of issues.

Thanks, I understand. Even before posting here, I couldn't find any derivation for libwebkit2gtk4 elsewhere. I do have nix-ld configured in my NixOS setup, so I guess the real problem is that libwebkit2gtk4 simply doesn’t exist in NixOS. They only have various versions of webkitgtk_6_0, which probably isn’t quite the same… but thanks for the reply anyway.

[SuperSandro2000]

libwebkit2gtk4

That is a strange soname.

We have those:

 ➜ tree result/lib
 lib
├──  girepository-1.0
│   ├──  JavaScriptCore-4.0.typelib
│   ├──  WebKit2-4.0.typelib
│   └──  WebKit2WebExtension-4.0.typelib
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so ⇒ libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so.18
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so.18 ⇒ libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so.18.27.6
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.0.so.18.27.6
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so ⇒ libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37 ⇒ libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37.72.8
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.0.so.37.72.8
└──  webkit2gtk-4.0
    └──  injected-bundle
        └──  libwebkit2gtkinjectedbundle.so

and

 ➜ tree result/lib
 lib
├──  girepository-1.0
│   ├──  JavaScriptCore-4.1.typelib
│   ├──  WebKit2-4.1.typelib
│   └──  WebKit2WebExtension-4.1.typelib
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so ⇒ libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so.0
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so.0 ⇒ libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so.0.8.6
├──  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1.so.0.8.6
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so ⇒ libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so.0
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so.0 ⇒ libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so.0.17.8
├──  libwebkit2gtk-4.1.so.0.17.8
└──  webkit2gtk-4.1
    └──  injected-bundle
        └──  libwebkit2gtkinjectedbundle.so

in webkitgtk_4_0 and webkitgtk_4_1 respectively.

I also couldn't find that so in debian https://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=contents&keywords=libwebkit2gtk4&mode=path&suite=stable&arch=any

[alirezaalavi87]

I have the same issue.
I'm on arch, webkit2gtk-4.1 2.48.5-1 is installed. If i set app='browser' in peek's config it opens my firefox browser, but I want a lightweight webview.

[fuguesoft]

Related: #79

[jtraeholt]

I tried to work around this using app = { 'chromium', '--app' } but apparently --app requires the argument to be passed like --app=URL to work

[kodonaut]

I tried to work around this using app = { 'chromium', '--app' } but apparently --app requires the argument to be passed like --app=URL to work

yes i did same :) same problem :) plugin is really nice but not too much flexible :(

use fork cap153/peek.nvim allows use port 8888

you can hard code link for app

  app = {'chromium-browser',
    '--incognito',
    '--kiosk',
    '--noerrdialogs',
    '--disable-translate',
    '--disable-cache', 
    '--disk-cache-dir=/dev/null',
    '--disk-cache-size=1',
    '--app=http://localhost:8888/?theme=dark',}, 

[Pottarr]

@kodonaut I've tried many ways... The best choice is to use qutebrowser. This browser comes without border with vim motion. More like zathura but as a browser. 👍🏻

# configuration.nix
    ...
    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
        ...
        qutebrowser
        ...
    ]
    ...

-- peek-nvim.lua
-- I have my config as a separated files.
return {
    "toppair/peek.nvim",
    cmd = { "PeekOpen", "PeekClose" },
    build = "deno task --quiet build:fast",
    keys = {
        {
            "<leader>mp",
            function()
                local peek = require("peek")
                if peek.is_open() then
                    vim.cmd("PeekClose")
                else
                    vim.cmd("PeekOpen")
                end
            end,
            desc = "Toggle Markdown Preview",
        },
    },
    config = function()
        local peek = require("peek")

        peek.setup({
            app = { 'qutebrowser' }
        })

        vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("PeekOpen", function()
            if not peek.is_open() and vim.bo.filetype == "markdown" then

                -- ignore here if you're not a i3 user...
                vim.fn.system("i3-msg split horizontal")
                -- ==========================================
                peek.open()
            end
        end, {})

        vim.api.nvim_create_user_command("PeekClose", function()
            if peek.is_open() then
                peek.close()
                -- ignore here if you're not a i3 user...
                vim.fn.system("i3-msg move left")
                -- ==========================================
            end
        end, {})
    end,
}

Hope it helps!