From 5c224976d84f72ef3468a6685590a3e50671de05 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bryan Ramos <bryan@ramos.codes>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2026 01:12:03 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Improved neotree navigation UX

---
 lua/plugins/neotree.lua | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lua/plugins/neotree.lua b/lua/plugins/neotree.lua
index de0b8d4..fd8efea 100644
--- a/lua/plugins/neotree.lua
+++ b/lua/plugins/neotree.lua
@@ -20,11 +20,39 @@ return {
 							local win = vim.api.nvim_get_current_win()
 							vim.wo[win].winfixwidth = true
 							vim.wo[win].winfixbuf = true
+							vim.wo[win].cursorline = true
 						end
 					},
 				},
 			})
 
+			-- Set up cursorline highlight for neo-tree (green text on dark bg)
+			vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "NeoTreeCursorLine", { bg = "#313244", fg = "#a6e3a1" })
+
+			-- Apply highlight and re-apply on colorscheme change
+			vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd({ "FileType", "ColorScheme" }, {
+				pattern = { "neo-tree", "*" },
+				callback = function(ev)
+					if ev.event == "ColorScheme" then
+						vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "NeoTreeCursorLine", { bg = "#313244", fg = "#a6e3a1" })
+					end
+					if vim.bo.filetype == "neo-tree" then
+						vim.wo.winhighlight = "CursorLine:NeoTreeCursorLine"
+					end
+				end,
+			})
+
+			-- Lock cursor to leftmost column in neo-tree
+			vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("CursorMoved", {
+				pattern = "neo-tree*",
+				callback = function()
+					local col = vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(0)[2]
+					if col ~= 0 then
+						vim.api.nvim_win_set_cursor(0, { vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(0)[1], 0 })
+					end
+				end,
+			})
+
 			local function toggle_neotree()
 				local api = vim.api
 				local bufs = api.nvim_list_bufs()