Troubleshooting sudo nvim Workflow

Issue 1: "Command not found"

The Cause: When invoking sudo, Linux replaces your user's custom environment variables (including $PATH) with a restricted secure_path from /etc/sudoers. If Neovim is installed locally (e.g., ~/.local/bin), sudo is blind to it.

The Solution: Create a system-wide symlink connecting your local installation to a path sudo trusts.

sudo ln -s $(which nvim) /usr/local/bin/nvim

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Issue 2: LazyVim Plugins and System Clipboard Fails to Load

The Cause: Running sudo nvim changes the execution context entirely to the root user. 1. Neovim looks for configurations in /root/.config/nvim (which is empty) instead of your user's ~/.config/nvim. 2. The root user is isolated from your active desktop session, severing access to the Wayland/X11 environment variables required for system clipboard interactions.

Solution A: Preserve Environment Variables (-E)

The -E flag forces sudo to inherit your normal user's environment (retaining your $HOME path for configs and display variables for the clipboard) while maintaining root privileges.

sudo -E nvim /etc/environment

Persistent Setup: Add an alias to your ~/.zshrc:

alias snvim="sudo -E nvim"

Solution B: The Proper Unix Way (sudoedit)

sudoedit bypasses the issue entirely by never running the editor as root. Instead, it copies the target file to a secure temporary location, opens it under your standard user account (loading LazyVim and the clipboard natively), and quietly writes the changes back as root upon saving.

Persistent Setup: Add the following to your ~/.zshrc:

export SUDO_EDITOR=$(which nvim)

Reload your shell configuration (source ~/.zshrc), and edit protected files using:

sudoedit /etc/environment