including these top contributors:
π PRs are welcome
Once your fingers have learned to speak Vim, they don't want to speak anything else! It's simply a very effective way of navigating, creating and editing text. Thus, it's natural that one would like to get Vim-like keybindings in as many programs we use as possible.
The intention of this collaborative list is to:
- learn which programs/apps that you already use which you can enhance with Vim keybindings. Search in your browser with
ctrl/cmd + f
. - discover new programs that support Vim keybindings. In the need for a new file manager? Why not get one that has Vim keybindings?
- be up-to-date and alive -- add new programs and extensions as they evolve!
There are of course already lists like this one floating around on the internet (see Acknowledgments). While they are great, the issue is that they are not up-to-date with the latest developments. There are Vim-emulator add-ons being developed all the time! This is why this collaborative list was created.
(yes, technically it is vi-like keybindings we talk about here, but most people know and Google for vim, thus vim is used here instead of vi).
The following symbols are used with each list item to make it clearer what kind of Vim keybindings support exist
- β - built-in support (possibly via a setting)
- β - via addon/extension
Terminology:
- TUI - Text User Interface
Tip: navigate this file easily by using GitHub's built-in Markdown Table of Contents in the top left corner:
-
β ipython - Interactive Python shell. It no longer uses readline for input, so it must be configured in the ipython profile
~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py
itself (reference):-
c.TerminalInteractiveShell.editing_mode = "vi"
-
-
β GHCi - Interactive Haskell environment. It uses haskeline instead of readline. Put this in
~/.haskeline
:-
editMode: Vi
-
-
β Jupyter Lab - Science and Data Development notebook environment. Add this package jupyterlab-vim and restart the server. It is available for both
pip
andconda
managed environments (and their derivatives). -
β LINQPad - The .NET Programmerβs Playground. vi mode available in settings. Go to Edit > Preferences > General UI to enable.
-
Azure Data Studio - Database tool similar to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. Supports VSCode extensions.
- β Vim plugin - Cannot be installed directly in the plugin section. Go to Vim plugin release page and download
.vsix
file. Then open the file in Azure Data Studio. If you see error that the extension is not compatible with current VS Code engine version try older release.
- β Vim plugin - Cannot be installed directly in the plugin section. Go to Vim plugin release page and download
- β cgdb - a curses interface on top of the GDB debuger with keybindings modeled after vim.
- β
vimpdb - An integration of the python debugger
pdb
and vim.
- β Mutt - The vim of email, a TUI email client
- β NeoMutt - A fork of mutt, intendted to reignite the development.
- β sup - a console-based email client for people with a lot of email with Vim-inspired keyboard shortcuts.
- Thunderbird
- β Muttator - Like Vimperator but for thunderbird.
- β vifm - TUI file manager with vi keybindings.
- β ranger - Another TUI file manager.
- β lf - TUI file manager similar to ranger.
- β ncdu - ncurses disk usage explorer.
- Total Commander
- β ViATc - adds a Vim mode to Total Commander.
- macOS Finder
- β Finder Vim Mode - adds extensive vim-like/ranger-like keybindings, works via Karabiner Elements.
- Jetbrain's IDEs (Intellij, PYCharm, PHPStorm, WebStorm, ...)
- β IdeaVim - install it directly from the plugin section in the IDE settings.
- Visual Studio Code
- β Vim plugin - install it directly in the plugin section in the IDE settings.
- β NVim plugin - alternative to the VIM plugin, uses a full nvim instance in the background instead of just emulating VIM
- β
XCode - Apple's IDE. Vim mode can be enabled under the "Editor" menu without use of plugins.
- β
XVim2plugin. Deprecated, use native keybindings (above) instead.
- β
- Eclipse
- β vrapper-vim
- β viplugin
- β viable
- Visual Studio
- β VsVim (Visual Studio 2015-2019) - install through the extensions inside Visual Studio
- β VsVim 2022 (Visual Studio 2022) - install through the extensions inside Visual Studio
- β viemu - add Vim emulation to Visual Studio, SQL Server, Word & Outlook.
- Geany
- β vimode - The vimode plugin can be enabled from the settings.
- β RStudio - There's a built-in Vim Editing Mode.
- β
gollum - a Git-powered wiki with built-in vim editing mode. Start with
--default-keybind vim
.
- β
ncmpcpp - An ncurses client for mpd. The navigation can quite easily be made to behave like vim with some keyboard configurations.
-
~/.config/ncmpcpp/bindings
def_key "j" scroll_down def_key "k" scroll_up def_key "h" previous_column def_key "l" next_column def_key "ctrl-b" page_up def_key "ctrl-u" page_up def_key "ctrl-f" page_down def_key "ctrl-d" page_down def_key "g" move_home def_key "G" move_end def_key "n" next_found_item def_key "N" previous_found_item
-
- β cmus - A console music player with vim-like keybindings.
- β vimus - An MPD client with Vim-like keybindings.
- β vimpc - A console mpd client that provides a vim-like interface. Default keybindings in the help file
- β Newsboat - RSS/Atom reader with a TUI.
- β
Newsbeuter- Unmaintained, see Newsboat./
- LibreOffice
- β vibreoffice - Vi Mode for LibreOffice/OpenOffice.
- AbiWord - An OSS word processor.
- β It can be configured to get Vim keybindings.
- β sc - The venerable Spreadsheet Calculator with Vim-like keybindings.
- β sc-im - Like sc but improved, a Vim-like spreadsheet calculator.
- β apvlv - A PDF Viewer that acts Like Vim
- β MuPDF - PDF and ebook reader with vim keybindings.
- β zathura - Document reader, vim-keybindings, partly based on MuPDF. Linux only.
- β SumatraPDF - Document reader, vim-keybindings. Windows only.
- Preview.app - macOS native document viewer:
- β preview-vim - adds vim-like keybindings, works via Karabiner Elements.
- β Obsidian - under "Editor" options
- Logseq
- β logseq-plugin-vim-shortcuts - normal mode commands deal with whole blocks, editing text is only possible in edit mode
- β matui - a Matrix TUI with vim-like navigation.
- β tut - a Mastodon client with vim-like navigation
- irssi - the popular IRC client.
- β vim_mode plugin.
- weechat - IRC client with Vim-like keyboard shortcuts.
rtv- A Reddit TUI viewer
- β
git - Nothing's better than the real deal. Tell git to use vim/nvim when editing commit messages, interactive rebase etc. by putting in your
~/.config/git/config
:-
[user] editor = vim
-
- β
tig - Text interface for git. Works mostly like vim out of the box, but can be enhanced:
-
~/.config/tig/config
bind generic <Ctrl-f> scroll-page-down bind generic <Ctrl-b> scroll-page-up bind generic g move-first-line # Move cursor to top. bind generic G move-last-line # Move cursor to bottom. bind main B :toggle commit-title-graph # Rebind G to B. bind main G move-last-line # Move cursor to bottom.
-
- β
hg/mercurical - Put in your
~/.config/hg/hgrc
:-
[ui] editor = vim
-
-
β readline - Readline is a library used by many CLI programs to read input from users. By configuring readline to use vi key bindings, you automatically get it for programs like
bash
,irb
,octave
etc. By default, readline has Emacs-like keybindings, but you can change that by putting this in your~/.inputrc
:-
set editing-mode vi set keymap vi-insert
-
-
β Bash - The preferred method is to set Vi mode in
~/.inputrc
via readline, as you will get Vi mode automatically in all programs using the library. However, if you just want this for bash, put this in your bash startup file e.g.~/.bashrc
:-
set -o vi
-
-
β zsh - just put this in your ZSH startup file, most likely
~/.zshrc
:-
bindkey -v
-
Extra text object keybindings
# Add text object extension -- eg ci" da(: autoload -U select-quoted zle -N select-quoted for m in visual viopp; do for c in {a,i}{\',\",\`}; do bindkey -M $m $c select-quoted done done
-
-
β fish - just add to your
~/.config/fish/config.fish
(reference):-
fish_vi_key_bindings
-
-
β tcsh - put this in your ksh startup file e.g.
~/.kshrc
(reference):-
bindkey -v
-
-
β ksh - put this in your ksh startup file e.g.
~/.kshrc
:-
set -o vi
-
-
β nushell - put this in your config file e.g.
$nu.config-path
:-
let-env config = { # ... edit_mode: vi, # ... }
-
-
β pwsh - The Readline module offers support for convenient vim support. Add this to your
$Profile
: *Import-Module PSReadLine # enable Vim on the shell and as editor $OnViModeChange = [scriptblock]{ if ($args[0] -eq 'Command') { # Set the cursor to a blinking block. Write-Host -NoNewLine "`e[2 q" } else { # Set the cursor to a blinking line. Write-Host -NoNewLine "`e[5 q" } } Set-PsReadLineOption -EditMode Vi Set-PSReadLineOption -ViModeIndicator Script -ViModeChangeHandler $OnViModeChange
- This was collected from many github issues and posts. Powershell 5.1 for one reason or another refuses to change the cursor so the script to give feedback does not work. Just remove it and it will still work, just no feedback of the mode you're in.
- β vim-anywhere - spawn a vim buffer from any text input in the operating system.
- β Homerow - add vim-like navigation to any macOS app.
- β kindaVim - get vim-like navigation in any macOS text field.
- β sketchyvim - get vim-like navigation in any macOS text field.
- β htop-vim - A patched version the htop interactive process viewer that has vim keybindings for navigation.
- β aptitude - ncurses interface for APT on Debian-derived Linux distros. The keybindings are already vim-like.
- β TuDu - a comand line interface to manage hierarchical todos.
- β calcurse - a calendar and scheduling application for the command line with default vim-like keybindings.
- β
tmux - the terminal multiplexer, superseding GNU Screen.
-
~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf
set-option -g status-keys vi # Use Vi bindings in tmux command prompt. set-window-option -g mode-keys vi # Use Vi bindings in copy and choice mode. # Optional: some Vi-like navigation for smart pane switching. # NOTE this could override default keybindigns like <prefix>-l. bind h select-pane -L bind j select-pane -D bind k select-pane -U bind l select-pane -R
-
- β alacritty - A cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator with Vim-like keybindings by default.
- β
Termine- See alacritty instead.
We know that Vi-clones/derivatives have Vi(m) keybindings so let's skip those here (Vim, NeoVim, vile, elvis, nvi, vis, pyvim, jVi ...)
- Atom
- Emacs
- β evil-mode - Extensible vi layer for Emacs.
- β spacemacs - Emacs configuration package that improves the Emacs experience, including vim bindings via
evil-mode
. Features a vim-like leader (space) for common commands. - β doom emacs - Configuration package that provides a similar experience to Spacemacs (including
evil-mode
. Also implements spacebar-as-leader-key. - β
VimpulseDeprecated, check out Evil. - β
Vim ModeDeprecated, check out Evil.
- β
Sublime Text has a bult-in Vintage mode that can be enabled.
- β NeoVintageous - An advanced Vim emulation layer.
- β
oni2 (onivim)Deprecated. - β bviplus - An ncurses based hex editor with a Vim-like interface.
- β zettlr - Markdown document editor on the fly, vim+emacs keybindings.
- β VNote - A note taking app.
- β qutebrowser
- β Vieb - Vim bindings for the web by design (electron based)
- Firefox
- β Tridactyl
- β Vimium-FF
- β Vimium C
- β Surfingkeys
- β Vim Vixen
- β vimkeybindings - Small addon adding just basic keyboard navigation shortcuts.
- β
Vimperator- See Tridactyl instead - β
Pentadactyl- See Tridactyl instead
- Chrome
- β Vimium
- β Vimium C
- β cVim
- β Surfingkeys
- β wasavi - Transform text areas into a vi editor.
- Safari
- β Surfingkeys
- β Vimari
- Edge
- β Surfingkeys
- Opera
- β wasavi - Transform text areas into a vi editor.
- β w3m - A text-based web browser with some Vim-like keyboard shortcuts.
- β vimb - The vim like browser.
- β jumanji - A keyboard driven web browser.
- β luakit - A highly configurable browser with Vim-like navigation.
- β
Vimprobable - β
dwb- See qutebrowser instead. - β
uzbl - β
xombrero- a minimalist web browser with vi-like keyboard commands. - Various
- β firenvim - Transform text areas into a neovim instance that inherits your existing config (keymaps, plugins, etc).
- β howm - A lightweight, X11 tiling window manager that behaves like vim.
- β qutebrowser - A tilling window manager with Vim-like keyboard shortcuts.
- β wmii - A small and scriptable window manager that can be configured with Vim-like keyboard shortcuts.
This is a collaborative list -- please fork and make a pull request to add or improve the entries here! The initial contributions by the repo owner is limited to the tools he uses or knows of, so there is a lot of room for further additions here!
- Please:
- add links to references for configuration if you have any.
- use XDG paths when possible.
- It's okay to list deprecated or unmaintained software for the sake of completness, but let's put a
strigke-throughon them.
Hats off to the authors of these articles that helped kick-start this list together with the author's own experiences: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5.