zed/crates/vim
Mikhail Pertsev 249f427f10
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vim: Add Helix jump-to-word support to Vim mode (#55492)
Closes #55481

Adds Vim-mode access to the existing Helix jump-to-word overlay via `g
z`. We use `g z` because it is currently unassigned in Vim mode, while
`g w` is already used for rewrap.

Most of the implementation lives in `helix.rs` because the existing jump
overlay, label generation, and Helix/Vim modal behavior are currently
intertwined there. This keeps the change small and reuses the existing
navigation overlay logic instead of doing a broader refactor.

In Vim normal mode, jump labels behave like a cursor motion: selecting a
label moves the cursor to the start of the target word without selecting
it. In Vim visual mode, jump labels extend the selection like a Vim
word-start motion, preserving Vim’s inclusive visual-selection behavior.

Self-Review Checklist:

- [x] I've reviewed my own diff for quality, security, and reliability
- [x] Unsafe blocks (if any) have justifying comments
- [x] The content is consistent with the [UI/UX
checklist](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#uiux-checklist)
- [x] Tests cover the new/changed behavior
- [x] Performance impact has been considered and is acceptable

Release Notes:

- Added Vim-mode jump-to-word navigation on `g z`.
2026-05-12 21:46:18 +00:00
..
src vim: Add Helix jump-to-word support to Vim mode (#55492) 2026-05-12 21:46:18 +00:00
test_data vim: Add C preprocessor check in matching function (#55515) 2026-05-07 04:25:42 +00:00
Cargo.toml theme: Split out theme_settings crate (#52569) 2026-03-27 14:41:25 +01:00
LICENSE-GPL
README.md

This contains the code for Zed's Vim emulation mode.

Vim mode in Zed is supposed to primarily "do what you expect": it mostly tries to copy vim exactly, but will use Zed-specific functionality when available to make things smoother. This means Zed will never be 100% vim compatible, but should be 100% vim familiar!

The backlog is maintained in the #vim channel notes.

Testing against Neovim

If you are making a change to make Zed's behavior more closely match vim/nvim, you can create a test using the NeovimBackedTestContext.

For example, the following test checks that Zed and Neovim have the same behavior when running * in visual mode:

#[gpui::test]
async fn test_visual_star_hash(cx: &mut gpui::TestAppContext) {
    let mut cx = NeovimBackedTestContext::new(cx).await;

    cx.set_shared_state("ˇa.c. abcd a.c. abcd").await;
    cx.simulate_shared_keystrokes(["v", "3", "l", "*"]).await;
    cx.assert_shared_state("a.c. abcd ˇa.c. abcd").await;
}

To keep CI runs fast, by default the neovim tests use a cached JSON file that records what neovim did (see crates/vim/test_data), but while developing this test you'll need to run it with the neovim flag enabled:

cargo test -p vim --features neovim test_visual_star_hash

This will run your keystrokes against a headless neovim and cache the results in the test_data directory. Note that neovim must be installed and reachable on your $PATH in order to run the feature.

Testing zed-only behavior

Zed does more than vim/neovim in their default modes. The VimTestContext can be used instead. This lets you test integration with the language server and other parts of zed's UI that don't have a NeoVim equivalent.