So apparently there are two editors inspired by vim, but built from the ground up (as opposed to neovim, a vim fork that seeks to improve on top of vim).
I’ve heard of Helix several times prior, but it never quite attracted me. Seemed like vim, but different key bindings and much worse plugin system. It also has different visual and normal modes than vim, but it didn’t quite click with me. I do like it’s multi-cursor ability though.
Then it turns out that Helix was also inspired by not just vim, but also kakoune. Kakoune also has different keybindings, and different modes, but its different modes make sense to me. It fuses visual and normal mode into one. Your normal mode is for both navigation and selection.
Kakoune promotes the idea that you should visually see the text you’re operating on before running the command. You know how in vim, “dd” deletes a line, “dw” deletes a word, and “d$” deletes to the end of the line? In vim, you don’t see what you’re deleting before its gone (which is fine and works for many). In kakoune, the selection happens first before the action. So you select the word or the line, and then you delete.
But what I found to be Kakoune’s killer feature was its shell integration. Kakoune seemlessly integrates into the unix shell, allowing you to offload many tasks to it. For example, instead of it having a built-in sort command, you use the unix sort command to sort your lines.
I’m surprised kakoune isn’t more popular. Yes, it is still in a much earlier phase than vim, and the ecosystem is far less mature, but I am surprised to see Helix gaining more traction.
I’m still very new to kakoune and exploring it. But I like it a lot so far.
Helix is the darling but i find the arguments about its lack of lsp rather weak… unless you absolutely refuse to create a config file.
i tried kakoune many times, and probably like most coming from decades of vim, were looking for an instant editor without config. Helix appealed for the integrated lsp… but then i found myself into a config file anyway because of all the somewhat inconsistent keybindings – and i still had to mess with its lsp setup anyway. In the end i still ended up creating a sizeable custom config file – nothing in the order of magnitude of my vim config – to get it to what i wanted.
So i went back and gave kakoune a serious look this time (thank you, Helix)… and just found everything more “logical”. Yes i had to setup my lsp config but that was not a big deal. All the keybindings felt more consistent.
Then a discovered scripting and i was off to the races. My setup changes background colour for the mode i am in – insert or command. And i even added a special background colour for when i have my CAPS lock enabled. This simple UI tweak made me an instant convert. Kakoune’s client-server architecture is pure brilliance – being able have any number of servers with each server’s clients sharing common buffers (and actions between separate terminal windows not needing tmux).
i really am on board with kakoune’s objectives of being an editor, plain and simple. Helix feels like a kitchen sink project with feature creep constantly pushing the boundary of the project – wanting to become an IDE or something close to it. i much prefer kakoune’s model. It is a great editor – with enough kak plugins to satisfy my needs.
i agree with you. More people should give kakoune a serious look – it is the best implementation of its kind imo.