Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

The author tried Helix after hearing from a friend that it offers the same kind of low-configuration experience they liked in fish. After three months, Helix stood out for built-in language server support, strong search, a helpful quick reference, and a much simpler setup than Vim or Neovim.

Reading notes

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• Helix appealed because getting language servers working in Vim or Neovim felt like too much work.
• Built-in language server support makes actions like go to definition and rename symbol work across languages.
• Search in Helix shows matching files with full context, unlike the Vim ripgrep plugin the author used before.
• Pressing g opens a help popup with navigation options, which helps when shortcuts are easy to forget.
• Instead of Vim marks, the author uses Ctrl+O and Ctrl+I to move back and forward through cursor locations.
• For many edits that would have used macros, the author prefers multiple cursors and regex selection.
• Helix uses a buffer switcher instead of Neovim-style tabs, though there is a setting that can behave a bit like tabs.
• Reflowing text with :reflow works worse than Vim’s gq, especially for lists.
• Markdown lists do not continue automatically when pressing Enter at the end of a list item.
• Helix does not yet have persistent undo, so undo history does not survive quitting.
• Files do not auto-reload after on-disk changes, so :reload-all is needed.
• The editor sometimes crashes, roughly weekly.
• Switching was easier than expected after using Helix on a vacation coding project for a week or two.
• Trying to force Vim-like keybindings did not work well; learning the Helix way was easier.
• Vim and Helix differ on the meaning of w, especially around spaces after words.
• Moving from GUI Vim to a terminal editor required a workflow adjustment.
• The author now gives each project its own terminal window and puts the Helix tab first.
• The Helix configuration is much smaller than the author’s Neovim setup.
• The config remaps comment toggling, line-start and line-end movement, and reflow.
• Language-specific settings live in languages.toml, including turning off autoformatting for Python.
• After three months, the author still thinks they may switch back to Vim later.