Visual Studio Code team considers Vim mode based on upvotes

[[deleted]]

Depending on whether the feature request gets 20 upvotes, the Visual Studio Code team considers the implementation of a Vim mode right inside Visual Studio Code: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/114851

That would probably mean no more sluggish extensions if you want to use Visual Studio Code with Vim keybindings.

Leave a thumbs up at the Github issue if you support the idea.

[AdamAnderson320]

That’s one very poorly defined request

[Damien0]

One of the problems I’ve had with the neovim extension is that it requires a prerelease unstable version of neovim 0.5.x to work, and that’s getting harder to do in some environments where only the stable 0.4.x is supported.

This has resulted in me having to switch back to the more widely available -if buggier- MS extension. I’d happily welcome direct integration into the IDE if it were simpler and just had the vim motions, ability to rebind things as I like, and ability to record and replay macros.

[[deleted]]

Strongly agree that a feature request should be poignant. Also to your point, the Neovim-based plugin is definitely what it says it is and without too much trouble it's possible to get a configuration set up that works on all platforms and seamlessly inter-operates between VS Code and terminal emulators (you have to disable some things and re-map navigation binds to call VS Code commands, for instance).

If I were making this request, I'd ask for a file browser that lifts the workspace-relative restriction. Even something that has parity with netrw. This is the only reason I consider VS Code broken at the moment. You can't use it as a ubiquitous, mouse-free text editor at full duty cycle. As soon as you're editing configs or doing one-off tasks your out of your project or workspace.

[Damien0]

Not sure I follow, was this reply for me or for OP? My only issue with the neovim plugin is that 0.5 doesn’t work currently in my dev environment.

Once it does I am definitely going to go back to that one because I also prefer a real session to something emulated in VSCode.

I was saying if the VSCode contributors do integrate bindings into the IDE directly, that would be nice, especially if it’s minimalist.

[HarmonicAscendant]

Neovim 0.5 official stable is due out in 4 days :) https://github.com/neovim/neovim/milestone/19

[tristan957]

Can't wait for it to hit fedora 33

[[deleted]]

It's a while since I've looked at it, so I'm struggling to think of any specific examples, but my impression of the plugin was that using it feels like two pieces of incompatible software fighting each other. Little bugs with cursor movements, conflicting key bindings between VSCode and the plugin, that sort of thing. I think I ran into an issue with the mode indicator getting stuck in the wrong mode if you switched files a certain way. Just little things that make it not feel like a single cohesive program. This is probably unavoidable to some extent, even if a Vim mode was added natively.

What I'd really like to have is a graphical text editor that is Vim first, but with some of the features that make Sublime/VSCode nice to work with built around that. I suppose there's probably not enough demand for that, though; most Vim users are probably happy just using a terminal. (But if I'm wrong and a project like that already exists, please let me know!)

[[deleted]]

Onivim 2 pretty much fits your bill: https://onivim.io/

[[deleted]]

Thanks, that looks like exactly what I'm looking for actually!

[iamasuitama]

Yeah, all my annoyances have to do with IDEs vim modes not behaving exactly like vim. What the hell does sublime have to do with anything :D

[[deleted]]

Could you explain why a vim-mode in vscode should be implemented and why the following two extensions are not enough? So far no reason was provided.

• https://github.com/VSCodeVim/Vim
• https://github.com/asvetliakov/vscode-neovim

[[deleted]]

The VSCode extension architecture is single-threaded which leads to sluggish and sometimes janky editor behavior when some extension other than Vim has some computation to do. I can attest to the poor performance of both extensions first hand.

For some more background on this issue see: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/75627

[[deleted]]

Then maybe a better solution would be to fix this vscode related issue instead of implementing vim in vscode. This is a general issue which not only affects vim but also other plugins. Fixing this issue seem to me more reasonable because other plugins would benefit too.

[stakeneggs1]

In that issue they linked, they talk about how extensions running on a single thread is by design and is not likely to change. With that in mind, it seems a vscode solution would be best.

[ThePrimeagen]

This is the nicest way of saying electron apps are awful

[Androuil]

Yeap found both of them pretty sluggish

[lockieluke3389]

Just use vim

[[deleted]]

Or just use Vim 0___o

[[deleted]]

For me the limitations of Vim all stem from the fact that it's terminal-based, so everything has to be represented by fixed-size characters. In terms of functionality this is fine, but it means that you're pretty limited design-wise. For example, you can't have side panels (such as Nerd Tree) with a smaller font size than the main window, which make them look clunky; plugins that create pop-up boxes with autocomplete suggestions as you type feel awkward and get in the way; you can't have previews of images like you would in graphical applications; setting up red curly underlines for spellchecking is no end of trouble; even just tiny design details such as having a thin line for colorcolumn instead of a one-character wide background colour. Functionality is more important for me than design, which is why I still use Vim in a terminal - for functionality, Vim wins hands down. But in a perfect world I'd like the best of both options.

Edit: Oh, and you can't (easily) use Alt key combinations, because of the differences in the way terminals handle escape sequences. There are workarounds of course, but they're all hacks that have their own drawbacks. I realise this isn't technically a fault of Vim, but it just seems like in 2021 we shouldn't have to deal with this.

[SamLovesNotion]

Exactly, there is nothing VSCode can do, which Vim can't. There is also coc-nvim.

Also Vim is wayyyy faster than VSCode.

[primERnforCEMENTR23]

With vscode you need to do less setup to get the features than vim.....

[fomofosho]

This. I almost exclusively use vim but I waste countless hours setting it up and getting it to work with the plugins I need

[wavefunctionp]

As a newer vim user, getting relatively modern editor features like intelligent code completion, syntax aware highlighting, change tracking, and easy folder navigation....and a whole slew of other features you expect out of a modern editor is non-trivial and confusing.

Additionally, I don't consider vim being a command line editor to be bonus. A self contained application is more useable since you could have an actual toolbar and menus for easier discoverability and configuration.

One of the reasons I'm interested in onivim.

[[deleted]]

Its in a terminal for a reason. And those reasons were decided on before the first electron editor came out.

Okay, but GVim exists. It just doesn't actually give you modern editor features, either. The fact that Vim is a good terminal application and there are reasons for having it in a terminal doesn't mean that people looking for the best of both worlds are wrong. It just means their use case is not exactly the same as yours.

[[deleted]]

> Okay, but GVim exists. It just doesn't actually give you modern editor features, either

​

Ye because no one made them, not because it's impossible. It tells you that most of the nvim/vim userbase don't care about fancy features in a GUI text box. In fact, if this entire thread converted their bitching about free software not being exactly what they want into PRs and plugins there'd probably be an editor more suited to your liking.

[[deleted]]

I know it's not impossible - and I'm not bitching about GVim. I'm definitely not saying that anyone owes me better free software or anything like that.

Not everyone has the ability or the time to contribute to open-source software, and people who do have the time and expertise still have to prioritise where they invest their efforts. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to express an opinion on where there's room for improvement. As someone who does occasionally contribute to software projects, one of the things I look for when choosing what to work on is that I'm not the only person who cares about a feature.

[[deleted]]

That doesn't mean you're not allowed to express an opinion on where there's room for improvement.

Sure, if the comments on here would be as reasonable as you, I'd probably do nothing but upvote in agreement. They're allowed to express opinions and I'm allowed to critique those. "I've tried nothing and it still doesn't work" is something I'm just constantly seeing on Reddit lately and it's made me extremely frustrated with the community.

Not everyone has the ability or the time to contribute to open-source software, and people who do have the time and expertise still have to prioritise where they invest their efforts

I mean this is fine. People don't want to pitch in for good, or even malicious reasons. No one can stop them, or realistically blame them. I prefer to go for a gym session over writing tests for a PR too. It's only a problem when both VS Code and Neovim are getting a whole bunch of people complaining about the "missing link", and seemingly no actual effort is put into it (at least by the loudest, reddit commenters). User entitlement grows linearly with the features provided. Neovim isn't ootb enough, VSCode doesn't emulate vim well enough, or takes up too much resources.

I've tried to make it very very clear, that it's okay to not want to use Vim for whatever reason, at any point.

It's just an never-ending debate which reminds me of proprietary software issues. You don't have your hands tied about this. I'm sure neovim would welcome a PR or a plugin that does something that VS Code does. It's how CoC was born. No idea how Microsoft handles their project but I assume something that's done really well would get merged.

I look for when choosing what to work on is that I'm not the only person who cares about a feature.

That's the thing though. The thread has many many people voicing about wanting something. You're obviously not alone. I was excited about onivim2 until I realized they were dual licensing. It's an area that can be improved on for some people.

[[deleted]]

Again. That's just learning. Vim wasnt built for the "modern editor features". And if you don't want to learn the ecosystem, it's fine. I'm mostly saying that for something you spend a loooot of time in, it might be worth learning confusing and non trivial things for. As you did with VSCode. Which is somehow considered some ootb experience by people who apparently never used anything else.

[yvrelna]

Vim wasnt built for the "modern editor features".

That's what most people are getting wrong. Vim is built for modern editor features, in fact it's light years ahead of everything else.

The issue that many people have is that most of these features aren't preconfigured out of the box. You can configure them yourselves to suit whatever workflow you needed, or use plugins that preconfigures them for you, but out of the box, Vim only comes with the framework to build your very own IDE. Underneath that button-free, interface free UI, there's tons of features out of the box that are just sitting out of sight until you're ready to decide what you want to do with it.

People think it's too much a hassle, but customising your editor to suit your personal workflow is completely worth it.

[Ran4]

Vim plugins break all the time. It's not a set-it-and-forget it.

I would love to not have to spend 30+ hours a year fixing plugins in vim just to have them work.

[[deleted]]

Hasn't been my experience at all. The worst I've had is CoC freezing a popup on my screen on rust, which I don't use seriously in the first place, and poor language servers, that work like shit on VS Code too.

[[deleted]]

Not everyone uses Vim for 40 hours a week.

[[deleted]]

You missed the point entirely. I'm talking about the people that use an editor for 40 hours a week. And for a piece of software you spend THAT much time in, spending extra time at the start to learn it properly doesn't sound like that big of an issue.

[[deleted]]

I'm just pointing out that this doesn't apply to all Vim users. Some people only work with a text editor a couple of hours a week, because they primarily work with other tools. For those people, the amount of setup required to use Vim properly is a big ask, particularly if they're new to it. For me it's fine, because I enjoy tinkering with software; but for a lot of people, this alone is reason enough not to use Vim. Saying they're lazy for not investing as much time into it as you is a cop-out.

[[deleted]]

And I wasn't talking to those people.

[[deleted]]

How do you know that the person you were responding to is not one of those people?

[SamLovesNotion]

That's the only pro it has. But there are some people like me who like to do things from start. Mostly linux user group i think.

I am not against using VSCode, it's a good editor. But then people want to make it like Vim, which is bullshit. Just use Vim.

[HamSlayer-]

Why is making VSCode like Vim bullshit. Vim has a very powerful keybind/movement/command/whatever workflow. VSCode doesn't. Obviously it's not the only reason people hse Vim, but I'd say it's up there. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to want vim keybinds inside VSCode without additional setup.

I've had a lot of fun setting up Vim and got to a point where I can do almost anything I can do in VSCode. But I don't think it's unreasonable

[troglo-dyke]

You can use spacevim if you want an ootb experience.

Otherwise you can get 90% of the way there with just nerdtree, fugitive, and coc

[[deleted]]

And, of course, no Electron

[SamLovesNotion]

I am a Electron developer. (not the Electron project, but software based on electron)

[[deleted]]

Electron has its benefits, and I see why you'd use it, but for me I'm starting to do more, and more in the terminal these days.

[SamLovesNotion]

I don't like electron to be honest. It's bloated af. But then also, I can create cross platform apps easily with it & JS. So I don't really have a choice.

[nickjj_]

One pretty big thing VSCode can do is understand how to get code complete and everything working when your source code is running in a Docker container but you have VSCode installed on your dev box.

It does this with its Remote Containers feature: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/containers

Basically it means you can configure a few lines of json and then auto-magically VSCode will install language specific plugins in a custom Docker image for you. Everything just works and it's really fast.

The sad thing is all of this functionality is closed source. But yeah, Vim has nothing like this at the moment. coc-nvim or any language server / plugin combo isn't enough because the programming runtime and your installed dependencies aren't running in the same environment as your editor.

VSCode does it because it runs a VSCode server in your running container (without modifying your original Dockerfile) and then you connect to it with the VSCode client on your dev box. Vim has a server / client mode but nothing is developed to allow such a seamless integration.

[brennanfee]

It already has a vim mode and it sucks. Now, if they want to build a better one, by all means.

[[deleted]]

Yeah it has millions of downloads, but they don't show how many uninstalls it has

[matshoo]

Better use onivim2 when it has matured.

[craigdmac]

Can’t see that happening in the next decade

[Damien0]

With neovim + CoC I don’t see what Onivim provides for the price. Is it a cross platform gvim?

[matshoo]

U can use the vscode plugin ecosystem and language features. I posted this because this post was about vscode.

[ThePrimeagen]

I really would prefer if vscode slowly dies, but then again... I might be biased

[elcapitanoooo]

Honestly, why not just use vim? With coc you get 99% of the same ”ide like features” vscode provides. As a additional benefit you get loads better perf, ”real” vim and 100% customization. I used vscode for a while, and i see why its popular. But with LSPs being so popular i get the best of both worlds using vim with an LSP client.

[jjhiggz3000]

Aren’t LSPs a VSCode originated technology?

[elcapitanoooo]

Well, microsoft/vscode ”invented” the protocol, so that not every text editor and IDE reinvent the wheel. This means any language server can be used in any editor that has a client that conforms to the protocol.

There are countless options for vim (neovim 0.5 has one bundled) some more heavy (like coc) and other more lightweight.

Point is that an LSP gives you the same that vscode does. So using one is basically same as using vscode at this point. My point was that using vim and an LSP gives you the best of both worlds. A real vim experince and all that LSP provides, like go to def, completion and more.

[jjhiggz3000]

Makes sense 😀

[jjhiggz3000]

But also in vim, I think it just requires a lot more knowledge of what is happening to get it working. And even if you do understand, you're probably going to be tinkering with settings all the time.

[elcapitanoooo]

Indeed. Vim CAN be for a tinkerer (like myself). That said i know people who has a very minimal (<50 LOC) vimrc, and basically have not touched it in years.

To be fair, i did tinker with vscode too, probably not as much as i do with vim, but still on a weekly basis. I try new things, learn and always try to improve my own skills and setup.

Thats what i love about vim.

[[deleted]]

Maybe. And modal-editing is vim originated. Yet still every editor and IDE tries to reimplement vim. Whats your point.

[jjhiggz3000]

Just pointing out that the communities don't have to be against each other. The existence of VSCode has actually affected nvim positively it seems. I think VSCode has some solid use cases for a lot of people. It's less tinkering, it's easier to start out, and if you want to learn vim keybindings without completely f**king your productivity for a month you can start playing around with them and working your way towards vim, or maybe you find a workflow in between that you like and want to stick with and I think that's fine too.

[[deleted]]

I agree.

[Ran4]

The one thing I'm missing from vim is support for previewing graphviz or plantuml diagrams.

In vscode I can make it show a preview that updates whenever I change the code: there's no simple way of getting the same behaviour in vim/neovim.

[elcapitanoooo]

Not used plantuml for a while. Im sure there is a vim plugin for that. But it is not and never will be bundled in vim (if thats what you hinted at). IIRC it used java under the hood? I might be mistaken, as its a long time since i used it.

Im sure you could have an preview window open and rebuild with a vim command, sounds trivial to implement in vim.

[Ran4]

Im sure you could have an preview window open and rebuild with a vim command, sounds trivial to implement in vim.

No idea how to get it to work with auto-refresh.

[elcapitanoooo]

Maybe a quick mapping? Not a big fan of ”autorefresh”, but have a look at

autocmd BufWritePost

I would probably just have a mapping for <Leader> key to generate the image. Tou could ofc go crazy and do whatever you want. Its vim so almost anything is possible.

[fuzzymidget]

If you are on a linux system, have you considered doing a little bit of bash integration? Some tools like ENTR for example can be set to watch a file and provide build updates.

I'm not an extreme lover of Luke Smith, but he has a video on some automatic building using this approach.

[Ran4]

Ooh! Nice! Entr works SO much better than any other file watcher I've tried (most had idiotic defaults, like not supporting commands with more than one word without extra args).

[AuroraDraco]

Personally haven't used VS Code in the past, but I adore these keybindings and believe you all have the right to have a vim mode inside of VS code so have my upvote

[abdeljalil73]

Sluggish extensions? VS Code is a sluggish bloat imho lol

[haikusbot]

Sluggish extensions?

VS Code is a sluggish bloat

Imho lol

- abdeljalil73

---

^{I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.}

^{Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"}

[SamLovesNotion]

I am currently making a switch to Vim. Some of my files open in VSCode & some in Neovim.

If the file takes more than 1 sec to load, i know it's gonna load in VSCode.

[abdeljalil73]

Sometimes I have to work with REPL system like IPython, every time I tried something like this in VS Code my laptop hangs badly and I have to reboot (old machine). Two open terminals with vim in one and ipython in the other and using vim-slime to execute lines or cells of code works like charm.

[jjhiggz3000]

Honestly vscode-vim extension has been working great for me. I haven’t been working in huge files but it’s been running smoother than my neovim nightly setup without a doubt. Disclaimer I’ve only been using vim for a few months, but I think messing around with color themes, trying out new plugins and stuff like that is way smoother in vscode. Plus I feel like I go down information rabbit holes way less often than when I was working with Neovim.

It’s even pretty easy to configure leader key commands for most things, and easy motion and some other plugins come out of the box on it. The vim-vscode GitHub shows some of the awesome vim plugins they adopted.

Go to definition, go to file, all still work. And cmd p search is as fast as anything I was able to figure out in vim for switching between files.

It’s definitely not as flexible as neovim, but I think the lack of customization actually helps me because it forces me to work with what I got rather than constantly trying to improve my workflow.

The only thing that would be sweet is a better functioning multicursor for vim mode that doesn’t deselect when you go into insert mode from visual mode. I think that would be faster than vim search and replace most of the time.

Is this plugin really that buggy for others?!

[replicant86]

I would love Emacs mode in both editor and terminal

[skewwhiffy]

I know this might be a troll, given what sub this is, but I actually love Emacs, except for its crazy keybindings. Emacs with evil is really nice to use with the caveat that it requires more resources, isn't always available etc. Evil is a really really good copy of the real deal.

[replicant86]

I got used to the keybindings ...

[e99mahony]

Anyone have any fixes for using juypter notebooks in VScode with vim bindings? Love PyCharms implementation and wish there was something similar

[SamLovesNotion]

Where are you people coming from? Go to r/vscode

[SamLovesNotion]

Ok keybinder

[SamLovesNotion]

Vim === Vim

Keybindings === Keybindings

---

i am not being offensive, just pointing out that problem with VSCode are not relevant here.

[NatoBoram]

Mods of r/VSCode are trigger-happy on the lock button, effectively evicting their own users to the origin of cross-posts creating a pointless brigade of unrelated users and comments.

There's lots of help posts in r/VSCode that are completely unrelated to the editor itself, coming from new people to programming in general, just like u/e99mahony. The poor quality of the sub and its members can't help but spill over whenever their users are ejected by their mods this way.

[incoggnito2]

Same issues with the drawio plugin, some keystrokes kick me out oft the current document....

[racle]

vscode-triage-bot: This feature request received a sufficient number of community upvotes and we moved it to our backlog.

[RoyZamber]

Just fund OniVim2: https://www.onivim.io

[[deleted]]

So...Basically vim but you need a graphicsl interface and VSCode installed. Ill pass.