Vim Mode

Zed includes a Vim emulation layer. This page covers enabling and disabling vim mode, key bindings, Zed-specific features, and configuration options.

Zed's vim mode design

Vim mode replicates the behavior of motions and commands where it makes sense and uses Zed-specific functionality where Zed's approach is better. The goal is a familiar experience that works out of the box without requiring configuration.

This includes support for semantic navigation, multiple cursors, or other features usually provided by plugins like surrounding text.

So, Zed's vim mode does not replicate Vim one-to-one, but it meshes Vim's modal design with Zed's modern features to provide a more fluid experience. It's also configurable, so you can add your own key bindings or override the defaults.

Core differences

There are four types of features in vim mode that use Zed's core functionality, leading to some differences in behavior:

1. Motions: vim mode uses Zed's semantic parsing to tune the behavior of motions per language. For example, in Rust, jumping to matching bracket with % works with the pipe character |. In JavaScript, w considers $ to be a word character.
2. Visual block selections: vim mode uses Zed's multiple cursor to emulate visual block selections, making block selections a lot more flexible. For example, anything you insert after a block selection updates on every line in real-time, and you can add or remove cursors anytime.
3. Macros: vim mode uses Zed's recording system for vim macros. So, you can capture and replay more complex actions, like autocompletion.
4. Search and replace: vim mode uses Zed's search system, so, the syntax for regular expressions is slightly different compared to Vim. Head to the Regex differences section for details.

Note: The foundations of Zed's vim mode should already cover many use cases, and we're always looking to improve it. If you find missing features that you rely on in your workflow, please file an issue on GitHub.

Enabling and disabling vim mode

When you first open Zed, you'll see a checkbox on the welcome screen that allows you to enable vim mode.

If you missed this, you can toggle vim mode on or off anytime by opening the command palette and using the workspace command toggle vim mode.

Note: This command toggles the following property in your user settings:

jsonCopy

{
  "vim_mode": true
}

Zed-specific features

Zed is built on a modern foundation that (among other things) uses Tree-sitter and language servers to understand the content of the file you're editing and supports multiple cursors out of the box.

Vim mode has several "core Zed" key bindings that will help you make the most of Zed's specific feature set.

Language server

The following commands use the language server to help you navigate and refactor your code.

Git

Tree-sitter

Tree-sitter is the parser Zed uses to understand the structure of your code. Zed provides motions that change the current cursor position, and text objects that can be used as the target of actions.

Note that the definitions for the targets of the [m family of motions are the same as the boundaries defined by af. The targets of the [[ are the same as those defined by ac, though if there are no classes, then functions are also used. Similarly gc is used to find [ /. g c

The definition of functions, classes and comments is language dependent, and support can be added to extensions by adding a [textobjects.scm]. The definition of arguments and tags operates at the Tree-sitter level, but looks for certain patterns in the parse tree and is not currently configurable per language.

Multi cursor

These commands help you manage multiple cursors in Zed.

Pane management

These commands open new panes or jump to specific panes.

In insert mode

The following commands help you bring up Zed's completion menu, request a suggestion from GitHub Copilot, or open the inline AI assistant without leaving insert mode.

Supported plugins

Zed's vim mode includes features commonly provided by plugins in the Vim ecosystem:

• You can surround text objects with ys (yank surround), change surrounding with cs, and delete surrounding with ds.
• You can comment and uncomment selections with gc in visual mode and gcc in normal mode.
• The project panel supports many shortcuts modeled after the Vim plugin netrw: navigation with hjkl, open file with o, open file in a new tab with t, etc.
• You can add key bindings to your keymap to navigate "camelCase" names. Head down to the Optional key bindings section to learn how.
• You can use gR to do ReplaceWithRegister.
• You can use cx for vim-exchange functionality. Note that it does not have a default binding in visual mode, but you can add one to your keymap (refer to the optional key bindings section).
• You can navigate to indent depths relative to your cursor with the indent wise plugin [-, ]-, [+, ]+, [=, ]=.
• You can select quoted text with AnyQuotes and bracketed text with AnyBrackets text objects. Zed also provides MiniQuotes and MiniBrackets which offer alternative selection behavior based on the mini.ai Neovim plugin. See the Quote and Bracket text objects section below for details.
• You can configure AnyQuotes, AnyBrackets, MiniQuotes, and MiniBrackets text objects for selecting quoted and bracketed text using different selection strategies. See the Any Bracket Functionality section below for details.

Any Bracket Functionality

Zed offers two different strategies for selecting text surrounded by any quote, or any bracket. These text objects are not enabled by default and must be configured in your keymap to be used.

Included Characters

Each text object type works with specific characters:

Both "Any" and "Mini" variants work with the same character sets, but differ in their selection strategy.

AnyQuotes and AnyBrackets (Traditional Vim behavior)

These text objects implement traditional Vim behavior:

• Selection priority: Finds the innermost (closest) quotes or brackets first
• Fallback mechanism: If none are found, falls back to the current line
• Character-based matching: Focuses solely on open and close characters without considering syntax
• Vanilla Vim similarity: AnyBrackets matches the behavior of commands like ci<, ci(, etc., in vanilla Vim, including potential edge cases (like considering > in => as a closing delimiter)

MiniQuotes and MiniBrackets (mini.ai behavior)

These text objects implement the behavior of the mini.ai Neovim plugin:

• Selection priority: Searches the current line first before expanding outward
• Tree-sitter integration: Uses Tree-sitter queries for more context-aware selections
• Syntax-aware matching: Can distinguish between actual brackets and similar characters in other contexts (like > in =>)

Choosing Between Approaches

• Use AnyQuotes/AnyBrackets if you:

  • Prefer traditional Vim behavior
  • Want consistent character-based selection prioritizing innermost delimiters
  • Need behavior that closely matches vanilla Vim's text objects

• Use MiniQuotes/MiniBrackets if you:

  • Prefer the mini.ai plugin behavior
  • Want more context-aware selections using Tree-sitter
  • Prefer current-line priority when searching

Example Configuration

To use these text objects, you need to add bindings to your keymap. Here's an example configuration that makes them available when using text object operators (i and a) or change-surrounds (cs):

{
  "context": "vim_operator == a || vim_operator == i || vim_operator == cs",
  "bindings": {
    // Traditional Vim behavior
    "q": "vim::AnyQuotes",
    "b": "vim::AnyBrackets",

    // mini.ai plugin behavior
    "Q": "vim::MiniQuotes",
    "B": "vim::MiniBrackets"
  }
}

With this configuration, you can use commands like:

• cib - Change inside brackets using AnyBrackets behavior
• ciB - Change inside brackets using MiniBrackets behavior
• ciq - Change inside quotes using AnyQuotes behavior
• ciQ - Change inside quotes using MiniQuotes behavior

Command palette

Vim mode allows you to open Zed's command palette with :. You can then type to access any usual Zed command. Additionally, vim mode adds aliases for popular Vim commands to ensure your muscle memory transfers to Zed. For example, you can write :w or :write to save the file.

Below, you'll find tables listing the commands you can use in the command palette. We put optional characters in square brackets to indicate that you can omit them.

Note: We don't emulate the full power of Vim's command line yet. In particular, commands currently do not support arguments. Please file issues on GitHub as you find things that are missing from the command palette.

File and window management

This table shows commands for managing windows, tabs, and panes. As commands don't support arguments currently, you cannot specify a filename when saving or creating a new file.

Note: The ! character is used to force the command to execute without saving changes or prompting before overwriting a file.

Ex commands

These ex commands open Zed's various panels and windows.

Navigating diagnostics

These commands navigate diagnostics.

Git

These commands interact with the version control system git.

Jump

These commands jump to specific positions in the file.

Replacement

This command replaces text. It emulates the substitute command in vim. The substitute command uses regular expressions, and Zed uses a slightly different syntax than vim. You can learn more about Zed's syntax below, in the regex differences section. Zed will replace only the first occurrence of the search pattern in the current line. To replace all matches append the g flag.

Editing

These commands help you edit text.

Set

These commands modify editor options locally for the current buffer.

Command mnemonics

As any Zed command is available, you may find that it's helpful to remember mnemonics that run the correct command. For example:

• :diffs for "toggle all hunk diffs"
• :cpp for "copy path to file"
• :crp for "copy relative path"
• :reveal for "reveal in finder"
• :zlog for "open zed log"
• :clank for "cancel language server work"

Customizing key bindings

Selecting the correct context

Zed's key bindings are evaluated only when the "context" property matches your location in the editor. For example, if you add key bindings to the "Editor" context, they will only work when you're editing a file. If you add key bindings to the "Workspace" context, they will work everywhere in Zed. Here's an example of a key binding that saves when you're editing a file:

{
  "context": "Editor",
  "bindings": {
    "ctrl-s": "workspace::Save"
  }
}

Contexts are nested, so when you're editing a file, the context is the "Editor" context, which is inside the "Pane" context, which is inside the "Workspace" context. That's why any key bindings you add to the "Workspace" context will work when you're editing a file. Here's an example:

// This key binding will work when you're editing a file. It comes built into Zed by default as the workspace: save command.
{
  "context": "Workspace",
  "bindings": {
    "ctrl-s": "workspace::Save"
  }
}

Contexts are expressions. They support boolean operators like && (and) and || (or). For example, you can use the context "Editor && vim_mode == normal" to create key bindings that only work when you're editing a file and you're in vim's normal mode.

Vim mode adds several contexts to the "Editor" context:

Note: Contexts are matched only on one level at a time. So it is possible to use the expression "Editor && vim_mode == normal", but "Workspace && vim_mode == normal" will never match because we set the vim context at the "Editor" level.

Useful contexts for vim mode key bindings

Here's a template with useful vim mode contexts to help you customize your vim mode key bindings. You can copy it and integrate it into your user keymap.

[
  {
    "context": "VimControl && !menu",
    "bindings": {
      // Put key bindings here if you want them to work in normal & visual mode.
    }
  },
  {
    "context": "vim_mode == normal && !menu",
    "bindings": {
      // "shift-y": ["workspace::SendKeystrokes", "y $"] // Use neovim's yank behavior: yank to end of line.
    }
  },
  {
    "context": "vim_mode == insert",
    "bindings": {
      // "j k": "vim::NormalBefore" // In insert mode, make jk escape to normal mode.
    }
  },
  {
    "context": "EmptyPane || SharedScreen",
    "bindings": {
      // Put key bindings here (in addition to the context above) if you want them to
      // work when no editor exists.
      // "space f": "file_finder::Toggle"
    }
  }
]

Note: If you would like to emulate Vim's map commands (nmap, etc.), you can use the action workspace::SendKeystrokes in the correct context.

Optional key bindings

By default, you can navigate between the different files open in the editor with shortcuts like ctrl+w followed by one of hjkl to move to the left, down, up, or right, respectively.

But you cannot use the same shortcuts to move between all the editor docks (the terminal, project panel, assistant panel, ...). If you want to use the same shortcuts to navigate to the docks, you can add the following key bindings to your user keymap.

{
  "context": "Dock",
  "bindings": {
    "ctrl-w h": "workspace::ActivatePaneLeft",
    "ctrl-w l": "workspace::ActivatePaneRight",
    "ctrl-w k": "workspace::ActivatePaneUp",
    "ctrl-w j": "workspace::ActivatePaneDown"
    // ... or other keybindings
  }
}

Subword motion, which allows you to navigate and select individual words in camelCase or snake_case, is not enabled by default. To enable it, add these bindings to your keymap.

{
  "context": "VimControl && !menu && vim_mode != operator",
  "bindings": {
    "w": "vim::NextSubwordStart",
    "b": "vim::PreviousSubwordStart",
    "e": "vim::NextSubwordEnd",
    "g e": "vim::PreviousSubwordEnd"
  }
}

Note: Operations like dw remain unaffected. If you would like operations to also use subword motion, remove vim_mode != operator from the context.

Vim mode comes with shortcuts to surround the selection in normal mode (ys), but it doesn't have a shortcut to add surrounds in visual mode. By default, shift-s substitutes the selection (erases the text and enters insert mode). To use shift-s to add surrounds in visual mode, you can add the following object to your keymap.

{
  "context": "vim_mode == visual",
  "bindings": {
    "shift-s": "vim::PushAddSurrounds"
  }
}

In non-modal text editors, cursor navigation typically wraps when moving past line ends. Zed, however, handles this behavior exactly like Vim by default: the cursor stops at line boundaries. If you prefer your cursor to wrap between lines, override these keybindings:

// In VimScript, this would look like this:
// set whichwrap+=<,>,[,],h,l
{
  "context": "VimControl && !menu",
  "bindings": {
    "left": "vim::WrappingLeft",
    "right": "vim::WrappingRight",
    "h": "vim::WrappingLeft",
    "l": "vim::WrappingRight"
  }
}

The Sneak motion feature allows for quick navigation to any two-character sequence in your text. You can enable it by adding the following keybindings to your keymap. By default, the s key is mapped to vim::Substitute. Adding these bindings will override that behavior, so ensure this change aligns with your workflow preferences.

{
  "context": "vim_mode == normal || vim_mode == visual",
  "bindings": {
    "s": "vim::PushSneak",
    "shift-s": "vim::PushSneakBackward"
  }
}

The vim-exchange feature does not have a default binding for visual mode, as the shift-x binding conflicts with the default shift-x binding for visual mode (vim::VisualDeleteLine). To assign the default vim-exchange binding, add the following keybinding to your keymap:

{
  "context": "vim_mode == visual",
  "bindings": {
    "shift-x": "vim::Exchange"
  }
}

Restoring common text editing and Zed keybindings

If you're using vim mode on Linux or Windows, you may find it overrides keybindings you can't live without: ctrl+v to paste, ctrl+f to search, etc. You can restore them by copying this data into your keymap:

{
  "context": "Editor && !menu",
  "bindings": {
    "ctrl-f": "buffer_search::Deploy",      // vim default: page down
    "ctrl-c": "editor::Copy",               // vim default: return to normal mode
    "ctrl-x": "editor::Cut",                // vim default: decrement
    "ctrl-v": "editor::Paste",              // vim default: visual block mode
    "ctrl-a": "editor::SelectAll",          // vim default: increment
    "ctrl-y": "editor::Undo",               // vim default: line up
    "ctrl-t": "project_symbols::Toggle",    // vim default: go to older tag
    "ctrl-o": "workspace::Open",            // vim default: go back
    "ctrl-s": "workspace::Save",            // vim default: show signature
    "ctrl-b": "workspace::ToggleLeftDock"   // vim default: down
  }
},

Changing vim mode settings

You can change the following settings to modify vim mode's behavior:

Here's an example of adding a digraph for the zombie emoji. This allows you to type ctrl-k f z to insert a zombie emoji. You can add as many digraphs as you like.

{
  "vim": {
    "custom_digraphs": {
      "fz": "🧟‍♀️"
    }
  }
}

Here's an example of these settings changed:

{
  "vim": {
    "default_mode": "insert",
    "use_system_clipboard": "never",
    "use_smartcase_find": true,
    "gdefault": true,
    "toggle_relative_line_numbers": true,
    "highlight_on_yank_duration": 50,
    "custom_digraphs": {
      "fz": "🧟‍♀️"
    }
  }
}

Useful core Zed settings for vim mode

Here are a few general Zed settings that can help you fine-tune your Vim experience:

Here's an example of these settings changed:

{
  // Disable cursor blink
  "cursor_blink": false,
  // Use relative line numbers
  "relative_line_numbers": "enabled",
  // Hide the scroll bar
  "scrollbar": { "show": "never" },
  // Prevent the buffer from scrolling beyond the last line
  "scroll_beyond_last_line": "off",
  // Allow the cursor to reach the edges of the screen
  "vertical_scroll_margin": 0,
  "gutter": {
    // Disable line numbers completely
    "line_numbers": false
  },
  "command_aliases": {
    "W": "w",
    "Wq": "wq",
    "Q": "q"
  }
}

The command_aliases property is a single object that maps keys or key sequences to vim mode commands. The example above defines multiple aliases: W for w, Wq for wq, and Q for q.

Regex differences

Zed uses a different regular expression engine from Vim. This means that you will have to use a different syntax in some cases. Here are the most common differences:

• Capture groups: Vim uses \( and \) to represent capture groups, in Zed these are ( and ). On the flip side, in Vim, ( and ) represent literal parentheses, but in Zed these must be escaped to \( and \).
• Matches: When replacing, Vim uses the backslash character followed by a number to represent a matched capture group. For example, \1. Zed uses the dollar sign instead. So, when in Vim you use \0 to represent the entire match, in Zed the syntax is $0 instead. Same for numbered capture groups: \1 in Vim is $1 in Zed.
• Global option: By default, in Vim, regex searches only match the first occurrence on a line, and you append /g at the end of your query to find all matches. In Zed, regex searches are global by default.
• Case sensitivity: Vim uses /i to indicate a case-insensitive search. In Zed you can either write (?i) at the start of the pattern or toggle case-sensitivity with the shortcut {#kb search::ToggleCaseSensitive}.

Note: To help with the transition, the command palette will fix parentheses and replace groups for you when you write a Vim-style substitute command, :%s//. So, Zed will convert %s:/\(a\)(b)/\1/ into a search for "(a)(b)" and a replacement of "$1".

For the full syntax supported by Zed's regex engine see the regex crate documentation.