Helix

A post-modern modal text editor.

Helix takes inspiration from Kakoune's selection-first model rather than Vim's verb-then-object commands. Selections are the fundamental unit of editing: most commands operate on the current selection, and "select first, then act" produces visible intermediate states that newcomers find easier to learn than Vim's invisible "operator pending" state.

The editor ships with tree-sitter syntax highlighting and Language Server Protocol support out of the box, with no plugins to install. Configuration is a small TOML file. The implementation is in Rust and aims to be fast even on large files.

Blaž Hrastnik started Helix in 2021 and the project has gathered a small, active community of contributors. It is most popular among developers who like Vim's keyboard-driven model but want LSP and tree-sitter built in by default. Adoption is still behind Neovim's, but Helix has carved out a comfortable niche as the "modern, ready-to-go" modal editor.

License: MPL-2.0

Category: Editor

Website: https://helix-editor.com/

Install

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install helix
Fedora/RHEL:   sudo dnf install helix
Arch:          sudo pacman -S helix
macOS:         brew install helix

Authors

Blaž Hrastnik and the Helix project

PreviousHaskell NextHelm