helix
post-modern modal text editor inspired by Kakoune and Vim
TLDR
Open file
$ hx [file]
Open at specific line$ hx [file]:[line]
Open multiple files$ hx [file1] [file2]
Check health$ hx --health
Open tutor$ hx --tutor
Open a file at a specific working directory$ hx -w [path/to/project] [file]
SYNOPSIS
hx [options] [files]...
DESCRIPTION
Helix is a post-modern modal text editor inspired by Kakoune and Vim. It features multiple selections, built-in LSP support, and tree-sitter integration.The editor provides syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and diagnostics out of the box. It uses selection-action model instead of verb-object.
PARAMETERS
FILES
Files to edit, optionally suffixed with :LINE or :LINE:COLUMN.+N
Open the first given file at line N (or the last line if N is omitted).--health [CATEGORY]
Check for potential setup problems; CATEGORY can be a language name, or one of clipboard, languages, all-languages, all.--tutor
Open the interactive tutorial.-g, --grammar {fetch|build}
Fetch or build the tree-sitter grammars listed in languages.toml.-c, --config FILE
Specify a configuration file to use.--log FILE
Specify a file to use for logging.-w, --working-dir PATH
Specify an initial working directory.--vsplit
Split all given files vertically into separate windows.--hsplit
Split all given files horizontally into separate windows.--strict
Bail with an error for commands that can fail.-v
Increase logging verbosity (repeatable, up to 3 times).-h, --help
Display help information.-V, --version
Print version information.
INSTALL
sudo dnf install helix
sudo pacman -S helix
sudo zypper install helix
brew install helix
nix profile install nixpkgs#helix
CAVEATS
Different keybindings than Vim. Learning curve for selection model. Rust-based, requires compilation.
HISTORY
Helix was started by Blaž Hrastnik in 2020 and first announced publicly in 2021. Unlike Vim/Neovim, it ships with sane defaults, tree-sitter-based syntax analysis, and LSP support built in rather than added via plugins, and it adopts Kakoune's selection-first ("selection, then action") editing model.
