Helix Text Editor: A Review

Can Vim and Neovim be dethroned by this new modal text editor written in Rust?

I review Helix's features: tree-sitter, LSP, color schemes, etc. I also tell you about the pain points and caveats.

Helix runs on Linux, Windows and MacOS.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
00:25 Features
04:14 On Helix's design
05:23 Selection-action model
06:05 Pros & cons of selection-action
08:01 Configuration
10:52 Plugin Support
11:25 Recap: pros & cons
12:47 Can Helix dethrone Neovim?

[jagagemo]

VIM user: "I don't want bloat."
Also VIM users: "I'm going to install this opinionated VIM flavor that requires installing 27 modules, language, compilers, managers, interpreters, and tools just to run."
Look at Chad/Lunar/Astro/etc.

[maximus]

For newcomers to modal editing such as myself I can see them choosing helix over neovim any day of the week. It is just simply a better experience

[mrhivefive]

Helix is a more pragmatic implementation of Kakoune editing model. Besides object-verb/verb-object, one of the major insights of Kakoune was that visual mode should be the default and that the cursor is just a 1 char selection. When entering insert or append mode you prepend or append to one or more selections of arbitrary sizes. Instead of collapsing the selection to 1 char to enter insert with "i", just enter append with "a".

[JeffBarczewski]

Helix is now my favorite editor. It didn't take much to get started and the menus help you when you haven't yet learned a key shortcut. I think the blend of vim + kakoune plus helix additions is very well thought out and intuitive. I love the power and speed it brings. My proficiency improves considerably every day.

[Hobbitstomper]

For most neovim users the most important aspect is flexibility and being lightweight without any bloatware pre-installed. Neovim gained popularity exactly because it does NOT have anything pre-installed but instead it lets you pick and choose your plugin, so you can make it the way you want it to be. Personally I find it nice to have built-in color schemes, code highlighting and LSP support, that is why I use NvChad, but for many Vim/Neovim users this is a big no-no, as built-in color schemes and LSP is considered bloatware. That is why I think Helix won't replace Neovim anytime soon or ever, but instead Helix will find it's own fans that prefer an "out-of-the-box Neovim" experience.

[QriousKoder]

The "sticking things together with a duct tape" part is so relatable XD hahahha

[ArielKeselman]

you can use `a` to insert after the selection instead of `i` that inserts at the start of selection

[misterdrgn]

Basically, it's nice if the designers anticipated your particular needs. If not, better wait for those plugins.

[whatsanimesh]

I have been using helix from almost a year, its only after having watched this review did I realize we can toggle options in ':" command mode using tab, I have been typing texts all this time! Wonderful Review btw.

[HumanShield]

I've always thought that vi's "Visual-block mode" did like 90% of what "multiple cursors" does. Good enough for me.

[kobra]

I love your videos. Wish you uploaded more often

[gatogordo]

Most people dont use the full potential of vim for two reasons: high learning curve and the time spent in a config that fit your needs. I tried Helix and I found so easy to use, the select first approach is perfect because now I can see in advance what will happen after a certain command, I see so many experienced vim users caught by surprise after some command, it requires a depth knowledge in vim to predict excatly what will happen after some more complex command and most of the time people just want to write code, that's why most developers get so good and fast using vscode shortcuts, even if those shorcuts are not better than those in vim, because they are just there, no configuration needed.

[recarsion]

The selection-action model is actually so smart. Very often what I do in neovim and I see others doing this as well is instead of let's say "dw", I do "vwd", because that way I see my selection. Okay maybe in such a simple case I still just do "dw" but anything more complex I do visual mode. It'll take getting used to a new paradigm but this just seems like such a good idea. And my neovim config is actually not very complicated at all, so it might be possible for me to fully switch to helix already. Super hyped about this now

[Theosibo]

I played with Helix for a weekend. I LOVED it when playing in Rust code. Trying to set it up with a Go LSP proved to be too frustrating so I went back to my comvie nvim. Here's to hoping they get a Mason like plugin going soon!

[wuXan]

Good video bro.
The subtitles you added were very helpful because of YouTube's option to translate subtitles.
Continue like this and you will have a future. I loved the video editing.

[atahrijouti]

I have these two mappings for i and a so that I don't have to think about the selection when I want to enter insert mode and only think about where the cursor is
[keys.normal]
i = ["collapse_selection", "insert_mode"]
a = ["move_char_right", "collapse_selection", "insert_mode"]

[eidiazcas]

A lot of people start with vscode vim modes before going full vim, so I think a good vscode helix mode would help them a lot. also they could just support vim keybindings

[badumtsy]

at 4:17 I and some others don't agree with easy to install LSP, because it requires global tool installation. Some issues arise when you need different tool versions for different projects. I miss one click LSP install from inside helix that I have with mason in neovim. Some other issues I can't completely switch to helix for now: I lack more granular, seamless undo, a session restoration (WIP PR is on the way iirc) and undo tree integration. Sometimes a tree view (with folds) would also be of help. Beside that, I am really in favor of configuration language used in helix contrary to the Lua used in neovim. It is just so much simpler to write in a TOML without having to learn a language.

[jmtuber]

I'll add that it comes with fuzzy file name search and global text search out of the box. I think this is a great plus.

[UliTroyo]

I switched to Helix over a year ago and haven’t looked back, but it’s not a Neovim replacement. It’s just Vim for minimalists.