Let's jump straight into it. This is the neovim config I write all my code with. It is just eleven lines, two key bindings, and it does not use any plugins. In this post, I will shortly describe my vim journey, and explain why I ended up with this config.
vim.o.undofile = true
vim.o.clipboard = "unnamedplus"
vim.o.laststatus = 0
vim.opt.expandtab = true
vim.opt.shiftwidth = 4
vim.opt.softtabstop = -1
vim.cmd("syntax off | colorscheme retrobox | highlight Normal guifg=#ffaf00 guibg=#282828")
vim.keymap.set('n', '<space>y', function() vim.fn.setreg('+', vim.fn.expand('%:p')) end)
vim.keymap.set("n", "<space>c", function() vim.ui.input({}, function(c) if c and c~="" then
vim.cmd("noswapfile vnew") vim.bo.buftype = "nofile" vim.bo.bufhidden = "wipe"
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(0, 0, -1, false, vim.fn.systemlist(c)) end end) end)
I first started using vim in high school because I could not quit it. It might have even been vi, and I opened it by accident. I started using it to edit my configuration files or write simple python scripts. For everything else I used Eclipse, and, then, JetBrains IDEs.
A couple of years ago I learnt about neovim and kickstart.nvim, and was amazed by what you can turn vim into. I loved kickstart because it gave you a fully working config that you could poke into, study, and learn more. I loved that everything was in a single file, and it was simple. I did learn a lot, and I also found out that there is stuff in there I do not need. A thousand lines of configuration was too much, even though most of the lines were comments. I started removing comments to trim the config down, I started removing plugins I did not use.
A couple of months ago, I watched Prime's interview with Ginger Bill who said he does not use LSPs, and this helps him build a better mental model of the code he works with. This idea resonated with me, and I decided to give it a go. Moreover, LSPs were the most brittle part of my neovim setup, they often crashed, and I get angry when the software I use does not work. I want to trust my software.
Getting rid of LSPs significantly simplified my config. I started replacing the plugins I used with self-written custom functions, e.g. using grep/find to replace telescope, going over the first 100 lines to figure out the shiftwidth etc. Eventually, I was left only with a couple of plugins, and, I thought that I do not need the plugin manager now, I can just check out the repos myself from init.lua. And then I realised that neovim had commenting out of the box, and I need neither Comment.nvim nor my own custom function to comment out stuff. That was it, I got rid of all my plugins, and I got about 200 lines of custom functions that made my life easier.
Slowly, I started realising, that I can live without much of the functionality of my init.lua. Moreover, similarly to LSPs, that functionality made me less efficient. It prevented me from getting better. And this is how I ended up with 11 lines of configuration which I can even retype if I ever need to work on a machine with vim but without access to the Internet. In hindsight, I found the three ideas that brought me to these 11 lines, and I will elaborate on those below.
I love simplicity. I have a fucking PhD thesis in simplicity. The fewer lines of config you have, the less you should worry about. The simpler your config is, the less it will break, and, usually, the faster it will be. The more plugins you use, the more lines of code you download from the Internet, and every line of code in a random plugin can fuck your computer up. The simpler your system is, the bigger part of it you understand. The simpler your setup is, the easier it is for you to work with the stock tools.
I do not think there is much more to it.
A lot of people are trying to turn vim into an IDE. I do the opposite. I think, text editor should help you edit text, it should not replace your terminal, web browser, and a gaming console, sorry Emacs users. What I think a good editor should do is to provide a seamless integration with the terminal so that you could grep/find/build your project and direct the output to your editor without any hassle.
I have this seamless integration by having a simple custom binding that creates a scratch buffer, runs a command, and sends the output to that scratch buffer:
vim.keymap.set("n", "<space>c", function()
vim.ui.input({}, function(c)
if c and c~="" then
vim.cmd("noswapfile vnew")
vim.bo.buftype = "nofile"
vim.bo.bufhidden = "wipe"
vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(0, 0, -1, false, vim.fn.systemlist(c))
end
end)
end)
Why do I not want my editor to be an IDE? Relying on magic makes me a worse programmer, it makes me lazy and forgetful. It makes me less resilient and increases my dependencies on others. I will give a couple examples.
I was a happy user of the fugitive plugin.
It makes it so easy to stage/reset chunks you want, you can see all the changes easily, and you can do walk over commits, see the history, check the blame without any problems.
However, you have no idea how it works.
I use git cli interface now, and I have learnt so many new commands recently!
I know a command to track the evolution of a single line in the repo: git log -L 42,42:file.rs.
If I get a merge conflict, I load all the conflicting files into a buffer by git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U.
I could use a binding for that, but I want to memorize the flags.
Does this make me a bit slower?
I think so.
But it also makes me learn more when I work, and producing more lines of code is not my goal when programming.
But, Vitaly, you might say, how the fuck do you navigate around the codebase, how do you search, how do you live without Harpoon???
Simple, I replaced Telescope with just grepping stuff, or ripgrepping, if a system I work in has ripgrep.
I run <space>c, and I type rg --vimgrep TODO to get a buffer filled in by the todos.
I can type :cbufer to convert this to a quickfix list for easier navigation with :cn and :cp.
I open my files by typing :e for the files I edit often.
This makes me more aware of the project structure.
If I want to search for a file, I just run rg --files | rg filename to get it to the buffer.
Then it is a one-line yank and :e PASTE.
I use bookmarks instead of Harpoon, or I type :b file to move.
If the buffer list is not polluted :b file (you do not have to type the full path or full name), this can be extremely efficient.
Going to definition of external dependencies was the hardest to figure out.
I ended up having a binding that gives me a filepath where python or rust keep the dependencies and grepping there.
Now I remember the paths (or the way python/cargo make this path), and just cd there, fire vim or just grep directly in the terminal.
This is definitely slower than going to definition with one key bind, but this makes me aware of the structure of external dependencies,
every time I grep, I see the context around, I can read a couple of lines up or down, I might run tree inside.
Again, not magically teleporting to the place I need, makes me learn more.
I trade immediate efficiency for learning more in the long-term.
I am an anti-vibe coder.
The last thing I love my setup for is lack of distrations. When I see people coding in IDE, I feel like staring through a gunhole into their code. They buy the latest macbook pro with 24k resolution to see 3 lines and 5 columns of code surrounded by hundreds of buttons, 25 error messages, and popups with the latest update on the weather around them. I personally cannot deal with it, I get overwhelmed and angry by all these distractions. I want a clean canvas as static as possible, I want it to calm me down, not shout in my face.
This was the first thing I loved about not having LSPs: no autocomplete popups, no diagnostic messages saying the variable is not defined (of course is not, I haven't finished typing the name yet), no messages about rust analyzer crashing. This felt like a sea breeze and waves crashing onto the rocks you are standing on. This was freedom. And this was coherent with the rest of my setup: i3 with zero animations, no window bars, maximum vertical space, and zero notifications.
I do not have line numbers on, I do not need to see them to go on a line that compiler tells me about.
I do not have a statusline on, I can press Ctrl-g to get the filename.
I do not have the syntax highlighting, this goes to the same bucket.
Not doing fuzzy find with Telescope frees me from seeing hundreds of lines changing while I still type.
I can finish typing the command and get a static list of results aftewards.
I understand, that my setup is not for everyone. I am not trying to convince anyone that my setup is better. I just want to demonstrate how powerful tools can make your setup work for you, and encourage you question things that are considered to be ultimate truth in the community.