Helix, A Neovim inspired editor, written in Rust (update)

25. 10. 2025

By starting from scratch we were able to learn from our experience with Vim and make some breaking changes. The result is a much smaller codebase and a modern set of defaults. It’s easier to get started if you’ve never used a modal editor before, and there’s much less fiddling with config files.

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

https://helix-editor.vercel.app/start-here/basics/ < unofficial docs
https://github.com/stevenhoy/helix-cheat-sheet < unofficial cheat sheet pdf
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45784596 < One of hacker news debates

2023 ↓

The logic is select > action Everything is a selection, jumping word by word with w, also selects the word.

tutor ↓

:tutor

Change working directory and open file picker ↓

:cd ~/somedir
SPACE, F

Open command palette ↓

SPACE, ?

Buffer picker ↓

SPACE, b

also

g-n and g-p (next, previous)

Yank selection to clipboard ↓

SPACE, y

Paste selection from clipboard ↓

SPACE, p

Delete line ↓

xd

Delete 3 lines ↓

Either

xxxd

3xd

Move line down/up one ↓

Xdp
Xdkp

go to last modification

g.

There is no soft-wrap ↓

:(

EDIT: 22. jun 2023: We have a softwrap now:
https://helix-editor.com/news/release-23-03-highlights/

Fresh build in Debian 12:

config.toml ↓

.config/helix/config.toml

theme = "rose_pine_moon"
[editor]
true-color = true

^ with urxvt in mind.

2025 ↓

Install ↓

There should be amd64.deb here https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/releases

There is softwrap now ↓

Example .config/helix/config.toml (helix 25.07.1 (a05c151b))

theme = "catppuccin_macchiato"
[editor]
true-color = true

[editor.soft-wrap]
enable = true

A slightly more complete config:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brontosaurusrex/bucentaur/refs/heads/master/.config/helix/config.toml

keyboard shortcuts / keymap ↓

https://docs.helix-editor.com/keymap.html

select inside ↓

Keys	Meaning
`mi"`	match inside quotes
`ma"`	match around quotes
`mi(`	inside parentheses
`ma(`	around parentheses
`mi{`	inside braces
`ma{`	around braces

copy (yank) / paste ↓

y, p

copy (yank) / paste to system clipboard ↓

SPACE + y, SPACE + p

Goto line 300 ↓

:300
# or
300 gg

Multiple cursors ↓

C and ; to delete last one

search command pallete ↓

space + ?

Search with bindings

%b A-c

^ shall find if something is bind to ALT+c.

jumplist / bookmarks ↓

save position

ctrl+s

jump to saved markers

space, j

comment out, toggle ↓

ctrl+c

rename symbol (for example function name) ↓

space,r

jump to definition (reverse of gr) ↓

gd

jump to reference (reverse of gd) ↓

gr

Open url under cursor ↓

gf

jump history (multiple buffers) ↓

ctrl+o, ctrl+i

select based on syntax tree ↓

alt+o, alt+i

registers (storage for text and other data) ↓

https://docs.helix-editor.com/registers.html

Feature or bug? (25.07.1 (a05c151b)) ↓

‘i’ for insert mode, type

'abc[space][space][return]'.

Go line up and inspect the end of the line, spaces are gone :O.

Making an inherited theme with background removed ↓

in ~/.config/helix/themes/catppuccin_macchiato_transparent.toml put

inherits = "catppuccin_macchiato"
"ui.background" = { bg = "none" }

Commands ↓

:append-output tail ~/.zshrc
# or :insert-output

will put output of the command into current document.

Links ↓

chess in term, gum, cli, helix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGYvUXYN-c0

VSCODE user tries Helix for 1 year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvVXlF8TMs

Neat overview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcuDmSb-JBU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHebvTGOdH8

linux cli