Neovim
Vim-based, extensible terminal text editor with Lua scripting and built-in LSP support.
Liked as a fast, lightweight terminal editor1234 with LSP, Treesitter and Lua extensibility567, and it pairs well with AI coding agents.8910 The most common complaint is a fragile setup, where plugin changes and updates break configurations111213 and the ecosystem keeps reinventing itself.1415
Why people recommend it
Terminal workflow · 3
Fits a keyboard-driven terminal setup alongside tmux, zellij, lazygit and other TUIs.
“I spend all day in a terminal multiplexer (zellij) with neovim and other splits.”
“inside the session using nvim for edits”
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AI agent pairing · 3
Commenters pair it with Claude Code, CodeCompanion or pi to review and steer AI-written code.
“I use only Neovim, and paired with CodeCompanion it is really powerful and ergonomic”
“neovim + claude code + open terminal is exactly my setup!”
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“I'm fully onboard the Neovim train. Lua is a much better language than vimscript”
LazyVim distribution · 3
LazyVim makes it an IDE out of the box with little configuration.
“I'm probably 2x to 3x as productive in vim (nvim, now) as before.”
“But NeoVim has made writing plugins so much easier”
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Modern features · 3
LSP, Treesitter and Lua scripting gave Vim new life compared with vimscript.
“Neovim really gave it a new life - LSPs, Treesitter, scripting with Lua”
“I'm so glad I switched to NeoVim. I've got the good LSP and auto-complete stuff”
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“I'm fully onboard the Neovim train. Lua is a much better language than vimscript”
Speed and lightness · 3
Starts quickly and uses less memory and battery than VS Code.
“They take less memory. compare vscode vs nvim.”
“I moved to Neovim which has barely any efficiency downside anymore”
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“NeoVim gives me everything I was looking for in Zed: Speed, a polished UI, quick startup, not overloaded.”
Extensibility · 3
Users shape it over time to match their own workflow and write their own plugin versions.
“Neovim is simple but extensible. I have designed it over years to match my workflow and tools precisely.”
“I can try put someone's neovim plugin for a second, figure out if it's something I actually need, and if so make my own personal version”
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“NeoVim gives me everything I was looking for in Zed: Speed, a polished UI, quick startup, not overloaded.”
Caveats and dissent
Fragile configs · 3
Plugin changes and updates broke setups, and some users left for Helix, JetBrains or Doom Emacs.
“it was fragile, and while it was theoretically infinitely flexible, practically, it was too big of a PITA to change”
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“I ditched Neovim as all the complicated modern crap wasn't working for me”
Ecosystem churn · 2
LSPs and package managers keep getting reimplemented, and some find the community pushes toward VS Code-like complexity.
“LSPs keep getting reimplemented, package managers keep getting reimplemented. It's a bit like the react version of text editors.”
“a large section of the community want to create more complex TUI elements or replicate GUI interfaces and make it more like VS Code”
Vim feature gaps · 2
Vim users were caught off guard by an incident involving a Vim feature (persistent undo) behaving differently in Neovim.
“Feeling terribly vindicated at this point”
“I switched from Vim to NeoVim this year, after about 15 years on Vim.”
Config maintenance · 1
Even long-time fans don't enjoy maintaining their configuration.
“Neovim really gave it a new life - LSPs, Treesitter, scripting with Lua”
macOS keybindings · 1
One user gave up because they couldn't bind the CMD key properly.
“I once gave up on NeoVim because I couldn't bind the CMD key properly and switched to VS Code.”
Often compared with
7 moved from Vim to Neovim
1 moved from Neovim to Vim
6 moved from Visual Studio Code to Neovim
1 moved from Neovim to Visual Studio Code
3 moved from Emacs to Neovim
2 moved from Neovim to Emacs
1 moved from Zed to Neovim
1 moved from Neovim to Zed
1 moved from Doom Emacs to Neovim
3 moved from Neovim to Doom Emacs
2 moved from Neovim to Helix
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- On caring for user data: NeoVim caused Vim undo files to be deleted 7 mentions
- Even More Batteries Included with Emacs 4 mentions
- How do you use Vim in the era of AI? 3 mentions
- Ask HN: What are tools you have made for yourself since the advent of AI 3 mentions
- Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026) 3 mentions
- The vi family 3 mentions
Also written as neovim, NeoVim. Data: neovim.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 52
“while setting up Neovim on a new machine”
“I ditched Neovim as all the complicated modern crap wasn't working for me”
“when I was transitioning to neovim”
“Will it replace neovim for me?”
“I have been a neovim power user for a few years now”
“I switch to nvim/helix (still evaluating both. Don’t know what to pick)”
“I use nvim as my terminal (via lazy vim guy's terminal plugin)”
“to leverage tmux and neovim”
“Every Neovim install already has a grid, extmarks, floating windows, and a Lua runtime.”
“There are also alternatives such as VSCodium, Neovim, or Emacs.”
“I also went back to using neovim and tmux”
“Also AI got me off jetbrains onto nvim and I haven't been this happy writing code.”
“But NeoVim has made writing plugins so much easier”
“But for org-mode in Neovim”
“neovim already has neovide”
“having a blast improving my workflow with Neovim and Agentic Engineering”
“I finally got around to using AI to configure my Neovim setup with a decent F# and C# experience.”
“neovim is my preferred editor now”
“The reason I switched to NeoVim in like 2015 is because it had async plugin support.”
“I switched from Vim to NeoVim this year, after about 15 years on Vim.”
“I think Neovim's decisions are justfiable in this context.”
“I sympathize with the Neovim developer in that thread”
“To run it I type "nvim" instead of "vim".”
“I used neovim because it felt way faster by default.”
“Feeling terribly vindicated at this point”
“I use nixvim for generating my neovim config”
“I made the jump to nvim a while ago - I highly recommend using vim keybindings in vscode to get used to them”
“I’m currently experimenting with running:”
“I’ve been trying to move to NeoVim but can never find the time.”
“having a blast improving my workflow with Neovim”
“I use the default neovim theme”
“vim will still win while also replacing VS Code, Obsidian, and a dozen other applications”
“I couldn't find good TLA+ bindings for Neovim”
“neovim as a text editor”
“They take less memory. compare vscode vs nvim.”
“introduced me to so many amazing tools like neovim, tmux, tiling window managers, Arch Linux, and countless TUIs”
“particularly when combined with TUI applications like yazi, lsd, fzf , neovim etc”
“I use neovim on NixOS”
“I've actually been using `buf_ls` for a while now in NeoVim”
“a Crush client running beside neovim in a herdr session”
“I moved to Neovim which has barely any efficiency downside anymore”
“it was fragile, and while it was theoretically infinitely flexible, practically, it was too big of a PITA to change”
“I use only Neovim, and paired with CodeCompanion it is really powerful and ergonomic”
“neovim + claude code + open terminal is exactly my setup!”
“LSPs keep getting reimplemented, package managers keep getting reimplemented. It's a bit like the react version of text editors.”
“Neovim really gave it a new life - LSPs, Treesitter, scripting with Lua”
“I spend all day in a terminal multiplexer (zellij) with neovim and other splits.”
“I'm so glad I switched to NeoVim. I've got the good LSP and auto-complete stuff”
“NeoVim gives me everything I was looking for in Zed: Speed, a polished UI, quick startup, not overloaded.”
“a large section of the community want to create more complex TUI elements or replicate GUI interfaces and make it more like VS Code”
“plugins and updates kept breaking it”
“I'm fully onboard the Neovim train. Lua is a much better language than vimscript”