Vim
Modal, keyboard-driven terminal text editor descended from vi, with GUI variants like MacVim.
HN commenters like Vim for keybindings they can carry into nearly every editor and IDE,123 for long-term stability,456 and for terminal and SSH workflows alongside tmux.789 The most common caveat is the learning curve,101112 and some find it too much setup work for use as a full code editor.1314
Why people recommend it
Bindings everywhere · 3
Vim keybindings and emulation are available in most editors, IDEs and other tools, so the skills carry over.
“I'm a die-hard vimmer, I use vim bindings everywhere.”
“The availability of vim emulation in majority of text editors and IDEs has been a lifesaver”
Show 1 more
“Vim has plugins/extensions for all of those. Vim is a setting now.”
Terminal workflows · 3
It fits into tmux-based setups next to shells and AI coding agents.
“Vim in the editor pane1, shell in pane2, agent(s) in panes3+.”
Show 1 more
“i love vim and i love vim-tmux-navigator keybinds”
Stability · 3
Users describe it as fast, lean and stable software that just works over many years.
“The C programs I use daily are generally very fast, very lean and very stable: Programs such as linux, terminals, shells, vim, etc.”
“the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11¹, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)”
Show 1 more
“No need to retire it, because it just works..”
Editing power · 3
Users single out features like visual block mode, macros and advanced undo history.
“Visual block mode and virtual edit are such killer features of vim.”
“I highly recommend getting to know it.”
Show 1 more
Remote use · 3
It is valued for editing on headless machines, over SSH, and on clusters.
“has come in handy almost every day since then”
“it's still my go-to when needed”
Show 1 more
“Most clusters I use are architected assuming you use vim and look at graphics locally. I do.”
Lasting fluency · 3
Long-time users report that once learned, it stays fast and they keep coming back to it.
“It took me a few months to go fast with Vim, but once I did, nothing compares.”
“Vim is great and I have 25 years of muscle memory for it.”
Show 1 more
“I've tried GUIs many times (vscode, sublime, atom, zed, bbedit, intellij) but I always end up back in vim”
Caveats and dissent
Learning curve · 3
It is considered too complicated for many people, and getting fast takes time.
“vi/vim is too complicated for many folks”
“I've tried GUIs many times (vscode, sublime, atom, zed, bbedit, intellij) but I always end up back in vim”
Show 1 more
“It took me a few months to go fast with Vim, but once I did, nothing compares.”
Setup burden · 2
Some find it needs a lot of customization and config maintenance to work as a code editor.
“They are hard to setup as code editors, lots of customizations are needed and in my opinion it does not pay off.”
“Got into vim in 2009 and since then it's the editor I always come back to.”
Not for everyone · 3
Some prefer simpler editors like nano or micro, and it is hard to ask a group to adopt a TUI.
“I use it, and have used it for 25-odd years”
Show 1 more
“I love vim”
AI integration · 2
Some say plugins do not give a good integrated experience with AI agents.
“I gave up on emacs and vim. Its like fighting bad design.”
“Vim in the editor pane1, shell in pane2, agent(s) in panes3+.”
Inconsistent emulation · 1
Vim emulation quality varies widely across other environments.
Changed defaults · 1
A mouse-triggered visual mode change broke one user's copy-paste habits.
“even vim is not immune.”
Often compared with
4 moved from Emacs to Vim
5 moved from Vim to Emacs
1 moved from Neovim to Vim
7 moved from Vim to Neovim
2 moved from Visual Studio Code to Vim
4 moved from Vim to Visual Studio Code
2 moved from Vim to Sublime Text
1 moved from Vim to Helix
2 moved from Vim to Zed
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Good Tools Are Invisible 9 mentions
- Emacs and Vim in the Age of AI 6 mentions
- Emacs Turns 50 4 mentions
- On caring for user data: NeoVim caused Vim undo files to be deleted 4 mentions
- How do you use Vim in the era of AI? 4 mentions
- Vim 9.2 Released 4 mentions
Also written as vim. Data: vim.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 48
“Before Cursor, I used vim + tmux.”
“vi/vim is too complicated for many folks”
“I am a die-hard vimmer”
“I spend my day in vim and zsh”
“I'm a die-hard vimmer, I use vim bindings everywhere.”
“I've been vimming since 2010, the idea of vim modality is an excellent, practical, beautiful model.”
“I was introduced to vim before emacs and got really comfortable with it.”
“Always wanted something that allowed me to use vim while viewing the markdown”
“I used to do ssh, tmux, vim for most of my work on the server”
“it's still my go-to when needed”
“I use tmux every day, vim and bash and stuff, all great, genuinely like them”
“Vim has plugins/extensions for all of those. Vim is a setting now.”
“the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11¹, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender)”
“No need to retire it, because it just works..”
“I'm a vim user after all!”
“semicolon for vim”
“I can use vim motions more naturally than, say, move my earlobes or control my toes.”
“something that has the fluency of something like vim”
“i love vim and i love vim-tmux-navigator keybinds”
“I used vanilla vim with only syntax highlight and line number enabled”
“Vim is good enough now.”
“I highly recommend getting to know it.”
“To run it I type "nvim" instead of "vim".”
“I've used vim since the first time it appeared in Debian repos.”
“I know enough vim to get around, but not quickly.”
“I often write my work reports in Vim in Markdown format”
“regular MacVim/Vim is already awesome”
“Vim skills stay useful for editing the prompts/module structure/fixing slop code during review”
“Vim is great and I have 25 years of muscle memory for it.”
“What I love about Vim and Emacs is that they taught me humility.”
“I eventually switched to vim but that had to do with needing to ssh into 100k+ machines”
“All the writing, all the code was done by me, by hand, in vim.”
“I've tried GUIs many times (vscode, sublime, atom, zed, bbedit, intellij) but I always end up back in vim”
“I built this monochrome and low-contrast simple colorscheme for vim”
“the constant tweaking and changing things drives you mad after a while”
“I use [digraph]s in (neo)vim”
“I use vim to write code”
“I'm fine to use vim over ssh into a server”
“they have switched to Kate or Vim”
“vim ~/.ssh/config”
“The C programs I use daily are generally very fast, very lean and very stable: Programs such as linux, terminals, shells, vim, etc.”
“Vim in the editor pane1, shell in pane2, agent(s) in panes3+.”
“The productivity gains with Vim commands are impressive.”
“The availability of vim emulation in majority of text editors and IDEs has been a lifesaver”
“Got into vim in 2009 and since then it's the editor I always come back to.”
“It took me a few months to go fast with Vim, but once I did, nothing compares.”
“They are hard to setup as code editors, lots of customizations are needed and in my opinion it does not pay off.”
“has come in handy almost every day since then”