Neovim

Neovim

Neovim is a hyperextensible Vim-based text editor. It aims to improve Vim by refactoring the source code to allow greater plugin development and extension. It offers the familiar keybindings and modes of Vim with a streamlined codebase for customization.
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vim text-editor keyboard-shortcuts plugin-extensible

Neovim: Hyperextensible Vim-based Text Editor

Neovim is a hyperextensible Vim-based text editor. It aims to improve Vim by refactoring the source code to allow greater plugin development and extension. It offers the familiar keybindings and modes of Vim with a streamlined codebase for customization.

What is Neovim?

Neovim is a hyperextensible Vim-based text editor developed since 2014. It is a rewrite and refactoring of Vim to allow for greater plugin/extension development. Neovim offers the core functionality of Vim - the keybindings, editing modes, configuration options that users are familiar with - just with a more streamlined codebase and API for extending and enhancing the editor.

Key goals and improvements in Neovim include:

  • Simplified codebase by removing legacy cruft, allowing new features to be implemented
  • Faster startup time than Vim
  • Remote plugin architecture using RPC that allows plugins to be written in any language
  • Built-in terminal emulator that allows tasks to be run inside Neovim
  • Multi-threaded event loop for higher plugin performance
  • Better support for GUI clients like desktop apps or web frontend
  • Continuing Vim tradition of text editor modality, extensibility

Neovim continues to improve through an active open-source community. It publishes frequent releases with new functionality and bugfixes. For those wanting to extend and customize their text editor, Neovim provides a more modern architecture beyond vimscript. Almost all vim plugins are compatible with Neovim as well.

Neovim Features

Features

  1. Modal editing interface
  2. Vimscript support for plugins/extensions
  3. Async job control API
  4. Built-in terminal emulator
  5. Remote plugin architecture
  6. Clipboard integration
  7. Syntax highlighting
  8. Code completion

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Lightweight and fast

Extensible and customizable

Active development community

Supports most Vim plugins

Async job control improves performance

Remote editing capabilities

Cleaner codebase than Vim

Cons

Steep learning curve

Not as fully-featured as Vim (yet)

Limited Windows support

Smaller user community than Vim

Some Vim plugins are incompatible


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