Postmodern keybindings for a premodern editor: Helix keybindings in Emacs.
Helix is a modal text editor with keybindings similar to vi, but with some noteworthy differences. Helix Mode supports a small subset of Helix functionality with the goal of recreating the editor navigation/selection experience in Helix while leaving the hard problems (like directory navigation and searching) to Emacs. The result is a small keybinding layer that supports Vim-like hjkl motion commands, while retaining Helix's selection-first model.
Helix Mode integrates nicely with project.el and xref.
Emacs >= 29.1 required.
Clone Helix Mode:
git clone https://github.com/mgmarlow/helix-mode /path/to/helix-mode
Add Helix Mode to your load path and enable it globally:
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/helix-mode")
(require 'helix)
(helix-mode)Or (>= Emacs 30.1) point use-package to this repository with the vc
keyword:
(use-package helix
:vc (:url "https://github.com/mgmarlow/helix-mode")
:config
(helix-mode))You can enable Helix mode globally (e.g. for all buffers besides minibuffers) via
(helix-mode)Alternatively, you can manually toggle Helix mode on/off in local
buffers by invoking helix-normal-mode:
(helix-normal-mode 1)Helix Mode supports remapping "jj" as escape for the purpose of exiting Insert Mode:
(setq helix-jj-timeout 0.2)The timeout specifies how long Helix Mode will wait for a followup keypress before inserting the first "j" key.
Normal mode is the default mode. You can return to it by pressing
ESC.
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| h | Move left | helix-backward-char |
| l | Move right | helix-forward-char |
| j | Move down | helix-next-line |
| k | Move up | helix-previous-line |
| w | Move next word | helix-forward-word |
| b | Move previous word | helix-backward-word |
| G | Go to line | N/A |
| C-b | Move page up | N/A |
| C-f | Move page down | N/A |
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| d | Delete selection | helix-kill-thing-at-point |
| y | Yank selection | N/A |
| p | Paste | N/A |
| v | Begin selection | helix-begin-selection |
| u | Undo | N/A |
| o | Insert newline | helix-insert-newline |
| O | Insert line above | helis-insert-prevline |
| i | Insert mode | helix-insert |
| I | Insert beginning of line | helix-insert-beginning-line |
| a | Insert after | helix-insert-after |
| A | Insert end of line | helix-insert-after-end-line |
| r | Replace with a character | helix-replace |
| R | Replace with yanked text | helix-replace-yanked |
| C-c | Comment line | N/A |
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| x | Select current line | helix-select-line |
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| / | Search | helix-search |
| n | Continue search forwards | helix-search-forward |
| N | Continue search backwards | helix-search-backward |
Accessed by typing : in normal mode.
Currently only supports basic save/quit commands, e.g. write,
write-quit.
Accessed by typing g in normal mode.
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| g | Go to beginning of file | helix-go-beginning-buffer |
| e | Go to end of file | helix-go-end-buffer |
| l | Go to end of line | helix-go-end-line |
| h | Go to beginning of line | helix-go-beginning-line |
Accessed by typing C-w in normal mode.
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| w | Switch to next window | N/A |
| v | Vertical right split | N/A |
| s | Horizontal bottom split | N/A |
| h | Move to left split | N/A |
| j | Move to split below | N/A |
| k | Move to split above | N/A |
| l | Move to right split | N/A |
| q | Close current window | N/A |
| o | Only keep current window | N/A |
Accessed by typing space in normal mode.
| Key | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| f | Find file at project root | N/A |
| b | Switch to project buffer | N/A |
| j | Switch project | N/A |
| / | Search within project | N/A |
Licensed under GPLv3.