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Helix doesn't have tabs or folding, I find it really hard to use an editor without those features. The preconfigured LSP stuff is nice, but after you set it up in vim you usually don't have to mess with it unless you want too.


I'm happy to dump NeoVim if Helix is actually better. But is the ecosystem _really_ there yet?


As with most engineering tools, I think using the word "better" is not necessarily correct. It's a matter of tradeoffs.

For me, I was fed up maintaining code to run my neovim setup the way I want, so I was looking for a configuration distribution or... something else.

Helix was the dead simplicity I was looking for. It has its own warts and drawbacks, but the tradeoffs are well worth it in my experience. I absolutely love Helix!

But if you want your editor to work exactly the way you want and having maximum flexibility is more important, you will not like Helix, which is extremely opinionated and has 95% of what you want in a modern text editor. The other 5% may be a deal breaker for you.

And that's fine! Use the tools you love!


Unfortunately there is no ecosystem. Helix does not provide an extension interface.


Huge downside for me.

Not that I want to muck around with plugins all day, but having the ability to add a few helper plugins to ease certain tasks is a godsend in terminal editors.

Especially if you really dislike certain defaults packaged with the editor.


That is too bad. If they did then they would probably garner huge community support and the gaps would be quickly filled in.


They're actively discussing/working on it: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/discussions/3806


No neovim is much better and easier and retains most of the vi keystrokes while helix breaks some common vi keystrokes

And no extension interface for helix another big positive for neovim and even vi


I have played with helix and I do like how it comes with everything out of the box. Helix is doing great things but it isn't there yet.

I can customize Neovim the way I want and the plugin ecosystem is huge. Maybe when Helix gets there it will be worth the switch.

p.s. kakoune style of modal editing makes so much sense and I wish vim had started out like that.


What are the design goals of helix other than neovim in rust without all the original vi/neovim key bindings sans extension interface b



Can they add backwards compatible to all vim key bindings then that gets very useful like neovim and unlike a vim like plug-in on vscode


I would love to use helix, if only it hadn't decided to come up with new keymappings


Nah the keybindings don't work once you learn the vim ones




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