Helix

Helix is a modal editor, similar to vim. Taking a number of design cues from Kakoune, a selection-oriented modal editor.

How To Use

You start the editor with the hx in the command-line. It's recommended to check out hx --help for more program flags (hx --tutor is a helpful one to try out if you're brand new).

The editor's documentation can be found at docs.helix-editor.com

One key note, Helix does not currently support plugins. Part of its design principle is to integrate more features than normally found in vim.

"Selection-Oriented?"

In Vi(m), usually you have to trigger the action key before you select what you want to apply that action to. With a "selection-oriented", or selection-first approach, that order is reversed. You select the range (of text, number, etc), then you apply the action with the key-press.

Some examples

Changing a word

Vim: c followed by w (cw).

Helix: w followed by c (wc).

Deleting a line

Vim: Shift+v (Visual Line mode) followed by d (this is one method)

Helix: x followed by d

Basic Similarities with Vim

• i = Insert mode
• ESC = Normal mode
  • : = Command mode, must be in either Normal or Select/extend mode.
• :w = saves the current file (buffer)
• :q = quits helix, :q! abandons changes and quit helix

Differences with Vim

• Visual Mode in Vim = Selection Mode in Helix
• No Replace Mode
• Select first, then apply action.
• x = in Normal/Select Mode, selects the whole line
• some keys come with a key-combo popup on the bottom right corner. Eg: g will show you what follow-up keys will go to.

Configuring Helix

You can find the config folder for Helix in ~/.config/helix. Editor-focused settings goes into config.toml. Language-specific settings goes into languages.toml.

author note: if you're like me and prefer to have plain-text wrap words when the line reaches the window/terminal edge, try adding the following to your languages.toml:

[[language]] name = "text" scope = "text" file-types = ["txt"] soft-wrap.enable = true

last compiled: 2026-04-24 09:03:12.215281