Selection-first editing with multiple selections, Normal/Insert/Select modes, goto & match modes, textobjects, surround, registers, counts, and search.

A core motions subset — broad coverage of everyday Helix keys, not full parity. No tree-sitter textobjects, LSP gotos, macros, or jumplist.

Install

bun add @gregorlohaus/codemirror-helix
# peers: @codemirror/{state,view,commands,language,search}

Usage

import { EditorView, basicSetup } from "codemirror";
import { helix } from "@gregorlohaus/codemirror-helix";

new EditorView({
  doc: "hello world",
  extensions: [basicSetup, helix()],
  parent: document.body,
});

helix() needs a selection drawer for multi-cursor rendering — basicSetup (or drawSelection()) covers it.

Options

helix({
  startInInsert: false, // start in Normal mode (default)
  statusBar: true,      // show the bottom mode line
  // Let an open autocomplete popup eat the first Escape instead of leaving Insert:
  escapeGuard: (state) => completionStatus(state) === "active",
});

Keys

Starts in Normal mode. The status line shows the mode, pending count, register, and selection count.

Group	Keys
Modes	`i`/`a` insert before/after, `I`/`A` line start/end, `o`/`O` open line, `v` select (extend), `Esc` normal
Motion	`h j k l`, `w W b B e E`, `f t F T {char}`, `Alt-.` repeat find, `Home`/`End`, counts (`3w`)
Goto `g`	`gg`/`Ng` line, `ge` end, `gh`/`gl` line ends, `gs` first non-blank, `gt`/`gc`/`gb` view top/center/bottom
Select	`x` line (repeat extends), `X` line bounds, `%` all, `;` collapse, `Alt-;` flip, `Alt-:` forward, `,` keep primary, `Alt-,` remove primary, `(`/`)` rotate, `_` trim
Multi	`s` select regex, `S` split, `K`/`Alt-K` keep/remove, `C` copy selection below, `Alt-C` above
Match `m`	`mm` matching bracket, `mi{o}`/`ma{o}` inside/around (`w W p ( [ { < " ' \` m`),` ms{c}`surround,`md{c}`delete,`mr{c}{c}` replace
Edit	`d` delete, `c` change, `y` yank, `p`/`P` paste, `R` replace w/ register, `r{c}` replace char, `~`/`/Alt-`` `` case, `J` join, `>`/`<` indent, `u`/`U` undo/redo
Registers	`"{c}` select register for the next yank/delete/paste
Search	`/` `?` search, `n`/`N` next/prev, `*` search selection
View	`zz`/`zt`/`zb` center/top/bottom, `Ctrl-d`/`Ctrl-u` half page, `Ctrl-f`/`Ctrl-b` page
Clipboard	`space y` copy, `space p`/`space P` paste (system clipboard)

s/S/K/Alt-K open a prompt and preview live as you type the regex; Enter commits, Esc restores the original selection.

License

MIT