So, here’s the deal. After five years of using Neovim, I’ve come to love the Vim way—its keyboard-centric workflow, minimalistic UI, and the power it offers for coding. But as much as I’ve enjoyed the journey, Neovim’s ever-evolving ecosystem has its downsides. Frequent plugin updates, occasional breakages, and the constant need to tinker with configurations can sometimes feel like a full-time job. So, I decided to explore other options.

I have few requirements for the editor:

1. Keyboard-centric: If I’m lifting my hands off the keyboard, something’s wrong.
2. Minimalistic UI: Clean and distraction-free—I don’t need bells and whistles.
3. Fast and lightweight: Performance matters, always.
4. Modern: It should be flexible enough to adapt to new features and workflows.

I’ve tried a few editors, and so far, Zed stands out as the most suitable alternative. The vision of the Zed team aligns closely with what makes Vim/Neovim great: efficiency, focus, and power. While Zed isn’t as extensible or powerful as Vim, it hits the sweet spot for me.

Zed’s built-in features are impressive. They’ve replaced most of the plugins I relied on in Neovim, streamlining my workflow without sacrificing functionality. The only thing I miss is a debugging feature, but for now, that’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.

I’ve written a configuration for Zed that mirrors my Neovim setup—simple, efficient, and tailored to my needs.

For those who share a love for keyboard-centric, minimalistic tools, Zed might just be worth a try.

links

• keymap.json
• settings.json