Skip to main content
Mux includes a built-in Vim mode for the chat input, providing familiar Vim-style editing for power users.

​
Enabling Vim Mode

Vim mode is always enabled. Press ESC to enter normal mode from insert mode.

​
Modes

​
Insert Mode (Default)

  • This is the default mode when typing in the chat input
  • Type normally, all characters are inserted
  • Press ESC or Ctrl-[ to enter normal mode

​
Normal Mode

  • Command mode for navigation and editing
  • Indicated by “NORMAL” text above the input
  • Pending commands are shown (e.g., “NORMAL d” when delete is pending)
  • Press i, a, I, A, o, or O to return to insert mode

​
Visual Mode

  • Visual selection mode for operating on highlighted text
  • Enter with v (characterwise) or V (linewise)
  • Motions extend the selection (e.g. h/j/k/l, w/b/e, 0/$)
  • Press Esc to exit visual mode back to normal mode (cursor returns to the start of the selection)
Supported operators in visual mode:
  • d - Delete selection
  • c - Change selection (delete and enter insert mode)
  • y - Yank (copy) selection
Notes:
  • Counts apply to motions (e.g. v3w)
  • Operators act on the current selection (no extra motion required)

​
Basic Movement

  • h - Move left one character
  • j - Move down one line
  • k - Move up one line
  • l - Move right one character

​
Word Movement

  • w - Move forward to start of next word
  • W - Move forward to start of next WORD (whitespace-separated)
  • b - Move backward to start of previous word
  • B - Move backward to start of previous WORD
  • e - Move to end of current/next word
  • E - Move to end of current/next WORD

​
Line Movement

  • 0 - Move to beginning of line
  • _ - Move to first non-whitespace character of line
  • $ - Move to end of line
  • Home - Same as 0
  • End - Same as $
  • gg - Go to first line
  • gg - Go to line (1-indexed)
  • G - Go to last line
  • G - Go to line (1-indexed)

​
Find/Till (Current Line)

  • f - Find next on the current line
  • F - Find previous on the current line
  • t - Move till before next on the current line
  • T - Move till after previous on the current line
  • ; - Repeat last f/F/t/T in the same direction
  • , - Repeat last f/F/t/T in the opposite direction
Counts apply (e.g. 3fx finds the third x on the line).

​
Column Preservation

When moving up/down with j/k, the cursor attempts to stay in the same column position. If a line is shorter, the cursor moves to the end of that line, but will return to the original column on longer lines.

​
Entering Insert Mode

  • i - Insert at cursor
  • a - Append after cursor
  • I - Insert at beginning of line
  • A - Append at end of line
  • o - Open new line below and insert
  • O - Open new line above and insert

​
Editing Commands

​
Simple Edits

  • x - Delete character under cursor
  • p - Paste after cursor
  • P - Paste before cursor

​
Undo/Redo

  • u - Undo last change
  • Ctrl-r - Redo
Notes:
  • Insert-mode typing is grouped: i ... Esc becomes a single undo step.
  • Undo/redo does not affect the yank register.

​
Dot Repeat

  • . - Repeat the last structural edit at the current cursor position.
Limitations:
  • Dot repeat does not replay arbitrary insert-mode typed text.
  • Not every command is repeatable yet (for example, find/till-based edits like dfx).

​
Line Operations

  • dd - Delete line (yank to clipboard)
  • yy - Yank (copy) line
  • cc - Change line (delete and enter insert mode)

​
Operators + Motions

Vim’s power comes from combining operators with motions. All operators work with all motions:

​
Operators

  • d - Delete
  • c - Change (delete and enter insert mode)
  • y - Yank (copy)

​
Motions

  • w - To next word
  • b - To previous word
  • e - To end of word
  • W - To next WORD (whitespace-separated)
  • B - To previous WORD
  • E - To end of WORD
  • $ - To end of line
  • 0 - To beginning of line
  • _ - To first non-whitespace character
  • f - Find next on the current line
  • F - Find previous on the current line
  • t - Move till before next on the current line
  • T - Move till after previous on the current line
  • ; - Repeat last f/F/t/T in the same direction
  • , - Repeat last f/F/t/T in the opposite direction

​
Examples

  • dw - Delete to next word
  • dW - Delete to next WORD
  • de - Delete to end of word
  • d$ - Delete to end of line
  • dfx - Delete through next x on the line
  • ctx - Change till before next x on the line
  • cw - Change to end of word (like ce)
  • ce - Change to end of word
  • cW - Change to end of WORD (like cE)
  • cE - Change to end of WORD
  • c0 - Change to beginning of line
  • y$ - Yank to end of line
  • ye - Yank to end of word
  • yy - Yank line (doubled operator)

​
Shortcuts

  • D - Same as d$ (delete to end of line)
  • C - Same as c$ (change to end of line)

​
Count Prefixes

Many motions and commands support numeric count prefixes:
  • 3w - Move forward three words
  • 20l - Move right 20 characters
  • 2dd - Delete two lines
  • d3w - Delete three words

​
Parsing rules

  • Digits 1–9 start a count.
  • 0 appends only if a count is already in progress; otherwise it remains the 0 motion.
  • Counts are capped at 10,000.

​
Supported commands (MVP)

Counts currently apply to:
  • Motions: h/j/k/l, w/W, b/B, e/E, 0, $, _, gg, G, f/F, t/T, ;, ,
  • Edits: x, ~
  • Operator + motion combos, including dd/yy/cc

​
Limitations

Counts are not yet supported for every command (e.g. repeating paste, undo/redo, or insert-mode entry).

​
Text Objects

Text objects let you operate on semantic units.

​
Words

  • iw - Inner word (word under cursor)
    • diw - Delete inner word
    • ciw - Change inner word
    • yiw - Yank inner word
  • aw - A word (includes surrounding whitespace)
    • daw - Delete word + whitespace
    • caw - Change word + whitespace
    • yaw - Yank word + whitespace
Text objects work from anywhere within the word — you don’t need to be at the start.

​
Delimiters (current line only)

Quotes:
  • i” / a” - Inside / around double quotes
  • i’ / a’ - Inside / around single quotes
Brackets:
  • i( / a( - Inside / around parentheses
  • i[ / a[ - Inside / around square brackets
  • i{ / a{ - Inside / around curly braces
Notes:
  • These are currently line-local (they don’t search across lines).
  • Escaping and complex nesting behavior is not yet supported.

​
Visual Feedback

  • Cursor: Thin blinking cursor in insert mode, solid block in normal/visual modes
  • Selection: Visual mode uses the textarea selection highlight
  • Mode Indicator: Shows current mode and pending commands (e.g., “NORMAL d” when waiting for motion)

​
Keybind Conflicts

​
ESC Key

ESC is used for:
  1. Exiting Vim normal mode (highest priority)
  2. NOT used for canceling edits (use Ctrl-Q instead)
  3. NOT used for interrupting streams in Vim mode (use Ctrl-C)
  4. In non-Vim mode, Esc interrupts streams

​
Ctrl+C Key (Vim Mode)

In Vim mode, Ctrl+C always interrupts streams (similar to terminal interrupt behavior). This means:
  • Standard Ctrl+C copy is not available in Vim mode
  • Use vim yank commands (y, yy, yiw, etc.) to copy text instead
  • This provides consistent interrupt behavior whether text is selected or not

​
Tips

  1. Learn operators + motions: Instead of memorizing every command, learn the operators (d, c, y) and motions (w, b, $, 0). They combine naturally.
  2. Use text objects: ciw to change a word is more reliable than cw because it works from anywhere in the word.
  3. Column preservation: When navigating up/down, your column position is preserved across lines of different lengths.

​
Not Yet Implemented

Features that may be added in the future:
  • ge - Backward end of word motion
  • More text objects - Multi-line delimiters, escaping, and additional objects
  • Visual block mode (Ctrl-v) - Blockwise selection
  • Macros - Recording and replaying command sequences
  • Marks - Named cursor positions