Vim Cheatsheet

Plugins and Tooling

Use this Vim reference while you build software engineering projects, review code, or refresh the syntax you reach for most.

Plugin Managers

Vim 8 and Neovim both have a built-in package system, so a manager is optional but still the norm.

Manager	Notes
Built-in packages	Drop a repo in `~/.vim/pack/x/start/`, no plugin needed
vim-plug	Single file, works in Vim and Neovim, the common default
lazy.nvim	Neovim only, Lua, lazy loading
packer.nvim	Neovim, Lua, largely superseded by lazy.nvim

# Built-in packages: no manager at all
mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
git clone https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start/vim-surround
# Optional (load on demand with :packadd name)
mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/plugins/opt

" vim-plug
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'tpope/vim-surround'
Plug 'tpope/vim-commentary'
Plug 'tpope/vim-fugitive'
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }
Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim'
Plug 'nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter', { 'do': ':TSUpdate' }
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }
call plug#end()

vim-plug command	Action
`:PlugInstall`	Install anything missing
`:PlugUpdate`	Update everything
`:PlugClean`	Remove plugins no longer in the config
`:PlugStatus`	Show status
`:PlugUpgrade`	Update vim-plug itself

:helptags ALL       " rebuild help tags after installing manually
:packadd name       " load an optional package now

Plugins Worth Knowing

Plugin	What it adds
`vim-surround`	`cs"'` change surrounding quotes, `ds(` delete them, `ysiw"` add them
`vim-commentary`	`gcc` comment a line, `gc{motion}` comment a range
`vim-repeat`	Makes `.` repeat plugin commands too
`targets.vim`	More text objects: arguments, next/last pairs
`vim-fugitive`	`:Git`, `:Git blame`, `:Gvdiffsplit`
`vim-gitgutter` / `gitsigns.nvim`	Change markers in the sign column
`fzf.vim` / `telescope.nvim`	Fuzzy find files, buffers, lines, git objects
`nvim-treesitter`	Real parse trees: better highlighting and text objects
`nvim-lspconfig` / `coc.nvim`	Language servers: completion, rename, diagnostics
`ale`	Async linting and fixing
`vim-airline` / `lualine.nvim`	Status line
`undotree`	Visualize the undo tree
`vim-easymotion` / `leap.nvim`	Jump anywhere on screen in a few keys

vim-surround Idioms

Surround is the plugin most worth muscle memory, because it fills the gap in Vim's grammar around delimiters.

Keys	Does
`cs"'`	Change surrounding `"` to `'`
`cs'<q>`	Change `'` to `<q>` tags
`ds"`	Delete the surrounding quotes
`dst`	Delete the surrounding tag
`ysiw"`	Surround the word with quotes
`yss)`	Surround the whole line with parens
`yS{motion}`	Surround on its own indented lines
`S"` in Visual	Surround the selection

Completion Without Plugins

Vim's built-in completion covers a lot before you reach for an LSP.

Insert-mode key	Completes from
`Ctrl-n` / `Ctrl-p`	Words in open buffers
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-f`	Filenames
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-l`	Whole lines
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-o`	Omni completion (filetype aware)
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-k`	Dictionary words
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-t`	Thesaurus
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-i`	Included files
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-]`	Tags
`Ctrl-x Ctrl-v`	Vim command line
`Ctrl-x s`	Spelling suggestions

set completeopt=menuone,noinsert,noselect
set omnifunc=syntaxcomplete#Complete
set complete-=i          " do not scan included files (slow on big projects)

Key	Action
`Ctrl-]`	Jump to the definition under the cursor
`Ctrl-t`	Jump back up the tag stack
`g Ctrl-]`	Show a menu when there are several matches
`:tag name`	Jump to a tag by name
`:tags`	Show the tag stack
`:tselect name`	List every match
`:ptag name`	Preview the tag in a split
`Ctrl-w }`	Preview the tag under the cursor
`:pclose`	Close the preview window

Language Servers

In Neovim, LSP is built in. These are the default keymaps most configs set up, and they replace tags entirely.

Key	Action
`gd`	Go to definition
`gD`	Go to declaration
`gr`	List references
`gi`	Go to implementation
`K`	Hover documentation
`<leader>rn`	Rename symbol
`<leader>ca`	Code action
`[d` / `]d`	Previous / next diagnostic
`<leader>f`	Format the buffer

In Vim, coc.nvim or ALE provide the same features. Either way the underlying protocol and the language servers (tsserver, pyright, gopls, rust-analyzer, clangd) are the same ones VS Code uses.

Debugging Your Config

:scriptnames              " everything sourced, in load order
:verbose set option?      " which file last set an option
:verbose nmap <C-h>       " which file defined a mapping
:messages                 " the message history
:redir @a | messages | redir END   " capture messages into a register
vim -u NONE file          " no config at all
vim -u minimal.vim file   " a minimal repro config
vim --startuptime log.txt " profile startup
:profile start prof.txt
:profile func *
:profile pause

When a plugin misbehaves, bisect it: start with vim -u NONE, confirm the problem is gone, then add plugins back to a minimal config until it returns. --startuptime is the tool for "why does my editor take 800ms to open".