Chords

Keyboard-centric navigation for VS Code, inspired by Vim.

Chords enables keyboard-centric navigation, heavily inspired by Vim, built on top of the VS Code API.

The goal of this extension is not to run Vim inside of VS Code (the Vim and VSCode Neovim extensions already do that). Rather, the aim is to apply Vim's keyboard-first philosophy in a way that is idiomatic to VS Code.

INSERT Mode

INSERT mode is the default (configurable) mode. This mode allows you to type text and otherwise use the editor the same way you always have.
Chords will never bind anything your modifier keys (ctrl, cmd, alt, etc.) so you are free to use all of your usual keyboard shortcuts. This is true across all modes.

NORMAL Mode

Please note, keybindings are shown as the characters you need to type, rather than the exact keystrokes needed make that character. When you see h, you would only type "h," whereas H would be "shift + h." Named keys will take the form of <name>. For example, <esc> in the next paragraph is the Escape key. Sequences of characters will be written together but should be typed individually. For example, the sequence yiw is not "y + i + w," but "y" then "i" then "w."

Pressing <esc> in INSERT mode will bring you to NORMAL. In this mode, your keyboard is not used for typing text. Instead, it's used as a controller to move around the document.

Pressing i will return you to INSERT mode.

Basic movement

To get around, h, j, k, and l are used to move left, down, up, and right, respectfully.
For larger jumps, w will move the cursor forward by one word (as defined by your editor.wordSeparators setting) and b moves the cursor back by one word.

VISUAL Mode

VISUAL mode is used for making interactive selection by combining chords together. You can enter VISUAL mode by pressing v, and you can get back to NORMAL mode by pressing <esc> or n.

LEADER Mode