Helix

Helix is a modal text-editor inspired by Neovim and Kakoune, written in Rust. Compared to neovim, it is preconfigured with the functions that most people need (for example tree-sitter for syntax highlighting). It has no plugin system. It uses (neo-)vim motions keybindings, but it uses the object-verb approach (visually highlighting text and then executing a function on it). It is intended for people who like to use a modal text editor but don't want to spend a lot of time configuring it.

Installation

Helix can be installed system-wide on NixOS with the helix package:

environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.helix ];

Depending on the programming languages it is helpful to install additional packages from nixpkgs. To show what packages are needed, it is helpful to check hx --health.

With Home Manager

Home Manager provides a module for configuring helix.

programs.helix = {
  enable = true;
  settings = {
    theme = "autumn_night_transparent";
    editor.cursor-shape = {
      normal = "block";
      insert = "bar";
      select = "underline";
    };
  };
  languages.language = [{
    name = "nix";
    auto-format = true;
    formatter.command = lib.getExe pkgs.nixfmt-rfc-style;
  }];
  themes = {
    autumn_night_transparent = {
      "inherits" = "autumn_night";
      "ui.background" = { };
    };
  };
};

Configuration

The configuration is stored in two files: ~/.config/helix/config.toml and ~/.config/helix/language.toml.

• The full configuration options are described on the Helix documentation.
• For programming languages (LSP, formatter, ..) see the Helix wiki.