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 nixpgks. 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.