[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":192},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-neovim":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":176,"description":177,"extension":178,"featured":179,"meta":180,"navigation":181,"path":182,"seo":183,"series":184,"stem":185,"tags":186,"tldr":190,"__hash__":191},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fneovim.md","Neovim: Just Try It Already",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":168},"minimark",[9,13,16,19,24,30,33,44,47,51,59,78,81,85,88,115,118,137,141,156,162,165],[10,11,12],"p",{},"I get it. You've heard the Vim pitch a hundred times. \"It's faster.\" \"You never have to touch the mouse.\" \"Once you learn it, you can't go back.\" It sounds like a cult. I know, because I was skeptical too.",[10,14,15],{},"Then I tried it. For real. Not for an hour. For a week.",[10,17,18],{},"Here's what happened.",[20,21,23],"h2",{"id":22},"the-first-day-is-hell","The First Day Is Hell",[25,26],"img",{"src":27,"alt":28,"width":29},"https:\u002F\u002Fi.kym-cdn.com\u002Fentries\u002Ficons\u002Fmobile\u002F000\u002F038\u002F208\u002FAnime_Girl_Punching_Wall_banner.jpg","Anime Girl Punching Wall banner",400,[31,32],"br",{},[10,34,35,36,43],{},"You open ",[37,38,42],"a",{"href":39,"rel":40},"https:\u002F\u002Fneovim.io\u002F",[41],"nofollow","Neovim",". You try to type. Nothing happens. You press a few keys and suddenly half your file is deleted. You Google \"how to exit vim\" at 2 AM. You question every decision that led you here.",[10,45,46],{},"This is normal. This is the initiation ritual. Everyone goes through it. The people who tell you they didn't are lying.",[20,48,50],{"id":49},"what-nobody-tells-you","What Nobody Tells You",[10,52,53,54,58],{},"The thing I didn't understand until I actually committed: you don't learn Vim motions to type faster. You learn them to ",[55,56,57],"em",{},"edit"," faster. And editing is 90% of what you do as a developer. Reading code. Moving around files. Selecting, deleting, rearranging. The typing part is almost irrelevant.",[10,60,61,65,66,69,70,73,74,77],{},[62,63,64],"code",{},"ciw"," — change inner word. ",[62,67,68],{},"da{"," — delete around braces. ",[62,71,72],{},"yap"," — yank a paragraph. These aren't key combinations. They're ",[55,75,76],{},"commands",". You compose them like sentences. Verb + object + modifier. It's a language for text manipulation, not a collection of shortcuts.",[10,79,80],{},"That's the insight that made it click for me.",[20,82,84],{"id":83},"the-try-before-you-buy-path","The Try-Before-You-Buy Path",[10,86,87],{},"You don't need to go full Neovim to try this. I tell everyone the same thing:",[89,90,91,99,109],"ul",{},[92,93,94,98],"li",{},[95,96,97],"strong",{},"VS Code"," — Install vscodevim. Keep your extensions. Keep your theme. Just start using Vim keybindings inside an editor you already know.",[92,100,101,104,105,108],{},[95,102,103],{},"Zed"," — Has Vim mode built in. Toggle it on. Zed is fast enough that you get the motions ",[55,106,107],{},"and"," a modern editor.",[92,110,111,114],{},[95,112,113],{},"JetBrains"," — IdeaVim plugin. Same deal.",[10,116,117],{},"Give it a month. If it clicks, great. If not, uninstall it. No harm done.",[10,119,120,121,124,125,130,131,136],{},"But if it ",[55,122,123],{},"does"," click, and you want to try real Neovim, start with ",[37,126,129],{"href":127,"rel":128},"https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fnvim-lua\u002Fkickstart.nvim",[41],"kickstart.nvim",". It's a single-file config maintained by ",[37,132,135],{"href":133,"rel":134},"https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Ftjdevries",[41],"TJ DeVries"," — the guy who built half the Neovim plugin ecosystem. It's not a distribution. It's a starting point. One file. You can actually read it and understand what it does. Then you make it your own.",[20,138,140],{"id":139},"the-setup-i-run-now","The Setup I Run Now",[10,142,143,144,147,148,151,152,155],{},"My config started from kickstart and evolved into something more structured. It's modularized — plugins in ",[62,145,146],{},"lua\u002Fcustom\u002Fplugins\u002F",", LSP config in ",[62,149,150],{},"lua\u002Fcustom\u002Flsp\u002F",", utilities in ",[62,153,154],{},"lua\u002Fcustom\u002Futil\u002F",". Everything is lazy-loaded. Nothing loads until you actually need it.",[10,157,158,159],{},"The philosophy is simple: ",[95,160,161],{},"if I don't use it, it's gone. If I can't explain what a line does, it doesn't belong.",[10,163,164],{},"That's it. No 400-plugin distributions. No black magic Lua you're afraid to touch. Just a config you actually understand, running an editor that stays out of your way.",[10,166,167],{},"Give it a week. What's the worst that could happen?",{"title":169,"searchDepth":170,"depth":170,"links":171},"",2,[172,173,174,175],{"id":22,"depth":170,"text":23},{"id":49,"depth":170,"text":50},{"id":83,"depth":170,"text":84},{"id":139,"depth":170,"text":140},"2025-07-10","Modal editing is not a cult. It's just faster. Here's why you should give it a week.","md",false,{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fneovim",{"title":5,"description":177},"Neovim Guide","blog\u002Fneovim",[187,188,189],"nvim","development","editor","Modal editing isn't a cult, it's a language for text manipulation. Give it a week — try Vim bindings in VS Code or Zed before going full Neovim. Here's what nobody tells you about the first day and why it's worth pushing through.","V3VjKBywR0FVMG_yguEWRFaz-llpBP8bgDFVXa_6bM8",1781978556521]