@b0rk I had decided to spend some time getting better with vim/neovim, and in the process I discovered #Helix. The Helix (& Kakoune) selection -> action model makes so much sense! That it's ready to roll without a bunch of configuration is a bonus.
The only thing I wish for is more interactive tutorial/practice apps (like vim-hero.com) for Helix.
Plein de bonnes choses pour cette version 25.7 d’Helix. Le gros morceau, qui était très attendu, c’est la ré‑écriture complète du code pour interagir avec Tree‑sitter, prenant en compte toute l’expérience accumulée par les développeurs.
Les apports sont divers, on peut citer une coloration syntaxique correcte même dans les cas les plus compliqués de codes imbriqués (ex. basique : du javascript au milieu d’un doc en markdown).
Landed my first #HelixEditor PR. Selecting within HTML tags is now possible: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/commit/2ee11a0a9d9b9951b5b64b54be05379cc030230b
New release for #HelixEditor ! Many good things, but my favourite feature is that it still has no support for genAI coding whatsoever 
It's a surprisingly useful feature, because it allows the Helix developing team to invest all the time that they don't waste on genAI integration on actually improving the text editor.
#Helix 25.07 just dropped with loads of nice new features
The new tree-house injection support in #HelixEditor 25.07 is awesome (correct syntax highlighting for nested languages, e.g. rust code in a markdown code block in a rustdoc comment)
I am interacting with the #Shell for perhaps as much as 50 or 60% of the day. A lot of my interactions are repeating previous commands sometimes with small changes. I have lots of conveniences set up to make this easier ( #Vi mode, opening a previous command or list of commands in the #HelixEditor with `fc`, an alias for `history | grep`, etc., and also lots of configuration for the history facility ) but perhaps the thing I use most is the arrow keys. For so many other people, their favorite tool here is Ctrl-R. I’ve never made that a major part of my toolset.
In #Bash, I used this:
```bash
bind '"\t":menu-complete'
bind '"\e[A":history-search-backward'
bind '"\e[B":history-search-forward'
```
What that does is: you type something, then up-arrow steps you through all and only the previous commands that start with that exact prefix. My initial translation of this into #Zsh sorta worked but I soon realized it didn’t do the right thing. I’m not a Zsh expert yet. Here’s what actually works:
```zsh
# Load the functions I will use with the up and down arrows. Yes, this is more work than Bash.
autoload -U up-line-or-beginning-search
autoload -U down-line-or-beginning-search
# Create the matching zle widgets. That's what let's me use them with bindkey.
zle -N up-line-or-beginning-search
zle -N down-line-or-beginning-search
# Bind to arrow keys
bindkey '^[[A' up-line-or-beginning-search # Up arrow
bindkey '^[[B' down-line-or-beginning-search # Down arrow
# But lets keep tab-completion as well.
bindkey '^I' menu-complete
```
Zsh is more complicated, but only because it’s more flexible.
By the way, I use `fzf` a lot. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Zsh automatically leveraged that, if available, in Ctrl-R.
I initially dismissed #HelixEditor as being too similar to #Neovim (i.e. what’s the incentive to switch?), but inspired by this post https://herecomesthemoon.net/2025/06/i-like-helix I gave it a spin… I dig batteries included and sane defaults approach. There’s quite a bit of keyboard shortcuts overlap, but some I used to are missing and my muscle memory experience a lot of misses… Overall, I like it, and I’ll continue experimenting with it 
In search of some change, some excitement, and new ideas, I have set down some of the tools I have grown to love over the last three decades as a software engineer. I don't have some big critique of them, or their communities, but simply seek novelty to invigorate my relationship with my work. Perhaps I will pick some of them back up, with fresh insights.
The #HelixEditor is perhaps my favorite new tool. I have wanted to deeply learn a modal text editor for years, and with the proliferation of tree-sitter and lsp tooling for so many languages, changing editors became much easier. Of course, #emacs is not an editor, as much as a text focused lisp desktop environment, but there was space and time to try out the new tool.
My friend @jammcq and I are very different (you’ve heard us together on the #Podcast @RuntimeArguments), though we both do roughly the same thing: we’re both #Programmers. A big difference between us is the kinds of #SoftwareTools we use. I’m constantly trying new things to see if they might help. He generally sticks to the tools that already work for him, and upgrades only when something new is "better enough".
As an example: I use fd, rg, and exa. For him, find, grep, and ls are plenty good enough. And I agree! I get something out of the extra features of these tools, but they’re just not "better enough" to make a difference in his workflow.
Usually the new things I try aren’t even "better enough" for me. His bar is even higher. I have sold him on a few things, here and there. Now he uses #Git, #1Password, and fc; maybe others. We both want the same thing: we want to get more work done. We both project when thinking about the other’s style. He thinks I’m wasting time trying all the things I try. I think he could be going so much faster if he had some of the extra powers these newer tools give me.
It’s hard not to see things through your own lens. A neat thing about our relationship is that I can try things, and then if they pass muster with me they can sometimes become a possibility for him. And every once in a while, they **are** "better enough".
P.S. Some things I’m trying right now are #Zsh, the #HelixEditor, and managing my #SSH (private) keys in 1Password. I’m almost certain Helix is not going to become a part of his workflow! #Xonsh, #Zed, and #Kakoune weren’t better enough for me. I never even considered suggesting them to him!
I've been using the #HelixEditor as my main drivers for the better part of a year now and I couldn't be more happy with it. I've managed to get a near-IDE setup and experience thanks to zellij and some awesome TUI tools.
This article aligns well with my experience, I recommend reading it if you're "modal editor curious" or dissatisfied with you vim maintenance burden.
@mattwilcox I switched to #HelixEditor a few months ago. Motions are superior (and easier to learn) compared to Vim in my opinion. Also, no need for plugins for many things like tree-sitter or LSP support.
Not sure of best process practices for #coding. I can't help but copying files over and over until I've got the code I want, then I come up with some new file structure to name it... and start all over again.
#HelixEditor (and #tmux is helping with split screens, file pickers, scratch buffers and whatnot, but sheesh I'm all over the place.
I'm guessing there is a lot that comes with experience. Maybe using git to its capabilities can assist. Maybe some written word as a side note helps. I used to use Jupyter but even that got to be a convoluted mess.
I'm certainly writing a lot more since my sporadic attempts when working in GIS, so maybe it's just that I'm starting to think about this more now.
Please send me some of your favourite tips!
I'm pretty sure #HelixEditor is still clean
Getting really into #HelixEditor in no small part because it doesn’t push AI down your throat. And, you know, not software made by a huge, evil corporation.
@eisfunke As a proud #HelixEditor user i can say that I don't use any AI looking over my shoulder. But I can understand why its in the discussions. The Helix devs decided to *not* implement copilot support, so users who want it, have to find creative ways to use it (e.g. with LSPs), thus the need for discussions. Thats the thing with helix, most stuff just works™ so there are no discussions about the rest
A um tempo atrás eu fiz uma experiência usando o editor Helix por 30 dias e foi uma experiência interessante!
Blain Smith 
