The Ultimate Vim Configuration

A comprehensive, modern Vim configuration optimized for engineering workflows. This configuration transforms vanilla Vim into a powerful, feature-rich development environment with enterprise-grade tooling.

NEW: Quick installation script and enhanced engineering features!

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/m1ngsama/chopsticks.git ~/.vim && cd ~/.vim && ./install.sh

Note: The installation script must be run from the cloned ~/.vim directory. See QUICKSTART.md for detailed getting started guide.

Features

Core Enhancements

• Smart Line Numbers: Hybrid line numbers (absolute + relative) for efficient navigation
• Modern UI: Gruvbox color scheme with airline status bar
• Plugin Management: vim-plug for easy plugin installation and updates
• Auto-completion: CoC (Conquer of Completion) for intelligent code completion
• Syntax Checking: ALE (Asynchronous Lint Engine) for real-time linting

File Navigation

• NERDTree: Visual file explorer (Ctrl+n)
• FZF: Blazing fast fuzzy finder (Ctrl+p)
• CtrlP: Alternative fuzzy file finder
• Easy Motion: Jump to any location with minimal keystrokes

Git Integration

• Fugitive: Complete Git wrapper for Vim
• GitGutter: Show git diff in the sign column

Code Editing

• Auto-pairs: Automatic bracket/quote pairing
• Surround: Easily change surrounding quotes, brackets, tags
• Commentary: Quick code commenting (gc)
• Multi-language Support: vim-polyglot for 100+ languages

Productivity Tools

• UndoTree: Visualize and navigate undo history (F5)
• Tagbar: Code structure browser (F8)
• Smart Window Management: Easy navigation with Ctrl+hjkl
• Session Management: Auto-save sessions with vim-obsession
• Project-Specific Settings: Per-project .vimrc support
• Large File Optimization: Automatic performance tuning for files >10MB
• TTY/Basic Terminal Support: Automatic optimization for console environments

Installation

Automatic Installation (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/m1ngsama/chopsticks.git ~/.vim
cd ~/.vim
./install.sh

IMPORTANT: You must run the install script from the ~/.vim directory (the cloned repository directory). Do not copy the script to another location and run it from there.

The installation script will:

• Verify it's being run from the correct directory
• Backup your existing configuration
• Create necessary symlinks
• Validate symlink creation
• Install vim-plug automatically
• Install all plugins
• Offer to install CoC language servers

Manual Installation

# 1. Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/m1ngsama/chopsticks.git ~/.vim
cd ~/.vim

# 2. Create symlink to .vimrc
ln -s ~/.vim/.vimrc ~/.vimrc

# 3. Install vim-plug
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

# 4. Open Vim and install plugins
vim +PlugInstall +qall

4. (Optional) Install recommended dependencies

For the best experience, install these optional dependencies:

# FZF (fuzzy finder)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/junegunn/fzf.git ~/.fzf
~/.fzf/install

# ripgrep (better grep)
# On Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ripgrep

# On macOS
brew install ripgrep

# Node.js (for CoC)
# Required for code completion
curl -sL install-node.now.sh/lts | bash

# Universal Ctags (for Tagbar)
# On Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install universal-ctags

# On macOS
brew install universal-ctags

5. Install CoC language servers

For intelligent code completion, install language servers:

" Python
:CocInstall coc-pyright

" JavaScript/TypeScript
:CocInstall coc-tsserver

" Go
:CocInstall coc-go

" JSON
:CocInstall coc-json

" HTML/CSS
:CocInstall coc-html coc-css

" See more: https://github.com/neoclide/coc.nvim/wiki/Using-coc-extensions

Key Mappings

General

Key	Action
,w	Quick save
,q	Quick quit
,x	Save and quit
,, + Enter	Clear search highlight

Window Navigation

Key	Action
Ctrl+h	Move to left window
Ctrl+j	Move to bottom window
Ctrl+k	Move to top window
Ctrl+l	Move to right window

Buffer Management

Key	Action
,l	Next buffer
,h	Previous buffer
,bd	Close current buffer
,ba	Close all buffers

Tab Management

Key	Action
,tn	New tab
,tc	Close tab
,tl	Toggle to last tab

File Navigation

Key	Action
Ctrl+n	Toggle NERDTree
,n	Find current file in NERDTree
Ctrl+p	FZF file search
,b	FZF buffer search
,rg	Ripgrep search

Code Navigation (CoC)

Key	Action
gd	Go to definition
gy	Go to type definition
gi	Go to implementation
gr	Go to references
K	Show documentation
[g	Previous diagnostic
]g	Next diagnostic
,rn	Rename symbol

Linting (ALE)

Key	Action
,aj	Next error/warning
,ak	Previous error/warning
,ad	Show error details

Git Workflow

Key	Action
,gs	Git status
,gc	Git commit
,gp	Git push
,gl	Git pull
,gd	Git diff
,gb	Git blame

Engineering Utilities

Key	Action
,ev	Edit .vimrc
,sv	Reload .vimrc
,F	Format entire file
,wa	Save all buffers
,cp	Copy file path
,cf	Copy filename
,*	Search & replace word under cursor
,<leader>	Switch to last file

Other Utilities

Key	Action
F2	Toggle paste mode
F3	Toggle line numbers
F4	Toggle relative numbers
F5	Toggle UndoTree
F8	Toggle Tagbar
Space	Toggle fold
s + 2 chars	EasyMotion jump

Plugin List

File Navigation & Search

• NERDTree: File system explorer
• FZF: Fuzzy file finder
• CtrlP: Alternative fuzzy finder

Git

• vim-fugitive: Git integration
• vim-gitgutter: Git diff in sign column

UI

• vim-airline: Enhanced status line
• gruvbox: Color scheme

Code Editing

• vim-surround: Manage surroundings
• vim-commentary: Code commenting
• auto-pairs: Auto close brackets
• ALE: Asynchronous linting

Language Support

• vim-polyglot: Language pack for 100+ languages
• vim-go: Go development

Productivity

• UndoTree: Undo history visualizer
• Tagbar: Code structure browser
• EasyMotion: Fast cursor movement
• CoC: Code completion and LSP
• vim-obsession: Session management
• vim-prosession: Project sessions
• vim-unimpaired: Handy bracket mappings
• targets.vim: Additional text objects

Color Schemes

Available color schemes (change in .vimrc):

• gruvbox (default) - Warm, retro groove colors
• dracula - Dark theme with vivid colors
• solarized - Precision colors for machines and people
• onedark - Atom's iconic One Dark theme

To change:

colorscheme dracula

Engineering Features

Project-Specific Configuration

Create a .vimrc file in your project root for project-specific settings:

" .vimrc in project root
set shiftwidth=2
let g:ale_python_black_options = '--line-length=100'

The configuration automatically loads project-specific settings while maintaining security.

Session Management

Sessions are automatically saved with vim-obsession:

" Start session tracking
:Obsess

" Stop session tracking
:Obsess!

" Sessions are saved to ~/.vim/sessions/

Large File Handling

Files larger than 10MB automatically disable heavy features for better performance:

• Syntax highlighting optimized
• Undo levels reduced
• Swap files disabled

Terminal Integration

Open integrated terminal:

• ,tv - Vertical terminal split
• ,th - Horizontal terminal split (10 rows)

Navigate out of terminal with Esc then normal window navigation.

TTY and Basic Terminal Support

The configuration automatically detects and optimizes for basic terminal environments (TTY, Linux console):

Automatic Optimizations:

• Disables true color mode for compatibility
• Uses simple ASCII separators instead of powerline fonts
• Falls back to default colorscheme
• Disables cursorline for better performance
• Simplifies signcolumn behavior
• Disables FZF preview windows
• Skips auto-opening NERDTree
• Uses simpler status line
• Reduces syntax highlighting complexity
• Faster startup and redraw

Detected Terminals:

• Linux console (TERM=linux)
• Screen sessions (TERM=screen)
• Basic built-in terminals

The configuration provides a message on first run in TTY mode to inform about the optimizations.

Customization

The configuration is organized into sections:

1. General Settings: Basic Vim behavior
2. Plugin Management: vim-plug configuration
3. Colors & Fonts: Visual appearance
4. Key Mappings: Custom keybindings
5. Plugin Settings: Individual plugin configurations
6. Auto Commands: File-type specific settings
7. Helper Functions: Utility functions
8. Engineering Utilities: Project workflow tools
9. Git Workflow: Git integration shortcuts

Feel free to modify any section to suit your needs!

Quick Customization

Edit configuration:

,ev  " Opens .vimrc in Vim

Reload configuration:

,sv  " Sources .vimrc without restart

Language-Specific Settings

Python

• 4 spaces indentation
• 88 character line limit (Black formatter)
• Auto-formatting with Black + isort on save
• Linting with flake8 and pylint

JavaScript/TypeScript

• 2 spaces indentation
• Prettier formatting on save
• ESLint integration
• TypeScript server support

Go

• Tab indentation
• Auto-formatting with gofmt
• Auto-import with goimports
• gopls language server

Rust

• Auto-formatting with rustfmt
• Cargo integration

Shell Scripts

• 2 spaces indentation
• shellcheck linting

Docker

• Dockerfile syntax highlighting
• hadolint linting

YAML

• 2 spaces indentation
• yamllint integration

HTML/CSS

• 2 spaces indentation
• Prettier formatting

Markdown

• Line wrapping enabled
• Spell checking enabled
• Prettier formatting

Troubleshooting

Plugins not working

:PlugInstall
:PlugUpdate

CoC not working

Make sure Node.js is installed:

node --version  # Should be >= 14.14

Colors look wrong

Enable true colors in your terminal emulator and add to your shell rc:

export TERM=xterm-256color

References

This configuration is inspired by:

• amix/vimrc - The ultimate vimrc
• vim-plug - Minimalist plugin manager
• Top 50 Vim Configuration Options
• Modern Vim Development Setup 2025

License

MIT License - Feel free to use and modify!

Contributing

Suggestions and improvements are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.