# Helix editor running notes

Helix is turning out to be a pretty nice editor. I had resigned myself to
vim, later vis, and generally endorsing the worse-is-better philosophy
approach to text editing for the last number of years. But playing with
helix, and really the language server integration is making me rethink
this all. I'm trying to switch to helix (atleast for some usecases)
as such. Language server and "rich" text editing features are doable in
vim/vis etc. but usually require lots of customization. In comparison,
afaict helix's philosophy is zero-conf / pragmatic defaults and things
"just-work".

Below are my (working) notes on using helix so far:

- Basic hotkeys:
  - Alt+;   : Select mode jump/toggle begining/end (like % in vim)
  - Alt+s   : Split selection
  - C-o     : Previous in jumplist
  - C-i     : Next in jumplist
  - C-s     : Add current position to jumplist
  - zt      : Scroll top (see scroll dislikes below)
  - ;       : Collapse selection to cursor
  - ,       : Remove all by current selection
  - s       : Typically from within visual mode (v); creates multiple selections
  - gn      : Buffer next
  - gp      : Buffer previous
  - &       : Multiselection align
  - space-f : Open file at project root

- LSP Hotkeys:
  - mim     : Match inner surrounding_pair
  - mam     : Match around surrounding_pair
  - space-a : LSP actions
  - space-r : LSP rename symbol
  - gd      : Goto definition
  - C-x     : Autocomplete popup
  - C-p     : (custom) Signature popup
  - C-c     : Cancel popup

- Notes:
  - hx --tutor: Pretty good
  - hx --health {lang}: Show language server stats
  - Needs truecolor, freezes on boot seconds in non-truecolor terminals
  - Seems like g hotkey is overloaded
  - The u/U hotkey will take some time to get in muscle-memory

- Dislikes:
  - Why Alt.. back in my day that was reserved for WM / term / GUI apps :(
  - C-y & C-e in vim are nice.. zj & zk in hx are ok
  - Delete to end of line.. vgld is bulky

- Questions:
  - Why does mim leave you in INS mode; but mam leaves you in NOR mode?
  - Are there other editors with as rich LSP integration on terminal OOTB?

- Packaging:
  - Alpine Linux:
    - Package: helix
    - Not included by default: treesitter-grammars