rambo.nvim - insert mode with no mercy

A Neovim plugin that supercharges Insert Mode with modern editing behavior.

>>> Watch a non-exhaustive showcase here <<<

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Vision

• Normal Mode: Stay true to Vim, maintain your Vim proficiency and benefit from its full power. Use hjkl and all of Vim's native keybindings.
• Insert Mode: Becomes fluid, intuitive, and modern (like Sublime Text, Notepad++, or other contemporary editors). Use ← ↓ ↑ → , Ctrl for jumps, Shift for selections, plus motion helpers like Home, End, PageUp, PageDown. In addition, Rambo provides advanced moving features triggered with Meta (Alt).

The idea isn't to replace Normal Mode, but to elevate Insert Mode - making it ideal for lightweight, quick and (perhaps not-so) dirty edits without ever leaving it.

Why this approach?

• Normal Mode is where Vim shines - efficient, modal, powerful. Overloading it with arrow keys or modern behavior is a waste of potential. Insert Mode, in contrast, is underpowered - users are often forced to exit it just to perform basic actions.
• For most non-vim users, selecting with Shift + motion is second nature. also the behavior of Select mode feel natural. Combined with the natural feel of Select Mode, this plugin offers a gentle bridge into Vim, making it more accessible to newcomers.
• Friendly even for non-coding workflows - ideal for quick edits, note-taking and general text manipulation.
• All this, without compromising Vim's philosophy.

Outside Insert Mode, everything behaves as expected. Inside Insert Mode, you get enhanced with modern editing capabilities:

Features

Move Cursor

• Jump between words with Ctrl + → and ← (same as vim's w and e, but the specific behavior can be configured in setup).
• Jump between paragraphs with Ctrl + ↓ and ↑ (same as vim's { and }).
• Full support for Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down.

Select Text

• Text selection using Shift + Arrow Keys.
• When a selection is active, typing replaces the selection - as in any modern editor.
• Word-wise selection with Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Keys.
• Full support for Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down.
• Ctrl + Home jumps to the beginning of the file, Ctrl + End to the end. Obviously, they can combined with Shift for Select mode.
• Ctrl + a for select all.
• Shift + space for toggle Select <-> S-Line.

Moving Text

• Move lines up/down with Alt + ↑ / ↓. Works on single or multiple selected lines.
• Move operation can be done also with Ctrl, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down allowing to move text with the powerful jumps available.
• While selecting one or more lines, use → and ← to indent or dedent.
• Insert key allows to quickly switch between Select and Visual mode (it is also handy to enter insert mode when in normal mode).

Wrapping

• Wrapping utilities: after selecting text, press a character like ) to wrap it in parentheses — the selection remains active, allowing for quick chained operations. For example, pressing ) followed by " results in ("ciao").

Operations

• Copy/Cut/Paste op.: Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V, and Ctrl + X for copy, paste, and cut - fully compatible with the system clipboard. Note: these operations rely on a internal register which smartly interacts with Vim registers. For example, replacing selected text by typing new content does not affect the Rambo register.
• Ctrl-s for save current file.

Search text

• In insert mode, Ctrl + F opens the search prompt. If text is selected, it is used as the search query.
• Navigate results with F3 and F2. Press F4 to exit highlight mode (if enabled).
• Undo/Redo with Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y. Note: it's reccomanded to set undo breakpoints in insert mode for a better experience. See Tips in README or documentation.

Other

• Meta (Alt) + Shift + ↑ / ↓ for scroll window.

Installation and Configuration

Using lazy.nvim:

{
  "colomb8/rambo.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("rambo").setup({
      c_right_mode = 'eow', -- 'eow' or 'bow'
      op_prefix = '', -- '' or '<C-q>' or '<C-g>'
      synced_registers_tbl = {
        '"',
        '0',
        '+', -- Rambo updates '+' only if vim.o.clipboard ~= ''
        '*', -- Rambo updates '*' only if vim.o.clipboard ~= ''
      },
      sync_custom_fun = nil, -- nil or function(text)
      hl_select_spec = { -- hl_spec or false
        bg = '#732BF5', -- Neon Violet
      },
    })
  end,
},

setup() is required - call it without arguments to use the default behavior.

• c_right_mode: Controls how the <C-Right> motion behaves. With bow, the cursor jumps to the beginning of the next word. With eow, the cursor jumps to the end of the next word. Default: eow.
• op_prefix: Specifies a prefix for operations such as Copy, Cut, Paste, Save, etc. For example, if op_prefix is an empty string, users can copy a selection with <C-c>. If op_prefix is <C-q>, copying is triggered with <C-q>c. Default: empty string.
• synced_registers_tbl: A list of Vim registers to update when performing operations such as Copy and Cut. Default: {'"', '0', '+', '*'}. Note: Rambo updates + or * only if vim.o.clipboard ~= ''.
• sync_custom_fun: An optional custom function that Rambo calls when syncing registers. Useful, for example, for emitting an OSC52 ANSI sequence when working in a remote terminal where the system clipboard is unavailable. Default: nil.
• hl_select_spec: Specifies the highlight style for the selected area. Default: #732BF5 (Neon Violet).

Tips

• For a better experience in using undo/redo in Rambo, set undo breakpoints in insert mode with:

for _, char in ipairs({ "<CR>", ",", ".", ";", " " }) do
  vim.keymap.set("i", char, char .. "<C-g>u")
end

Roadmap

• :help Vim documentation - provide Vim help file (:help rambo.txt) for discoverability.
• Home, End, Up, Down should support line wrap.
• Supported wrapping characters should be configurable in setup.
• Simple multicursor support - implement basic but handy multicursor editing.

License

MIT