vim-motions-pi

A focused Vim-style editing layer for pi: fast motions, text objects, visual selections, and optional clipboard sync.

It brings the essential Vim editing loop into pi without the full Vim complexity.

At a glance

Edit faster inside pi, with the Vim commands people actually reach for.

• Move with h j k l, w b e, 0 ^ $, and gg G
• Change text with dw, ciw, dd, yy, p, u, and r<char>
• Select with v / V, then yank, delete, or paste
• Target regions with text objects like iw, aw, ip, and ap
• Mirror yank/delete/change operations to the system clipboard when enabled

Quick demo

Install

Install with pi:

pi install npm:vim-motions-pi

Or try it for the current run only:

pi -e npm:vim-motions-pi

Local development / test

Run the extension directly from this repo:

pi -e ./extensions/vim-motion.ts

What it supports

Modes

• insert
• normal
• visual
• visual-line

Core motions

• Character motions: h j k l
• Word motions: w b e
• Line motions: 0 ^ $
• Buffer motions: gg G
• Find motions: f F t T
• Repeat find: ; and ,

Editing actions

• Operators: d y c
• Motion-based edits: dw, yw, cw, d$, y^, etc.
• Linewise forms: dd, yy, cc, D, C, S
• Direct helpers: x, X, p, P, u, r<char>, o, O, J, i, I, a, A

Selection

• v enters visual mode
• V enters visual-line mode
• Visual selections support y, d, and p

Text objects

• iw, aw
• iW, aW
• i", a"
• ip, ap
• Works with operators, for example: diw, yaw, ciW, ci", dap

Counts

• Prefix counts are supported for motions and many commands
• Examples: 3w, 2dd, 5x, 4G

Visual mode notes

• o swaps the visual selection ends.
• v exits visual mode.
• V switches to visual-line mode.
• p / P replace the selection with the current register contents.

Register behavior

• Yanks, deletes, and changes go to a single unnamed register.
• p and P paste from that register.
• Linewise operations keep line breaks when that makes sense.

Optional clipboard sync

Keep the unnamed register in sync with your system clipboard.

Set one parameter:

VIM_MOTION_PI_CLIPBOARD=off|all|yank

• off: disable clipboard sync
• all: sync yank, delete, and change operations
• yank: sync only yank operations

Change it inside pi with:

/vim-clipboard

pi shows a short notification when the mode changes.

When enabled, the extension uses the usual clipboard command on your OS (pbcopy, clip, wl-copy, xclip, or xsel) if available.

Custom clipboard command

Override the auto-detected clipboard command with your own:

VIM_MOTION_PI_CLIPBOARD_COMMAND="my-clipboard-tool --copy"

The value is split on whitespace; the first word is the command and the rest are arguments. The selected text is passed via stdin.

This is useful inside tmux/SSH sessions where wl-copy or xclip may not work, and you want to route clipboard through OSC 52 or another transport.

Custom escape sequence

By default only Esc leaves insert mode. You can enable a two-key sequence such as jk or jj:

VIM_MOTION_PI_ESCAPE_SEQUENCE=jk

• The sequence must be at least two characters.
• While typing in insert mode, the extension buffers keystrokes. When the buffer ends with the configured sequence, the sequence characters are deleted and the editor returns to normal mode.
• If you partially match (e.g. typed j but then pressed l), the j is preserved and passed through.

Examples

3w      move forward 3 words
ciw     change inner word
daw     delete around word
yy      yank current line
p       paste yanked text
f,      find the next comma
;       repeat the last find

Limitations

This is a Vim-like subset, not full Vim.

It only affects the text input/editor area inside pi, not the whole app.

In insert mode, most keys pass through to pi directly, except Esc, which returns to normal mode.

In normal / visual modes, some pi hotkeys may be intercepted by Vim-style key handling.

Not supported:

• search with / or ?
• macros
• marks
• dot-repeat (.)
• multiple named registers

Uninstall

pi remove npm:vim-motions-pi

Source

• GitHub: https://github.com/kepatrick/vim-motions-pi
• Source lives in extensions/vim-motion.ts