rtdvi

A small, heavily opinionated vi clone.

Modal editing in the terminal — familiar keys, a tight feature set, and sensible defaults baked in rather than configured to death.

rtdvi ("ready-to-drink vi") is a from-scratch modal text editor written in Rust. It speaks vi: normal / insert / visual modes, operators and motions, : commands, registers, marks, splits and tabs. It is not a vim configuration framework and it is not trying to be Neovim — it picks defaults and sticks with them.

Opinionated by design

• Vi muscle memory, curated. The motions, operators, and : commands you reach for, without the long tail of obscure compatibility behaviour.
• Batteries included, not bolted on. Native LSP client, syntax highlighting, fuzzy file finder, autoindent, system-clipboard integration, and bracketed paste all ship in the box.
• Sensible defaults over endless options. Things work well out of the box; the config exists to nudge, not to assemble the editor from parts.
• Small and fast. A focused Rust core, a single static binary, instant start-up.

A taste

rtdvi src/main.rs      # auto-detects filetype, loads syntax + LSP
rtdvi                  # scratch buffer

• gq reflows comments to your text width, or formats code via the LSP.
• gd / gr / K jump to definitions, list references, show hover.
• :ff fuzzy-finds files; <C-w> family drives splits.
• :paste / bracketed paste insert verbatim — no cascading autoindent.

Get it

git clone https://github.com/jroivas/rtdvi
cd rtdvi
cargo build --release
cargo install --path .          # installs `rtdvi`
# optional short command:
make rvi-alias                  # symlinks `rvi` -> rtdvi

See the documentation for the full picture — configuration, modes, LSP, plugins, and more.

Links

• Documentation
• Source on GitHub