Helix Mode

Postmodern keybindings for a premodern editor: Helix keybindings in Emacs.

Helix is a modal text editor with keybindings similar to vi, but with some noteworthy differences. Helix Mode supports a small subset of Helix functionality with the goal of recreating the editor navigation/selection experience in Helix while leaving the hard problems (like directory navigation and searching) to Emacs. The result is a small keybinding layer that supports Vim-like hjkl motion commands, while retaining Helix's selection-first model.

Helix Mode integrates nicely with project.el, eglot, and xref.

Installation

Emacs >= 29.1 required.

Helix Mode is available on MELPA:

(use-package helix
  :ensure t
  :config
  (helix-mode))

Or you can clone this repository and modify your load path:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/helix-mode")
(require 'helix)
(helix-mode)

Global vs. local mode

You can enable Helix mode globally (e.g. for all buffers besides minibuffers) via

(helix-mode)

Alternatively, you can manually toggle Helix mode on/off in local buffers by invoking helix-normal-mode:

(helix-normal-mode 1)

Configuration

Multiple cursors (experimental)

Helix Mode does not come with support for multiple cursors out-of-the-box. Instead, it provides extensions for the multiple-cursors.el package available on NonGNU ELPA. Provided that you have multiple-cursors.el installed, you can enable Helix Mode support with helix-multiple-cursors-setup:

(use-package helix
  :after multiple-cursors
  :config
  (helix-multiple-cursors-setup))

Enabling Helix multiple cursors support adds selection manipulation keybindings that spawn multiple cursors (e.g. helix-multiple-cursors-select-regex).

jj as escape

Helix Mode supports remapping "jj" as escape for the purpose of exiting Insert Mode. Invoke helix-jj-setup to activate jj-mode.

This is useful in terminal mode, since escape currently cannot be bound.

(helix-jj-setup 0.2)

By default, helix-jj-setup configures a 0.2 second timeout that waits for a second "j" keypress before canceling. You can configure different timeouts by passing your desired timeout as an argument to helix-jj-setup.

Relative line number mode

You can replicate Helix's line-number: relative in Helix Mode by changing the display-line-numbers variable in Emacs based on the current minor mode:

(use-package helix
  :hook ((helix-normal-mode . (lambda () (setq display-line-numbers 'relative)))
         (helix-insert-mode . (lambda () (setq display-line-numbers t))))
  :config
  (helix-mode))

Extension

Keys

You can add new keys to the Helix keymaps via helix-define-key:

Example:

(helix-define-key 'space "w" #'do-something-cool)

The first argument to helix-define-key is a Helix state. The valid options are: insert, normal, space, view, goto, and window.

Typable commands

You can create new typable commands (invoked via ":command-name") with helix-define-typable-command.

Example:

(helix-define-typable-command "format" #'format-all-buffer)

Supported keybindings

Normal mode is the default mode. You can return to it by pressing ESC.

Movement

Key	Description	Command
h	Move left	helix-backward-char
l	Move right	helix-forward-char
j	Move down	helix-next-line
k	Move up	helix-previous-line
w	Move next word start	helix-forward-word-start
W	Move next WORD	helix-forward-long-word-start
e	Move word end	helix-forward-word-end
E	Move WORD end	helix-forward-long-word-end
b	Move previous word	helix-backward-word
B	Move previous WORD	helix-backward-long-word
t	Find 'till next char	helix-find-till-char
T	Find 'till prev char	helix-find-prev-till-char
f	Find next char	helix-find-next-char
F	Find prev char	helix-find-prev-char
M-.	Repeat last motion (f, t, F, T)	helix-find-repeat
G	Go to line	N/A
C-b	Move page up	N/A
C-f	Move page down	N/A

Changes

Key	Description	Command
d	Delete selection	helix-kill-thing-at-point
y	Yank selection	helix-kill-ring-save
p	Paste	N/A
v	Begin selection	helix-begin-selection
u	Undo	N/A
o	Insert newline	helix-insert-newline
O	Insert line above	helis-insert-prevline
i	Insert mode	helix-insert
I	Insert beginning of line	helix-insert-beginning-line
a	Insert after	helix-insert-after
A	Insert end of line	helix-insert-after-end-line
r	Replace with a character	helix-replace
R	Replace with yanked text	helix-replace-yanked
C-c	Comment line	N/A

Selection

Key	Description	Command
x	Select current line	helix-select-line

Search

Key	Description	Command
/	Search	helix-search
n	Continue search forwards	helix-search-forward
N	Continue search backwards	helix-search-backward

Command mode

Accessed by typing : in normal mode. Accepts typable commands like :write, :quit, and so on.

Goto mode

Accessed by typing g in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
g	Go to beginning of file	helix-go-beginning-buffer
e	Go to end of file	helix-go-end-buffer
l	Go to end of line	helix-go-end-line
h	Go to beginning of line	helix-go-beginning-line
s	Go to first non-whitespace character	helix-go-first-nonwhitespace
r	Find references	N/A
d	Find definitions	N/A

Window mode

Accessed by typing C-w in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
w	Switch to next window	N/A
v	Vertical right split	N/A
s	Horizontal bottom split	N/A
h	Move to left split	N/A
j	Move to split below	N/A
k	Move to split above	N/A
l	Move to right split	N/A
q	Close current window	N/A
o	Only keep current window	N/A

Space mode

Accessed by typing space in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
f	Find file at project root	N/A
b	Switch to project buffer	N/A
j	Switch project	N/A
/	Search within project	N/A

Roadmap

Helix Mode isn't designed to completely re-implement Helix in Emacs, but rather serve as a compatibility layer that connects many of the Helix keybindings to Emacs functions. I expect most users to still rely on Emacs fundamentals like isearch, Eglot, consult, or vertico.

Goals:

• Core editing, navigation, and selection behaviors.
• A framework for surrounding contexts (word, paragraph, etc.).
• Tree-sitter navigation.
• Simple multiple cursors (via multiple-cursors integration).
• LSP (via Eglot integration).
• Extensibility for custom keybindings/typable commands.

Non-goals:

• Search (Helix Mode provides a simple search, but I think most folks are better off using consult).
• Pickers.
• Extensive configuration options like the Helix config/languages TOML files.
• Completion (I use completion-preview and it works perfectly with Helix Mode).
• Advanced multiple-cursors + selection behaviors. I'll do my best to support keybindings for multiple-cursors, but I'm unsure how deep I want to dive into overhauling the Emacs selection framework.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.

License

Licensed under GPLv3.