Why you should try Neovim


Developers often have debates over silly things, and one of them is about which code editor to use. If you’re searching for a definitive answer here, you should close this post because the answer isn’t here—or anywhere on the internet. This is a personal choice that you should make by trying out different options.

This post aims to make a case for Neovim and why I think you should give it a try, even if you don’t end up sticking with it. Without further ado, let’s dive in:


I’ll start by saying that I won’t tell you to use Neovim because “it will make you faster”. If you’re not paid by the amount of code you write, speed shouldn’t be your primary focus. I believe Neovim is worth it for the experience.

Want to edit some code? You’ll need to learn how modes work and how to use keybindings. Want the fancy features of modern editors? You’ll have to figure out how to add them yourself! While the customization is cool, I think the most important aspect is the learning curve.

You have to learn how keybindings work, how to customize the editor, and this process forces you to learn and practice things you might have taken for granted before. It’s not just about using a tool—it’s about understanding how it works and making it your own.


Thinking Differently

Let’s take VSCode as a comparison. You go to their website, download it, and boom—everything is already set up. Your sidebar, your LSPs, your plugins, your icons—everything is just a button away, and you don’t question it.

With Neovim, since you have to decide what to add yourself, it makes you think more about what you’re adding. Why do I want a sidebar? How do I set up LSPs? Wait, what even are LSPs? Depending on your knowledge, you might have to learn a lot of new concepts and break down the idea of what an IDE is into its core components.

It changes your perspective on what a modern code editor can be. You start to see the editor not as a monolithic tool but as a collection of components that you can customize to fit your workflow.

Beyond the knowledge and perspective you gain, you might also discover different ways to implement features. A good example is the sidebar. I’d bet many people have never considered using anything other than a traditional file tree bar to manage files in a code project.

But in Neovim, you might use something like Telescope or Oil. Instead of tabs for each open file, you might use buffers.

What I want to emphasize is that the way modern code editors are designed isn’t the only way—and it might not be the best way for you! Try these things out, see what you like and dislike, and form your own opinion.


Recommendations

Neovim can be pretty overwhelming at first. There are so many aspects to understand and configure that you might need a helping hand.

There are some pre-made configurations out there, like LazyVim or NvChad, but I highly recommend kickstart.nvim. Kickstart is fairly simple and well-documented.

It serves as a starting point (hence the name lol) for your own configuration, not as a template you can use without customizing anything. Give it a try, and see how it changes the way you think about code editing!