remnote-vim

Modal, vim-style editing for the RemNote desktop app, as a RemNote plugin.

Normal / insert / visual modes, motions, operators, counts, registers, text objects, marks, dot-repeat, an Ex command line, and native clipboard integration — driven entirely by the keyboard, right inside your RemNote notes.

2026-07-08.21-05-18.mp4

Desktop only. RemNote's plugin sandbox can't steal keys reliably on mobile, so the plugin declares enableOnMobile: false.

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Install

From the RemNote Plugin Store (once published)

In RemNote: Settings → Plugins → Explore, search for "Vim Mode", and install. Then toggle it on from the command palette ("Vim: Toggle vim mode").

From source (development build)

npm install
npm run dev          # webpack-dev-server on http://localhost:8080

In RemNote: Settings → Plugins → Build → Develop from localhost, enter http://localhost:8080/, click Develop, and turn on the "Vim Mode" toggle. A -- NORMAL -- badge appears bottom-right when it's active.

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Using it

• Toggle the whole thing on/off: command palette → "Vim: Toggle vim mode".
• The mode badge (bottom-right) shows the current mode: -- NORMAL --, -- INSERT --, -- VISUAL --, etc.
• The caret and the focused row are tinted in the mode color (violet = normal, amber = visual, sky = command; light and dark theme each get their own palette). Insert mode keeps the editor's plain thin caret — no color means "you're typing".
• Block cursor: on browsers with CSS caret-shape support the caret is a true vim-style block in normal/visual. The desktop app's current Chromium doesn't support it yet, so there you get the thin colored caret + row highlight until RemNote upgrades Electron — it will then light up automatically.
• Built-in cheat sheet for everything below: type ;help (this plugin's :help) or run "Vim: Help / cheat sheet" from the command palette.

The one thing to know first: Shift-blind keys

RemNote's plugin sandbox cannot see the Shift key when it intercepts keystrokes. So capitals and shifted symbols are reached through lowercase g-chord synonyms instead of Shift:

You want (vim)	Type here		You want (vim)	Type here
$ (end of line)	gl		G (last line)	ge
^ (first non-blank)	gh		A (append at end)	ga
O (open above)*	go		~ (toggle case)	` (backtick)

_{*In RemNote a bullet is one line, so o/go both create a sibling bullet.}

Keybinding cheat sheet

Category	Keys
Modes	i insert · Esc normal · v charwise visual · vv visual-line (or v then j/k) · ; command line
Motions	h l 0 w b e · f<c> t<c> · , (repeat find, reversed) · counts (3w) · gh=^ gl=$ gg ge=G
Operators	d c y + any motion/text-object · x X s S D C · r<c> replace char · `=~ toggle case · dgl=d$ dgh=d^
Text objects	iw aw · pairs ib ab (=i(/a(), i[ a[ · quotes i' a', i` a` — under d/c/y and in visual (vi[)
Marks	m<c> set · '<c> jump back (adds a jumplist entry) · '' back to pre-jump spot · :marks list
Lines / bullets	gj=J join next sibling (adopts its children; 3gj) · o/go new sibling · C-a/C-x increment/decrement a number
Repeat	. repeat last normal-mode change (dw, 3x, r<c>, p, gj, C-a, …)
Visual	charwise v + h l w b e f gl gh then d x c s y p o · visual-line extends across bullets with j k gg ge; d/x cut, y yank, p paste, ./, indent/outdent
Clipboard	deletes/yanks route through the native OS clipboard (whole bullets serialize as RemNote's own - bullet text, subtrees included)
Navigation	C-o/C-i jumplist back/forward · C-h/C-l focus previous/next pane · C-d/C-u scroll half-page
Undo	u undo · C-r redo (delegates to RemNote's history)

Ex command line (;)

Open with ; (RemNote keeps / for its own slash menu). Tab cycles a wildmenu of suggestions with live document search.

Command	Does
:help	Open the cheat-sheet widget
:e <name>	Search the document and open the matching bullet (a jump)
:s/pat/repl/[gia]	Substitute — visual selection or focused bullet as range; g all, i ignore-case, a whole doc
:sort [n] [rev]	Sort selection siblings (or the focused bullet's children); n numeric, rev reversed
:t / :co[py]	Duplicate the selected bullets below
:d / :y	Delete / yank bullets to the register + OS clipboard (like dd/yy)
:g/pat/d	Delete every bullet in the doc whose text matches (subtree included)
:marks	List current marks in a toast
:vsplit :split :q :only	Pane management (focus follows vim semantics)
:w	Acknowledged no-op (RemNote autosaves)

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Known limitations

Most of these come from what a plugin is allowed to do inside RemNote's sandbox (the gory details live in DEVELOPMENT.md §9):

• Capitals/symbols need synonyms — the Shift-blind remaps above; i{/i" exist in the engine but can't be typed live.
• Caret column can desync after clicking mid-line (the collapsed caret is unreadable from the sandbox). Re-anchor with 0/gl, or enter+leave insert.
• Ctrl-E/Ctrl-Y are unbound — there is no view-scroll API to hook.
• j/k move between bullets, because a RemNote bullet is one line by construction.
• The charwise-visual selection is a real text selection, so RemNote's floating formatting toolbar may pop up over it (harmless).

Privacy

This plugin runs entirely inside RemNote. It does not send your notes, keys, or any other data to a server or third-party service — there is no network code. The only "external" surface is your operating-system clipboard, which yanks and deletes write to (exactly as you'd expect from a vim yank).

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Development

src/engine/     pure vim state machine (no RemNote) — the tested core
src/adapter/    engine ⇄ RemNote plugin API (key stealing, editor ops, model)
src/widgets/    plugin entry point (onActivate) + the :help widget
tests/          Vitest unit suite for the engine
e2e/            live end-to-end harness driving the real app over CDP
public/         manifest.json

See DEVELOPMENT.md for the architecture deep-dive, the platform constraints, how to add commands, and the work log; see CONTRIBUTING.md for the workflow.

Test

npm run check-types  # tsc
npm test             # engine unit tests (Vitest) — fast, deterministic, no RemNote
npm run e2e          # live end-to-end against a running RemNote (local only)

The live harness needs RemNote running with a debug port, today's Daily Document open, and a test account in e2e/.env (cp e2e/.env.example e2e/.env). It types real keystrokes into one scratch bullet, checks the result via RemNote's read-only data API, and cleans up after itself. See DEVELOPMENT.md §7.

Build a distributable zip

npm run build        # → PluginZip.zip (upload this to the Plugin Store)

License

MIT © onegraund