ovim — Oxidized Vim

A fast, batteries-included terminal editor with Vim keybindings, built in Rust.

ovim gives you what Neovim distros give you. LSP, tree-sitter highlighting, AI chat, sane defaults.

What You Get Out of the Box

• 35+ languages with tree-sitter syntax highlighting, compiled in
• LSP auto-install — open a file, the language server downloads and starts
• AI chat and editing — Space Space to chat, visual select + Space to edit
• Vim keybindings — operators + motions, text objects, visual mode, macros, marks, registers
• Lua config — vim.opt.number = true just works. Configure when you want to, not because you have to.
• Headless mode — run without a terminal, control via REST API

Quick Start

cargo build --release

# Open a file
./target/release/ovim file.rs

# Jump to a specific line and column
./target/release/ovim src/main.rs:42:10

LSP starts automatically. Syntax highlighting works. No setup needed.

The rest of this README uses ovim assuming the binary is on your PATH.

Language Support

22 languages with LSP auto-install, 2 more with manual LSP setup, plus syntax-only languages.

When you open a file and its language server isn't installed, ovim asks once:

• Enter — install now
• A — always auto-install
• Esc — skip

Languages	LSP Server
Rust	rust-analyzer
TypeScript / JavaScript	typescript-language-server
Python	pyright
Go	gopls
Java, Kotlin, Scala, Groovy	hyperion-lsp
C#	csharp-ls
C / C++	clangd (manual install)
Ruby	solargraph
Zig	zls
Lua	lua-language-server
Elixir	elixir-ls
Terraform	terraform-ls
Bash, SQL, JSON, YAML, HTML, CSS, TOML	various
Markdown, HCL	syntax highlighting only

Run ovim lsp languages for the full list. See Language Support for details.

Configuration

Configuration is optional. Create ~/.config/ovim/init.lua when you're ready to customize:

vim.opt.number = true
vim.opt.relativenumber = true
vim.opt.tabstop = 4
vim.opt.shiftwidth = 4
vim.opt.scrolloff = 10

-- AI (requires OPENAI_API_KEY in environment)
vim.ai.setup({
  default_profile = "openai",
  profiles = {
    openai = {
      provider = "openai",
      model = "gpt-4.1-mini",
      api_key_env = "OPENAI_API_KEY",
    },
  },
})

All :set options mirror Vim — :set wrap, :set clipboard=unnamedplus, :set textwidth=80, etc.

See Configuration and Options Reference for the full list.

Headless Mode & Automation

ovim can run without a terminal — as a programmable text engine with a REST API.

# Start a headless session
ovim file.rs --headless --session dev

# Control it from another terminal
ovim send "iHello, world!<Esc>" -s dev
ovim buffer -s dev
ovim exec "set number" -s dev
ovim context -s dev          # 21-line window around cursor

REST API

Every session exposes an HTTP server:

Endpoint	Method	Description
/v1/health	GET	Health check with LSP readiness
/v1/buffer	GET / PUT	Buffer content
/v1/keys	POST	Send keystrokes
/v1/command	POST	Execute ex command
/v1/snapshot	GET	Complete editor state
/v1/lsp/status	GET	LSP server states
/v1/mcp	POST	MCP JSON-RPC 2.0

For AI-agent integration, ovim also speaks MCP over the same session — ovim install claude / ovim install cursor wires it up. See MCP docs if you want it.

CLI Reference

File Operations (no session needed)

ovim edit file.rs --old "foo" --new "bar"
ovim insert file.rs --after 42 --text "new line"
ovim delete-lines file.rs --from 42 --to 45
ovim read-lines file.rs --from 40 --to 60

Session Control

ovim send "ggK" -s dev           # Send keystrokes
ovim exec "set number" -s dev    # Execute ex command
ovim context -s dev              # 21-line context window
ovim buffer -s dev               # Buffer content
ovim search "pattern" -s dev     # Find pattern

LSP Commands

ovim lsp status -s dev           # Server states
ovim lsp hover -s dev            # Hover info at cursor
ovim lsp check file.rs           # Check language detection
ovim lsp languages               # List all supported languages

Session Management

ovim session list                # List active sessions
ovim session kill -s dev         # Kill session
ovim session health -s dev       # Health check
ovim session cleanup --dry-run   # Preview stale session cleanup

Architecture

ovim-core/    Shared library — buffer, syntax, LSP, session logic
ovim/         Binary — TUI, editor, CLI, REST API

Key modules:

• buffer/ — rope-based text buffer (ropey)
• syntax/ — tree-sitter grammars and highlight queries
• lsp/ — language server client with auto-install
• editor/ — operators, motions, input handling
• ui/ — terminal rendering (ratatui + crossterm)
• api/ — REST API and MCP server (Axum)

Documentation

• Getting Started
• Configuration
• AI Setup
• Headless & Automation
• Language Support
• Options Reference
• MCP
• Troubleshooting

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

License

MIT