vim keybindings along with normal, insert, visual, scroll mode

[Waishnav]

Why

I was bored with default keybindings, despite the README of opencode says, it is created by neovim users it still did not had usable vim keybinding support and I wanted a proper vim keybinding so I can stay on the keyboard: hop between normal/insert/visual modes, page through chat history without touching the mouse.

What I touched

• Config surface

  • Added keybinding_mode: "vim" (JS + Go structs). If you set that flag, we boot directly into vim mode; otherwise everything behaves like before.

• Status bar

  • Gave the status component a SetMode hook and drew a little mode pill with a hint key (esc, i, v, shift+v, s). It rides next to the agent badge so you can see at a glance where you are.

• Textarea & editor plumbing

  • Taught the textarea about visual selections (anchor/clear, line-mode, selection rendering, deletes, yanks) and added helper moves: character/word/line motions, line inserts above/below (with indent copy), replace-under-cursor, delete-under-cursor, delete-current-line, etc.
  • Wired those helpers through the chat editor interface so the TUI can drive them directly.
  • Updated selection styles so highlighted text actually looks highlighted in visual mode.

• Messages component

  • Added lightweight viewport helpers (line up/down, sideways nudges, previous/next user message) so the scroll mode can reuse existing message navigation.

• TUI model

  • Introduced the vim state machine (NORMAL, INSERT, VISUAL, VISUAL-LINE, SCROLL), along with per-mode handlers.
  • NORMAL mode extras:
    • Mode switches: i, a, o, O, v, shift+v, s.
    • Motions: h/j/k/l, w/b/e, 0/^/$, x, r<char>.
    • dd deletes the current line without polluting the clipboard.
    • p drops to a fresh line and pipes through the existing paste flow.
  • VISUAL / VISUAL-LINE:
    • Selections start immediately and track the cursor moves mentioned above.
    • y yanks to the clipboard and fires the “Copied to clipboard” toast.
    • d deletes the selection (no toast, no clipboard side-effect).
  • INSERT mode just takes over typing as usual; esc sends you back to NORMAL and clears any selection.
  • SCROLL mode blurs the editor and lets the message component steer (arrows, { }, etc.), with esc or i/a hopping you back into editing.
  • Hooked yank actions into the toast manager so clipboard feedback matches the rest of the app.

Testing

No automated coverage here—launch the TUI with bun dev and walk through the key paths.

Demo

Here’s a short demo video of the VIM modes in action: https://x.com/_wolf_dev/status/1972399119353405610

Mode	Screenshot
NORMAL
INSERT
VISUAL
VISUAL-LINE
SCROLL

[Waishnav]

@thdxr if the opentui version is going to take a while before it’s usable, could you please review this PR?

I tried the opentui branch, but it still doesn’t have any vim keybinding mode. Should I try adding vim keybindings like this to that branch instead?

[NikoKS]

Need this feature. Any reason it is closed?