as-vim

The smallest vim you can scp anywhere — and the $EDITOR that can't lose your commit message.

A modal terminal text editor in a single ~920 KB static binary. No config file, no plugin system, no runtime: ~2,500 lines of dependency-light Rust you can read in one sitting.

It exists for two moments:

1. You're inside something with no editor. A trimmed container, a rescue shell, a box where nano/vim aren't installed and the package manager is broken. Copy one static file in — docker cp, scp, or a single curl — and you get real vim keys instead of BusyBox vi's stripped-down behavior.
2. A tool opened an editor for you. git commit, crontab -e, kubectl edit, systemctl edit, sudoedit. as-vim shows :w/:q! hints on screen, refuses to quit with unsaved changes (:q! to override), and marks the buffer [+] the moment it differs from disk — you can't lose your commit message by accident.

curl -LO https://github.com/ashusevim/as-vim/releases/latest/download/as-vim-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
tar xzf as-vim-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
./as-vim-*/as-vim notes.txt

Aarch64 Linux, macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon), and Windows binaries are on the releases page.

If you want LSP, splits, or a file tree, use Helix or Neovim — as-vim deliberately stays out of that race.

• Modal editing — NORMAL / INSERT / COMMAND, vim-style
• Undo/redo — u / Ctrl+r, vim-style change grouping (dd, o+typing, word-runs each undo as one step)
• Search — / with incremental prompt, n/N to repeat, wrap-around, match highlighting, smart-case
• Substitute — :s/old/new/, :s/../../g, :%s/old/new/g; escapes, last-search reuse, one undo step per command
• Yank/paste + system clipboard — yy, p/P, x/dd fill the unnamed register; yanks sync to the system clipboard via OSC 52 (works over SSH)
• Syntax highlighting — Rust, C/C++, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Shell, JSON, TOML; zero dependencies, block comments track across lines
• Motions — h j k l, arrow keys, 0, $, gg, G, PageUp/PageDown, count prefixes (5j, 3dd, 2yy, 12G)
• Editing — i a A o O, x, dd, full multi-byte (emoji, CJK) safety
• Visual mode — v + motions, d/x delete, y yank (OSC 52), o swap ends; selections span lines
• Ex commands — :w, :w <file>, :q, :q!, :wq, :x, :undo, :redo
• Safe defaults — :q refuses to discard unsaved changes; dirty indicator [+] in the status bar
• Scrolling — files bigger than the viewport scroll vertically and horizontally
• Resize-aware — reflows when you resize the terminal
• Unicode correct — wide characters and tabs render and cursor-track properly

cargo install as-vim

Grab a static binary for Linux (x86_64/aarch64), macOS (Intel/Apple Silicon), or Windows from the releases page:

# example: Linux x86_64
curl -LO https://github.com/ashusevim/as-vim/releases/latest/download/as-vim-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
tar xzf as-vim-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
sudo mv as-vim-*/as-vim /usr/local/bin/

git clone https://github.com/ashusevim/as-vim
cd as-vim
cargo install --path .

as-vim notes.txt     # open (or create on save)
as-vim               # empty unnamed buffer, use :w <file> to save

# as the safe default editor
export EDITOR=as-vim   # git, crontab, kubectl, systemctl, sudoedit

• State is minimal and explicit; rendering is a pure function of that state
• Editor logic is terminal-agnostic and unit-tested (no pty needed for the test suite)
• Small surface area — read src/editor.rs and you have read the editor

cargo test        # 85 tests, no terminal required
cargo clippy      # lint
cargo build --release

• Undo/redo (u, Ctrl+r)
• Search (/, n, N) with highlighting
• System clipboard over SSH (OSC 52)
• Syntax highlighting (9 file families)
• :s substitute / search with replacement
• Count-prefixed motions (5j, 3dd)
• Visual mode (v + d/y)
• Linewise visual mode (V)
• w/b/e word motions with counts

MIT — see LICENSE.