ep_vim

A vim-mode plugin for Etherpad. Adds modal editing with normal, insert, and visual modes to the pad editor. Mostly vibe coded with Claude Code.

Features

• Modal editing — normal, insert, and visual (char + line) modes; visual selections support all operators (d, c, y)
• Motions — h j k l, w b e, 0 $ ^, gg G, f/F/t/T char search, { } paragraph forward/backward, H M L viewport (top/middle/bottom)
• Char search — f/F/t/T find, ; repeat last search, , reverse direction
• Bracket matching — % jump to matching bracket
• Text objects — iw/aw (word), i"/a" and i'/a' (quotes), i{/a{ etc. (brackets), ip/ap (paragraph), is/as (sentence)
• Operators — d, c, y with motion and text object combinations (dw, ce, y$, ciw, da", yi(, etc.)
• Line operations — dd, cc, yy, D, J (join), Y (yank line)
• Registers — "a–"z named registers for yank/delete/put, "_ blackhole register
• Put — p / P with linewise and characterwise register handling
• Editing — i a A I (insert/append), x, X, r, R (replace mode), s, S, C, o, O, ~ (toggle case)
• Case operators — gu{motion}/gU{motion} lowercase/uppercase over motion or text object (e.g. guiw, gUap); u/U in visual mode lowercase/uppercase selection
• Marks — m{a-z} to set, '{a-z} / `{a-z} to jump
• Search — / and ? forward/backward, n/N repeat, */# search word under cursor
• Scrolling — zz/zt/zb center/top/bottom, Ctrl+d/Ctrl+u half-page, Ctrl+f/Ctrl+b full-page (requires ctrl keys enabled)
• Visual — v char, V line, gv reselect last selection; ~ toggle case in visual
• Repeat — . repeat last command
• Counts — numeric prefixes work with motions and operators
• Undo/redo — u undo, Ctrl+r redo (requires ctrl keys enabled)
• Toggle — toolbar button to enable/disable vim mode, persisted in localStorage; settings panel for system clipboard and ctrl key behavior

Differences from vi

No further features are planned, but PRs are welcome. Notable exclusions in the current implementation are:

• No command line, macros, or globals
• No visual block mode
• No indentation operators — >>, <<, and > / < in visual mode
• No increment/decrement — Ctrl+a and Ctrl+x

Rate limiting

If you encounter rate limit errors, Etherpad's commit rate limiter (default: 10 per second) can be adjusted:

COMMIT_RATE_LIMIT_POINTS=100

Installation

From your Etherpad directory run

pnpm run plugins install ep_vim

License

GPL-3.0