+* Linux and Mac: `~/.config/helix/config.toml`

+* Windows: `%AppData%\helix\config.toml`

+> Hint: You can easily open the config file by typing `:config-open` within Helix normal mode.

+You may also specify a file to use for configuration with the `-c` or

+`--config` CLI argument: `hx -c path/to/custom-config.toml`.

+It is also possible to trigger configuration file reloading by sending the `USR1`

+signal to the helix process, e.g. via `pkill -USR1 hx`. This is only supported

+on unix operating systems.

+## Editor

+

+### `[editor]` Section

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+|--|--|---------|

+| `scrolloff` | Number of lines of padding around the edge of the screen when scrolling. | `5` |

+| `mouse` | Enable mouse mode. | `true` |

+| `middle-click-paste` | Middle click paste support. | `true` |

+| `scroll-lines` | Number of lines to scroll per scroll wheel step. | `3` |

+| `shell` | Shell to use when running external commands. | Unix: `["sh", "-c"]`<br/>Windows: `["cmd", "/C"]` |

+| `line-number` | Line number display: `absolute` simply shows each line's number, while `relative` shows the distance from the current line. When unfocused or in insert mode, `relative` will still show absolute line numbers. | `absolute` |

+| `cursorline` | Highlight all lines with a cursor. | `false` |

+| `cursorcolumn` | Highlight all columns with a cursor. | `false` |

+| `gutters` | Gutters to display: Available are `diagnostics` and `diff` and `line-numbers` and `spacer`, note that `diagnostics` also includes other features like breakpoints, 1-width padding will be inserted if gutters is non-empty | `["diagnostics", "spacer", "line-numbers", "spacer", "diff"]` |

+| `auto-completion` | Enable automatic pop up of auto-completion. | `true` |

+| `auto-format` | Enable automatic formatting on save. | `true` |

+| `auto-save` | Enable automatic saving on focus moving away from Helix. Requires [focus event support](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/Terminal-Support) from your terminal. | `false` |

+| `idle-timeout` | Time in milliseconds since last keypress before idle timers trigger. Used for autocompletion, set to 0 for instant. | `400` |

+| `completion-trigger-len` | The min-length of word under cursor to trigger autocompletion | `2` |

+| `auto-info` | Whether to display infoboxes | `true` |

+| `true-color` | Set to `true` to override automatic detection of terminal truecolor support in the event of a false negative. | `false` |

+| `rulers` | List of column positions at which to display the rulers. Can be overridden by language specific `rulers` in `languages.toml` file. | `[]` |

+| `bufferline` | Renders a line at the top of the editor displaying open buffers. Can be `always`, `never` or `multiple` (only shown if more than one buffer is in use) | `never` |

+| `color-modes` | Whether to color the mode indicator with different colors depending on the mode itself | `false` |

+

+### `[editor.statusline]` Section

+

+Allows configuring the statusline at the bottom of the editor.

+

+The configuration distinguishes between three areas of the status line:

+

+`[ ... ... LEFT ... ... | ... ... ... ... CENTER ... ... ... ... | ... ... RIGHT ... ... ]`

+

+Statusline elements can be defined as follows:

+

+```toml

+[editor.statusline]

+left = ["mode", "spinner"]

+center = ["file-name"]

+right = ["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding", "file-line-ending", "file-type"]

+separator = "│"

+mode.normal = "NORMAL"

+mode.insert = "INSERT"

+mode.select = "SELECT"

+```

+The `[editor.statusline]` key takes the following sub-keys:

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+| --- | --- | --- |

+| `left` | A list of elements aligned to the left of the statusline | `["mode", "spinner", "file-name"]` |

+| `center` | A list of elements aligned to the middle of the statusline | `[]` |

+| `right` | A list of elements aligned to the right of the statusline | `["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding"]` |

+| `separator` | The character used to separate elements in the statusline | `"│"` |

+| `mode.normal` | The text shown in the `mode` element for normal mode | `"NOR"` |

+| `mode.insert` | The text shown in the `mode` element for insert mode | `"INS"` |

+| `mode.select` | The text shown in the `mode` element for select mode | `"SEL"` |

+

+The following statusline elements can be configured:

+

+| Key | Description |

+| ------ | ----------- |

+| `mode` | The current editor mode (`mode.normal`/`mode.insert`/`mode.select`) |

+| `spinner` | A progress spinner indicating LSP activity |

+| `file-name` | The path/name of the opened file |

+| `file-encoding` | The encoding of the opened file if it differs from UTF-8 |

+| `file-line-ending` | The file line endings (CRLF or LF) |

+| `total-line-numbers` | The total line numbers of the opened file |

+| `file-type` | The type of the opened file |

+| `diagnostics` | The number of warnings and/or errors |

+| `workspace-diagnostics` | The number of warnings and/or errors on workspace |

+| `selections` | The number of active selections |

+| `primary-selection-length` | The number of characters currently in primary selection |

+| `position` | The cursor position |

+| `position-percentage` | The cursor position as a percentage of the total number of lines |

+| `separator` | The string defined in `editor.statusline.separator` (defaults to `"│"`) |

+| `spacer` | Inserts a space between elements (multiple/contiguous spacers may be specified) |

+

+### `[editor.lsp]` Section

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+| --- | ----------- | ------- |

+| `display-messages` | Display LSP progress messages below statusline[^1] | `false` |

+| `auto-signature-help` | Enable automatic popup of signature help (parameter hints) | `true` |

+| `display-signature-help-docs` | Display docs under signature help popup | `true` |

+

+[^1]: By default, a progress spinner is shown in the statusline beside the file path.

+

+### `[editor.cursor-shape]` Section

+

+Defines the shape of cursor in each mode. Note that due to limitations

+of the terminal environment, only the primary cursor can change shape.

+Valid values for these options are `block`, `bar`, `underline`, or `hidden`.

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+| --- | ----------- | ------- |

+| `normal` | Cursor shape in [normal mode][normal mode] | `block` |

+| `insert` | Cursor shape in [insert mode][insert mode] | `block` |

+| `select` | Cursor shape in [select mode][select mode] | `block` |

+

+[normal mode]: ./keymap.md#normal-mode

+[insert mode]: ./keymap.md#insert-mode

+[select mode]: ./keymap.md#select--extend-mode

+

+### `[editor.file-picker]` Section

+

+Sets options for file picker and global search. All but the last key listed in

+the default file-picker configuration below are IgnoreOptions: whether hidden

+files and files listed within ignore files are ignored by (not visible in) the

+helix file picker and global search. There is also one other key, `max-depth`

+available, which is not defined by default.

+

+All git related options are only enabled in a git repository.

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+|--|--|---------|

+|`hidden` | Enables ignoring hidden files. | true

+|`parents` | Enables reading ignore files from parent directories. | true

+|`ignore` | Enables reading `.ignore` files. | true

+|`git-ignore` | Enables reading `.gitignore` files. | true

+|`git-global` | Enables reading global .gitignore, whose path is specified in git's config: `core.excludefile` option. | true

+|`git-exclude` | Enables reading `.git/info/exclude` files. | true

+|`max-depth` | Set with an integer value for maximum depth to recurse. | Defaults to `None`.

+

+### `[editor.auto-pairs]` Section

+

+Enables automatic insertion of pairs to parentheses, brackets, etc. Can be a

+simple boolean value, or a specific mapping of pairs of single characters.

+

+To disable auto-pairs altogether, set `auto-pairs` to `false`:

+

+```toml

+[editor]

+auto-pairs = false # defaults to `true`

+```

+

+The default pairs are <code>(){}[]''""``</code>, but these can be customized by

+setting `auto-pairs` to a TOML table:

+

+```toml

+[editor.auto-pairs]

+'(' = ')'

+'{' = '}'

+'[' = ']'

+'"' = '"'

+'`' = '`'

+'<' = '>'

+```

+

+Additionally, this setting can be used in a language config. Unless

+the editor setting is `false`, this will override the editor config in

+documents with this language.

+

+Example `languages.toml` that adds <> and removes ''

+

+```toml

+[[language]]

+name = "rust"

+

+[language.auto-pairs]

+'(' = ')'

+'{' = '}'

+'[' = ']'

+'"' = '"'

+'`' = '`'

+'<' = '>'

+```

+

+### `[editor.search]` Section

+

+Search specific options.

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+|--|--|---------|

+| `smart-case` | Enable smart case regex searching (case insensitive unless pattern contains upper case characters) | `true` |

+| `wrap-around`| Whether the search should wrap after depleting the matches | `true` |

+

+### `[editor.whitespace]` Section

+

+Options for rendering whitespace with visible characters. Use `:set whitespace.render all` to temporarily enable visible whitespace.

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+|-----|-------------|---------|

+| `render` | Whether to render whitespace. May either be `"all"` or `"none"`, or a table with sub-keys `space`, `tab`, and `newline`. | `"none"` |

+| `characters` | Literal characters to use when rendering whitespace. Sub-keys may be any of `tab`, `space`, `nbsp`, `newline` or `tabpad` | See example below |

+

+Example

+

+```toml

+[editor.whitespace]

+render = "all"

+# or control each character

+[editor.whitespace.render]

+space = "all"

+tab = "all"

+newline = "none"

+

+[editor.whitespace.characters]

+space = "·"

+nbsp = "⍽"

+tab = "→"

+newline = "⏎"

+tabpad = "·" # Tabs will look like "→···" (depending on tab width)

+```

+

+### `[editor.indent-guides]` Section

+

+Options for rendering vertical indent guides.

+

+| Key | Description | Default |

+| --- | --- | --- |

+| `render` | Whether to render indent guides. | `false` |

+| `character` | Literal character to use for rendering the indent guide | `│` |

+| `skip-levels` | Number of indent levels to skip | `0` |

+

+Example:

+

+```toml

+[editor.indent-guides]

+render = true

+character = "╎" # Some characters that work well: "▏", "┆", "┊", "⸽"

+skip-levels = 1

+```