Helix currently supports one-way key remapping through a simple TOML configuration
file. (More powerful solutions such as rebinding via commands will be
available in the future).
To remap keys, create a config.toml file in your helix configuration
directory (default ~/.config/helix on Linux systems) with a structure like
this:
# At most one section each of 'keys.normal', 'keys.insert' and 'keys.select'
[keys.normal]
C-s = ":w" # Maps Ctrl-s to the typable command :w which is an alias for :write (save file)
C-o = ":open ~/.config/helix/config.toml" # Maps Ctrl-o to opening of the helix config file
a = "move_char_left" # Maps the 'a' key to the move_char_left command
w = "move_line_up" # Maps the 'w' key move_line_up
"C-S-esc" = "extend_line" # Maps Ctrl-Shift-Escape to extend_line
g = { a = "code_action" } # Maps `ga` to show possible code actions
"ret" = ["open_below", "normal_mode"] # Maps the enter key to open_below then re-enter normal mode
[keys.insert]
"A-x" = "normal_mode" # Maps Alt-X to enter normal mode
j = { k = "normal_mode" } # Maps `jk` to exit insert mode
Minor modes are accessed by pressing a key (usually from normal mode), giving access to dedicated bindings. Bindings
can be modified or added by nesting definitions.
[keys.insert.j]
k = "normal_mode" # Maps `jk` to exit insert mode
[keys.normal.g]
a = "code_action" # Maps `ga` to show possible code actions
# invert `j` and `k` in view mode
[keys.normal.z]
j = "scroll_up"
k = "scroll_down"
# create a new minor mode bound to `+`
[keys.normal."+"]
m = ":run-shell-command make"
c = ":run-shell-command cargo build"
t = ":run-shell-command cargo test"
Ctrl, Shift and Alt modifiers are encoded respectively with the prefixes
C-, S- and A-. Special keys are encoded as follows:
| Key name |
Representation |
| Backspace |
"backspace" |
| Space |
"space" |
| Return/Enter |
"ret" |
| - |
"minus" |
| Left |
"left" |
| Right |
"right" |
| Up |
"up" |
| Down |
"down" |
| Home |
"home" |
| End |
"end" |
| Page Up |
"pageup" |
| Page Down |
"pagedown" |
| Tab |
"tab" |
| Delete |
"del" |
| Insert |
"ins" |
| Null |
"null" |
| Escape |
"esc" |
Keys can be disabled by binding them to the no_op command.
A list of commands is available in the Keymap documentation
and in the source code at helix-term/src/commands.rs at the invocation of static_commands! macro and the TypableCommandList.