Flow-Launcher / Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher

Search bar Vim mode

Closed
#4,569 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement Stale
Dominant language
C#
Stars
15.6k
Forks
644
Avg merge
16h 51m
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

This issue proposes to add Vim mode to flow's search bar. If you are interested in having this feature added, please put a thumbs up.

PR https://github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher/pull/4541:

An opt-in Vim editing mode to the search bar. Toggle it in Settings → General → "Enable Advanced Vim Mode". It is off by default — when disabled, the search bar behaves exactly as before.

### Modes
- **Insert** (default) — normal Flow Launcher behavior
- **Normal** — block caret; keys are interpreted as commands
- **Visual** / **Visual Line** — character-wise / whole-query selection

A small color-coded dot at the left of the box shows the current mode (hidden in Insert).

### Normal mode
- **Motions:** `h l w W b B e E 0 ^ $ %`, `f`/`F`/`t`/`T{char}` with `;`/`,` repeat, and `j`/`k` to move through the results
- **Editing:** `x X s S r{char} ~ dd cc D C Y p`, `gu`/`gU`, undo `u` / redo `Ctrl+R`
- **Operators + text objects:** `d c y gu` combined with `iw`/`aw`, `i"`/`a"`, `i'`/`a'`, `i(`/`a(`, `i[`/`a[`, `i{`/`a{` (e.g. `diw`, `ci"`, `ya(`)
- **Repeat & counts:** `.` repeats the last change; most motions/operators accept a count (`3w`, `5x`, `d3w`, `3f,`)
- **Mode switch:** `i I a A v V`

### Visual mode
Extend the selection with any motion, then operate on it: `x`/`d`, `y`, `c`/`s`, `r{char}`, `~`, `gu`/`gU`. `i`/`a` start a text object, `o` swaps the selection ends, `Esc` returns to Normal.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Review PR #4541 first, then trace Flow Launcher’s search bar and the Settings → General "Enable Advanced Vim Mode" option. Compare the proposed insert, normal, and visual modes with the listed motions and editing commands. Done means the opt-in behavior, mode indicator, and command set work without changing the default search bar behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
desktop, search
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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