VSCodeVim / VSCodeVim/Vim

Cannot remap a sequence of 3 keys or more

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Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

Describe the bug
My config has

 "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
      {
          "before": ["<leader>", "z", "o"],
          "after": [],
          "commands": [
              {
                  "command": "workbench.action.closeOtherEditors"
              }
          ]
      },
]

When I press space z o, the space z is first handled separately and does nothing, and then o is handled, which adds a new line. Instead I would like my newly-defined command to work.

My trace logs:

2025-03-19 14:36:50.783 [debug] Handling key: <space>
2025-03-19 14:36:50.783 [trace] trying to find matching remap. keys= . mode=Normal. keybindings=normalModeKeyBindingsMap.
2025-03-19 14:36:50.783 [trace] normalModeKeyBindingsMap. potential remap found. waiting for other key or timeout to finish.
2025-03-19 14:36:50.784 [trace] handleKeyEvent('<space>') took 1ms
2025-03-19 14:36:51.059 [debug] Handling key: z
2025-03-19 14:36:51.059 [trace] trying to find matching remap. keys= ,z. mode=Normal. keybindings=normalModeKeyBindingsMap.
2025-03-19 14:36:51.059 [trace] key= ,z. keySlice= z.
2025-03-19 14:36:51.059 [trace] normalModeKeyBindingsMap. potential remap broken. resending keys without allowing a potential remap on first key. keys= ,z
2025-03-19 14:36:51.060 [debug] Remapping to  ,z
2025-03-19 14:36:51.060 [debug] Handling key: <space>
2025-03-19 14:36:51.060 [trace] trying to find matching remap. keys= . mode=Normal. keybindings=normalModeKeyBindingsMap.
2025-03-19 14:36:51.065 [trace] Setting key='vim.command' to value='<leader>'
2025-03-19 14:36:51.065 [trace] handleKeyEvent('<space>') took 6ms
2025-03-19 14:36:51.068 [debug] Handling key: z
2025-03-19 14:36:51.068 [trace] Setting key='vim.command' to value='<leader>z'
2025-03-19 14:36:51.068 [trace] Setting key='vim.command' to value=''
2025-03-19 14:36:51.068 [trace] handleKeyEvent('z') took 2ms
2025-03-19 14:36:51.069 [trace] handleKeyEvent('z') took 10ms
2025-03-19 14:36:51.344 [debug] Handling key: o
2025-03-19 14:36:51.345 [trace] trying to find matching remap. keys=o. mode=Normal. keybindings=normalModeKeyBindingsMap.
2025-03-19 14:36:51.346 [trace] Setting key='vim.command' to value='o'

Expected behavior
I would have expected my command space z o to apply the vscode command i defined in the remap.

  • Extension (VsCodeVim) version: 1.29.0
  • VSCode version: 1.85.2
  • OS: MacPro M2

Additional context

I tried to instead setup keybindings in keybindings.json to do what I want. But it seems like if I define a keybinding there that starts with my vim <leader> key, the vscode-vim bindings stop working entirely.

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First steps

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Research direction

No source files or tests are named. Reproduce the configuration and trace the normalModeKeyBindingsMap handling shown in the logs; done means a three-key mapping such as space z o reaches the configured VS Code command without handling the prefix separately.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript, vscode
Domain
developer-experience, tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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