vimium README

The project's README from github.com/philc/vimium. As one markdown file: README.md.

Vimium - The Hacker's Browser

Vimium is a browser extension that provides keyboard-based navigation and control of the web in the spirit of the Vim editor.

Watch the demo video.

Installation instructions:

To install from source, see here.

Vimium's Options page can be reached via a link on the help dialog (type ?) or via the button next to Vimium on the extension pages of Chrome and Edge (chrome://extensions), or Firefox (about:addons).

Keyboard Bindings

Modifier keys are specified as <c-x>, <m-x>, and <a-x> for ctrl+x, meta+x, and alt+x respectively. For shift+x and ctrl-shift-x, just type X and <c-X>. See the next section for how to customize these bindings.

Once you have Vimium installed, you can see this list of key bindings at any time by typing ?.

Navigating the current page:

?       show the help dialog for a list of all available keys
h       scroll left
j       scroll down
k       scroll up
l       scroll right
gg      scroll to top of the page
G       scroll to bottom of the page
d       scroll down half a page
u       scroll up half a page
f       open a link in the current tab
F       open a link in a new tab
r       reload
gs      view source
i       enter insert mode -- all commands will be ignored until you hit Esc to exit
yy      copy the current url to the clipboard
yf      copy a link url to the clipboard
gf      cycle forward to the next frame
gF      focus the main/top frame

Navigating to new pages:

o       Open URL, bookmark, or history entry
O       Open URL, bookmark, history entry in a new tab
b       Open bookmark
B       Open bookmark in a new tab

Using find:

/       enter find mode
          -- type your search query and hit enter to search, or Esc to cancel
n       cycle forward to the next find match
N       cycle backward to the previous find match

For advanced usage, see regular expressions on the wiki.

Navigating your history:

H       go back in history
L       go forward in history

Manipulating tabs:

J, gT   go one tab left
K, gt   go one tab right
g0      go to the first tab. Use ng0 to go to n-th tab
g$      go to the last tab
^       visit the previously-visited tab
t       create tab
yt      duplicate current tab
x       close current tab
X       restore closed tab (i.e. unwind the 'x' command)
T       search through your open tabs
W       move current tab to new window
<a-p>   pin/unpin current tab

Using marks:

ma, mA  set local mark "a" (global mark "A")
`a, `A  jump to local mark "a" (global mark "A")
``      jump back to the position before the previous jump
          -- that is, before the previous gg, G, n, N, / or `a

Additional advanced browsing commands:

]], [[  Follow the link labeled 'next' or '>' ('previous' or '<')
          - helpful for browsing paginated sites
<a-f>   open multiple links in a new tab
gi      focus the first (or n-th) text input box on the page. Use <tab> to cycle through options.
gu      go up one level in the URL hierarchy
gU      go up to root of the URL hierarchy
ge      edit the current URL
gE      edit the current URL and open in a new tab
zH      scroll all the way left
zL      scroll all the way right
v       enter visual mode; use p/P to paste-and-go, use y to yank
V       enter visual line mode
R       Hard reload the page (skip the cache)

Vimium supports command repetition so, for example, hitting 5t will open 5 tabs in rapid succession. <Esc> (or <c-[>) will clear any partial commands in the queue and will also exit insert and find modes.

There are additional commands which aren't included in this README; refer to the help dialog (type ?) for a full list.

Custom Key Mappings

You may remap or unmap any of the default key bindings in the "Custom key mappings" on the options page.

Enter one of the following key mapping statements per line:

map key command: Maps a key to a Vimium command. Overrides Chrome's default behavior for that key, if any.
unmap key: Unmaps a key and restores Chrome's default behavior (if any).
unmapAll: Unmaps all bindings. This is useful if you want to completely wipe Vimium's defaults and start from scratch with your own setup.

Examples:

map <c-d> scrollPageDown maps ctrl+d to scrolling the page down. Chrome's default behavior of showing a bookmark dialog is suppressed.
map r reload hard maps the r key to reloading the page, and also includes the "hard" option to hard-reload the page.
unmap <c-d> removes any mapping for ctrl+d and restores Chrome's default behavior.
unmap r removes any mapping for the r key.

See the docs for every Vimium command and its options.

You can add comments to key mappings by starting a line with " or #.

The following special keys are available for mapping:

<c-*>, <a-*>, <s-*>, <m-*> for ctrl, alt, shift, and meta (command on Mac) respectively with any key. Replace * with the key of choice.
<left>, <right>, <up>, <down> for the arrow keys.
<f1> through <f12> for the function keys.
<space> for the space key.
<tab>, <enter>, <delete>, <backspace>, <insert>, <home> and <end> for the corresponding non-printable keys.

Shifts are automatically detected so, for example, <c-&> corresponds to ctrl+shift+7 on an English keyboard.

How to allow Vimium to work on new tab pages

Vimium will work on new tab pages which are opened with Vimium's createTab command (mapped to t by default).
To have Vimium work on all new tab pages opened by the browser (e.g. via cmd-t or ctrl-t shortcuts), a companion Vimium New Tab Page extension is required.
Once that is installed, all new tabs will open a blank Vimium new tab page.

More documentation

FAQ
Command listing
Vimium's GitHub wiki: documentation for the more advanced features.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG for the major changes in each release.

License

Copyright (c) Phil Crosby, Ilya Sukhar. See MIT-LICENSE.txt for details.

Searching Database…

27.1K ·GitHub

What is this?

Vimium is a browser extension that adds Vim-style keyboard navigation and control to the web, letting you browse without reaching for the mouse.

Is this a standalone app or a browser extension?

It is a browser extension that runs inside Chrome, Edge, or Firefox, not a separate application.

How do I install Vimium?

Install it from the Chrome Web Store, Edge Add-ons, or Firefox Add-ons; you can also build and load it from source if you want the latest unreleased version.

Do I need Vim or any other tool to use it?

No, you only need a supported browser (Chrome, Edge, or Firefox); Vimium just borrows Vim's key philosophy, not Vim itself.

Does it work on brand-new tab pages opened with cmd-t?

Not by default: Vimium only works on new tabs it opens itself; to control browser-opened new tab pages you need the separate companion Vimium New Tab Page extension.

Can I change the default keyboard shortcuts?

Yes, on the options page you can add custom key mapping statements like 'map key command' to remap keys or 'unmap key' to restore Chrome's default behavior for a key.

How do I see all the available commands?

Press '?' at any time to open the help dialog, which lists every available key binding, or check the full command listing in the docs/wiki.

What can I do besides scrolling, like with f and o?

Vimium lets you open links via keyboard labels with 'f'/'F', jump to URLs/bookmarks/history with 'o', search the page with '/', manage tabs (t, x, X, J/K), set marks (ma, 'a), and even enter a visual mode to select and yank text with 'v' and 'y'.

Can I repeat a command multiple times?

Yes, Vimium supports command repetition, e.g. pressing '5t' opens 5 tabs in rapid succession.

What are similar projects?

Card-master-browser-extension-public, multi-row-tabs, Youtube-Pro-Plus, refined-github, voyager, streamfirefly, javranking-extension, chatGPTBox

Which topics is it in?

navigation, keyboard, firefox-extension, privacy-first, chrome-extension, browser-extension, customization, productivity, javascript, cli, web, mit

Creator: philc
Size: 6.7 MB
Stars: 27.1K
Updated: CommitJul 25
Age: 17y
Commits · 90 Days