I use it to write instructions, obviously. I thought everyone was using C-g on Claude Code
Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
11–20 of 105 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#12i use vim quite a bit! I find that in this new era, i'm in the command line a lot and like to stay in the command line. vim (I use neovim) is a good way to do that.
Furthermore, a lot of my workflow is now done on remote servers (i love exe.dev) where claude code is sandboxed to an extent (it can still cause damage, just not to my main computer's file system). When I'm configuring those, i have a setup script that installs all of my vim files just the way i like them, so vim behaves exactly the same on a remote server as it does locally. I can edit things as needed. I can also access claude code on those servers as well. So working on my remote machine feels a lot like workin locally [1].
[1] I'm aware that i can setup cursor or vs code to access SSH servers, but it's just not as easy and doesn't feel as natural, IMO. There's something i like about needing to call `ssh remote-server` first.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#13^G in Claude and Codex will drop you into $EDITOR to edit your prompt. I use that all the time.
"vimdiff" is a really great way to review code changes side-by-side.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#14I still use Vim, but totally different from before. I don’t care about efficient movement/editing bindings. All I use it for now is navigating and viewing files.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#15like normal?
but i don't use ai to write code for me -- i use it as a companion thing where i ask questions and then, instead of asking for code, i implement everything myself.
it keeps me sharp and helps me understand the lastest ai stuff.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#16Usually I keep terminal split open with the agent side by side and make edits by hand where needed or for reviewing the code. Inside the vim itself I have a small plugin that you can feed a block of text with the comment instructing LLM what to do. It then replaces the text with the result of execution. Super useful for small edits here and there that don't require full session. I also have preconfigured neoterm float with the pi agent, that allows me to jump into the session right away.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#17Hasn't changed at all since AI agents became a thing. tmux, nvim with a few plugins, mainly fzf and LSP support. If I do use an AI agent, I just run it in another tmux window.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#18I am sort of a no UI (except browser) user for a very long time now, and vim is still incredibly useful.
Granted, the language servers are getting dusted, but it's much nicer to write goals in markdown in vim and send it to LLM in a self-written harness CLI; and even look at the results in the same way. All unix. LLM is just the latest toolbox addition.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#19I use vim and claude code (fable) inside of herdr.
I can jump to one tab look at the code, jump back over and talk to claude for a little.
I can spread this all across several projects using herdrs workspaces.
I still write code when it makes sense.
Sometimes i annotate the code with comments, hop back over and ask the LLM to consume the annotations i just added and make changes.
Sometimes i ask the LLM to analyze lots of code, and come up with a plan of attack for me, then i go implement it myself.
For Personal projects I write much more of the code myself still, because i enjoy it. For work, i do whatever gets the best outcome most efficiently.
Re: Ask HN: How do you use Vim in the era of AI?
#20The intersection of people who like vim and ai is basically nil
My Neovim + AI workflow is running Neovim (LazyVim) and Claude Code side by side in a terminal split. As the agent makes changes, I review them in Neogit. I don't really make edits by hand much anymore, but the keyboard is still how I navigate the code when doing reviews. I can jump to references, open files, read through the diff very quickly with keyboard shortcuts.
The Neovim/LazyVim speed for writing code turns out to be just as fast for navigating and reviewing code.