Zed: Vim Mode Cheatsheet

Essential Vim keybindings and workflows for Zed editor on Linux.

Enabling Vim Mode

Add to ~/.config/zed/settings.json:

{
  "vim_mode": true
}

Or toggle via command palette: Ctrl+Shift+P → "Toggle Vim Mode".

Modes

Key	Action
Esc	Return to Normal mode
i	Insert before cursor
a	Insert after cursor
I	Insert at beginning of line
A	Insert at end of line
o	Open new line below
O	Open new line above
v	Visual (character) mode
V	Visual Line mode
Ctrl+V	Visual Block mode

Basic Motions

Key	Action
h / l	Move left / right
j / k	Move down / up
w	Jump to next word start
b	Jump to previous word start
e	Jump to end of word
0	Jump to beginning of line
$	Jump to end of line
^	Jump to first non-blank character
gg	Jump to top of file
G	Jump to bottom of file
{ / }	Jump to previous / next paragraph
Ctrl+D	Scroll half page down
Ctrl+U	Scroll half page up
%	Jump to matching bracket
:<number>	Go to line number

Editing

Key	Action
x	Delete character under cursor
dd	Delete entire line
dw	Delete word
d$ or D	Delete to end of line
cc	Change entire line
cw	Change word
c$ or C	Change to end of line
yy	Yank (copy) line
yw	Yank word
p	Paste after cursor
P	Paste before cursor
u	Undo
Ctrl+R	Redo
.	Repeat last change
>> / <<	Indent / unindent line
~	Toggle case

Search & Replace (In-Editor)

Key	Action
/pattern	Search forward
?pattern	Search backward
n	Next match
N	Previous match
*	Search word under cursor (forward)
#	Search word under cursor (backward)

Text Objects

Use with operators like d, c, y (e.g., di" deletes inside quotes).

Key	Action
iw / aw	Inner word / a word (with space)
i" / a"	Inside double quotes / around quotes
i' / a'	Inside single quotes / around quotes
i( / a(	Inside parentheses / around parens
i{ / a{	Inside braces / around braces
i[ / a[	Inside brackets / around brackets
it / at	Inside HTML tag / around tag

Surround (Built-in)

Zed includes vim-surround support out of the box.

Key	Action
ys<motion><char>	Add surround (e.g., ysiw" surrounds word with quotes)
ds<char>	Delete surround (e.g., ds" removes surrounding quotes)
cs<old><new>	Change surround (e.g., cs"' changes " to ')

File Search & Navigation

Key	Action
Ctrl+P	Open file finder (fuzzy search by filename)
Ctrl+Shift+F	Search across entire project (grep)
Ctrl+Shift+P	Command palette
Ctrl+G	Go to line
Ctrl+Shift+O	Go to symbol in file
gd	Go to definition (Vim motion)
gr	Go to references
Ctrl+Shift+E	Focus file explorer / project panel
Ctrl+-	Navigate back
Ctrl+Shift+-	Navigate forward

Project Panel (File Explorer)

Toggle with Ctrl+Shift+E or click the file icon in the sidebar.

Key	Action
j / k	Move down / up in file list
Enter	Open file or expand folder
a	Add new file
A	Add new directory
r	Rename file or folder
d	Delete file or folder
Ctrl+Shift+E	Toggle project panel focus

Terminal

Key	Action
Ctrl+`	Toggle terminal panel
Ctrl+Shift+`	Open new terminal
Ctrl+Shift+E	Focus back to editor from terminal
Ctrl+`	Focus back to terminal from editor

When the terminal is focused, normal typing goes to the shell. Press Ctrl+` to switch back to the editor.

Splits & Panes

Key	Action
Ctrl+\	Split editor right
Ctrl+K then Ctrl+\	Split editor down
Ctrl+K then Ctrl+Left	Focus pane to the left
Ctrl+K then Ctrl+Right	Focus pane to the right
Ctrl+K then Ctrl+Up	Focus pane above
Ctrl+K then Ctrl+Down	Focus pane below
Ctrl+W then Ctrl+W	Cycle through panes

Tabs

Key	Action
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Ctrl+W	Close current tab
Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+9	Switch to tab by number
Ctrl+Shift+T	Reopen last closed tab
gt	Next tab (Vim)
gT	Previous tab (Vim)

Multi-Cursor

Key	Action
Ctrl+D	Select next occurrence of word (add cursor)
Ctrl+Shift+L	Select all occurrences of word
gb	Add cursor at next occurrence (Vim)
Ctrl+Alt+Up	Add cursor above
Ctrl+Alt+Down	Add cursor below

Useful Combos

Action	Keys
Delete a word and type replacement	ciw then type new word
Delete inside quotes and retype	ci" then type new text
Select a function body and delete	vi{d
Indent a block	V select lines, then >
Comment/uncomment lines	gcc (single line) or gc in visual mode
Duplicate line	yyp
Move line down	ddp
Move line up	ddkP
Search and open a file	Ctrl+P, type filename, Enter
Jump to definition and come back	gd to go, Ctrl+- to come back