Make VS Code on Windows feel more like Vim

Extensions and settings that make using VS Code faster and feel more like Vim, along with some visual changes.

The CSS should work with any color theme, but can be easily modified to better suit your needs by adjusting the root variables at the top of the file.

I also use this repo to back up some configs for myself, so not everything here will be useful/relevant to others (terminal prompt, browser settings, etc.)

Table of Contents

• Features
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
    • General
    • Vim
• Installation
• Dependencies
  • Required
  • Recommended
  • General
    • Extensions
    • Windows
    • Terminal and Bash
    • Zen Browser
• Preview
  • One Dark Pro Darker
  • Vesper

Features

• Edit files, switch tabs and groups, toggle integrated terminal, navigate, create, rename, cut, delete files & folders, etc. with keyboard shortcuts.
• Maximize screen space by hiding many of the non-essential UI elements.
• Cool (😎) background blur on different widgets.
• And more QoL improvements.

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Key Combination	Command
A	Create New File/Folder in Explorer
R	Rename File/Folder in Explorer
Y	Copy (yank) File/Folder in Explorer
M	Cut (move) File/Folder in Explorer
P	Paste (put) File/Folder in Explorer
D D	Delete File/Folder in Explorer
[HJKL]	Navigate Files/Folders in Explorer
Ctrl + [HJKL]	Focus Editor Group
Ctrl + Shift + [HJKL]	Move Editor Group
Ctrl + Shift + .	Increase View Size
Ctrl + Shift + ,	Decrease View Size
Ctrl + E	Toggle Focus between Editor and Side Bar (Explorer) / Hide Side Bar when Focused
Ctrl + T	Toggle Focus between Panel and Editor
Ctrl + Y	Toggle Panel and Focus

Vim

Key Combination	Command
Space	Default Vim Leader Key
Leader + F + F	Open Search
Leader + W	Save (:w)
Leader + Q	Quit (:q)
Leader + S	Split Editor (:vsp)
Leader + D	Go to Definition
Leader + A	Open Code Actions
Leader + H	Open Hover
Leader + /	Comment/Uncomment Line
Leader + I	Toggle Boolean
Leader + C	Open Inline Copilot Chat
Tab	Cycle to Next Editor in Group
Shift + Tab	Cycle to Previous Editor in Group
] + D	Go to Next Diagnostic
[ + D	Go to Previous Diagnostic

Installation

1. Install the extensions listed below (also the font if you want to use the same one, but it can be easily changed).
2. Copy the contents of vsc_settings.json into your VS Code settings.json.
3. Copy the contents of vsc_keybindings.json into your VS Code keybindings.json.
4. Add the path to the custom.css file into your settings.json.
5. If you want the Gruvbox Dark Hard theme for Windows Terminal, copy the contents of wt_settings.json into your Windows Terminal settings.json
6. If you want my bash settings, copy and append the contents of bash.bashrc into your .bashrc/bash.bashrc.
7. If you want fast virtual desktop switching on Windows, install AutoHotkey and the script from the link below, then replace the user_config.ahk with the one in the repo.

Dependencies

Required

Required as the base for this setup.

• Vim for VS Code for Vim keybindings.
• Toggle Boolean for easy boolean toggling.
• Apc Customize UI++ for customizing the UI.
• JetBrains Mono Nerd Font for the font.

Recommended

Recommended to get my look.

• Color themes:
  • Gruvbox Light/Dark Hard (current theme, no screenshots).
  • One Dark Pro Darker (used in the screenshots).
  • Vesper (also has screenshots in the preview section).
  • Noir Essence Dark (no screenshots).
• File icon themes:
  • Gruvbox Material Icon Theme for gruvbox style icons.
  • Symbols for general file icons.
• Fluent Icons for product icons.
• File Path Bar to show current file path in the status bar.
• Lifeline: Clock & Battery to show the time and battery percentage in the status bar.

General

Extensions

Good extensions for any setup.

• Error Lens for nicer errors.
• Auto Rename Tag for renaming tags.
• Better Comments for colorful comments.
• Tailwind Fold for folding Tailwind CSS classes.
• Path Intellisense for autocompleting paths.
• Activitus Bar to move the activity bar to the status bar (I have it hidden, but it's still nice to have).
• Lorem ipsum for generating placeholder text.
• Insert Unicode for searching and inserting Unicode characters.

Windows

Easier switching between virtual desktops in windows along with keyboard shortcuts to open and close programs.

• AutoHotkey v1.1 for running the script.
• windows-desktop-switcher for switching between virtual desktops.

Terminal and Bash

A fancier Windows terminal experience.

• Gruvbox Dark Hard for the color scheme (generated from the VS Code color theme).
• Oh My Posh for the terminal prompt.
• zoxide for a smarter cd command.
• huvix theme as the prompt theme.
• jcr for easily compiling and running Java files (jcr <filename> <arguments>).
• lazygit for lazy git add, commit, and push (lazygit <message>).

Zen Browser

A modern, feature-rich, privacy focused browser based on Firefox.

• Zen Browser for the browser.
• Hide Window Buttons to hide all window controls.
• Remove Browser Padding to remove the extra padding on the website panel.
• Drop Shadow for a subtle drop shadow for the website panel.
• Bookmark Toolbar Tweaks to center the bookmarks.
• Now Playing Indicator for a better now playing indicator in the sidebar.
• Cleaner Extension Menu to clean up the extensions menu.
• Floating URLbar for a fancy floating URL bar when focused.
• Vesper Dark for the color theme.

Preview

One Dark Pro Darker

Vesper

These screenshots are a bit older but everything is still doable (changing the theme gets you most of the way there), I just switched to a different theme.