Vimdows

Acknowledgements

The core engine of this project (low level hook > remap > output key) was inspired by KMonad.

Introduction

A lightweight Windows keyboard remapper that (somewhat) emulates vi's modal editing across the entire OS. I was taking a shower one day and thought "Wouldn't it be nice if I could use h j k and l while working on Microsoft Word". I also don't really like using my tr*ckpad.

Dependencies

• Windows 10/11
• GCC — any MinGW-w64 distribution (e.g. via Scoop: scoop install gcc)
• No third-party libraries — only the Windows SDK (user32) is required

Building

The program can be compiled using:

gcc -o vimdows.exe main.c hook.c keymap.c vi.c output.c -luser32

Running

Vimdows can be run in CLI or by double clicking the app. It will create a small tray icon in "hidden icons" which can be used to enable, disable or exit the app.

./vimdows.exe

For full keybinding reference and usage instructions, see the User Guide.

For an explanation of the architecture and how to extend the program, see the Programmer Guide.

For a list of currently implemented Vi keys and their windows equivalent, see vi_mappings.

Contributing

Juggling work and university at the moment, so this project is really just the bare-bones features of Vi and was tossed together so I wouldn't have to use my tr*ckpad so often. I think it has the potential to become a true "Vi for everything in Windows", so contributions would be greatly appreciated.

Potential new features:

• The remaining basic Vi keybinds
• More specific editing features, e.g. ciw to "change in word"
• More optimised version of jumping to a line with 'g', current method just goes to the top and down the number of lines.
• Command mode (may need to add some display elements to this program to make this feature usable)
• Visual mode for selection
• Automated testing for keybinds with a Python script

I can be contacted at liu_wenyi@u.nus.edu (include "Vimdows" in email subject) for more discussion.