Settings reference

All features can be toggled independently in Settings → Vim Motions. Changes take effect immediately without restarting. On Obsidian 1.13.0+, all settings are indexed by Obsidian’s global settings search.

Vim features

| Name | Type | Default | Range/Options | Lua | Vimrc | Description |
| -------------------------------- | -------- | -------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | --------------- |
| Text objects | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.textobjects | set textobjects | Enable Markdown-aware text objects (i*, a*, il, etc.). |
| Structural navigation | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.navigation | set navigation | Enable heading, list, and link navigation motions (]h, [h, ]l, etc.). |
| Hard-wrap operator (gq) | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.hardwrap | set hardwrap | Enable gq operator to reformat paragraphs with Markdown-aware line wrapping. |
| Smart list continuation on o/O | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.listcontinuation | set listcontinuation | Automatically continue list markers (bullets, numbers, checkboxes) when pressing o or O. |
| Table navigation | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.tablenav | set tablenav | Enable table cell navigation motions (] | , [ | , ]c, [c). |
| Table widget in live preview | dropdown | cursor | always, cursor, off | vim.opt.tablewidget | set tablewidget | Controls how tables display in Live Preview. |
| Formatting marks in Live Preview | dropdown | cursor | cursor, off | vim.opt.formattingmarkmode | — | Corrects cursor positioning near formatting marks in Live Preview. |
| Workspace navigation | toggle | true | — | vim.opt.workspacenav | set workspacenav | Enable pane/tab/sidebar control (<C-w>h/j/k/l, gt, gT, etc.). |

Warning

Workspace navigation: <C-w> may conflict with Obsidian’s “Close current tab” hotkey. Rebind it in Settings → Hotkeys.

Vim engine

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Clipboard	dropdown	(off)	unnamed, unnamedplus, (off)	vim.opt.clipboard	set clipboard	Sync yank/delete/paste with the system clipboard.
Tabstop	slider	4	1–8	vim.opt.tabstop	set tabstop	Tab display width.
Shiftwidth	slider	4	1–8	vim.opt.shiftwidth	set shiftwidth	Indent width.
Expand tab	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.expandtab	set expandtab	Use spaces instead of tabs.
Insert mode escape	text	(off)	—	vim.opt.insertmodeescape	set insertmodeescape	Two-key sequence to exit insert mode (e.g., jk).
Insert mode escape timeout	number	1000	100–5000	vim.opt.insertmodeescapetimeout	set insertmodeescapetimeout	Timeout in milliseconds for insert mode escape sequence.
Textwidth	number	80	0–200	vim.opt.textwidth	set textwidth	Line wrap width for gq/gw (0 to disable).

Jump navigation

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
EasyMotion	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.easymotion	set easymotion	Enable easymotion/hop navigation (<leader><leader>w, etc.).
EasyMotion dimming	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.easymotiondimming	set easymotiondimming	Dim non-target text when EasyMotion is active.
EasyMotion label characters	text	asdghklqwertyuiopzxcvbnmfj	—	vim.opt.easymotionlabels	set easymotionlabels	Characters used for EasyMotion labels.
Hint mode	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.hintmode	set hintmode	Enable vimium-style link hints to click UI elements.
Hint mode label characters	text	asdfghjkl	—	vim.opt.hintlabels	set hintlabels	Characters used for hint labels.
Hint mode global hotkey	hotkey	(off)	—	—	—	Key combination to trigger hint mode from anywhere.
Label font size	slider	14	10–20	vim.opt.labelfontsize	set labelfontsize	Font size for EasyMotion and hint mode labels.

Status bar

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Vim mode status bar	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.statusbar	set statusbar	Show current Vim mode in the status bar.
Vim chord display	toggle	true	—	vim.opt.chorddisplay	set chorddisplay	Show pending keystrokes in the status bar.
Powerline-style status bar	toggle	false	—	vim.opt.powerline	set powerline	Color the Vim mode indicator with per-mode background colors.

Vim mode display prompt

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Normal mode prompt	text	NORMAL	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_normal	let g:mode_prompt_normal	Status bar text for normal mode.
Insert mode prompt	text	INSERT	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_insert	let g:mode_prompt_insert	Status bar text for insert mode.
Visual mode prompt	text	VISUAL	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_visual	let g:mode_prompt_visual	Status bar text for visual mode.
V-Line mode prompt	text	V-LINE	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_visual_line	let g:mode_prompt_visual_line	Status bar text for visual line mode.
V-Block mode prompt	text	V-BLOCK	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_visual_block	let g:mode_prompt_visual_block	Status bar text for visual block mode.
Replace mode prompt	text	REPLACE	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_replace	let g:mode_prompt_replace	Status bar text for replace mode.
Select mode prompt	text	SELECT	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_select	let g:mode_prompt_select	Status bar text for select mode.
Virtual replace mode prompt	text	V-REPLACE	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_vreplace	let g:mode_prompt_vreplace	Status bar text for virtual replace mode.
Command mode prompt	text	COMMAND	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_command	let g:mode_prompt_command	Status bar text for command-line mode.
Search mode prompt	text	SEARCH	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_search	let g:mode_prompt_search	Status bar text for search mode.
Insert-normal mode prompt	text	NORMAL	—	vim.g.mode_prompt_insert_normal	let g:mode_prompt_insert_normal	Status bar text when in normal mode via Ctrl-O from insert.

Cursor shapes

Info

Cursor shapes require bundled fork mode. Disable Obsidian’s built-in Vim key bindings to enable these options.

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Normal mode	dropdown	block	block, bar, underline, hollow	—	set guicursor	Cursor shape for normal mode.
Insert mode	dropdown	bar	block, bar, underline, hollow	—	set guicursor	Cursor shape for insert mode.
Visual mode	dropdown	block	block, bar, underline, hollow	—	set guicursor	Cursor shape for visual mode.
Replace mode	dropdown	underline	block, bar, underline, hollow	—	set guicursor	Cursor shape for replace mode.
Operator-pending	dropdown	underline	block, bar, underline, hollow	—	set guicursor	Cursor shape for operator-pending mode.

Vimrc & key bindings

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Configuration mode	dropdown	lua-vimrc	lua-vimrc, lua, vimrc, settings	—	—	How the plugin loads config files. Lua + Vimrc loads both with Lua priority.
Custom vimrc path	text	(empty)	—	—	—	Path to a vimrc file in your vault.
Custom init.lua path	text	(empty)	—	—	—	Path to an init.lua file in your vault.

Leader key bindings

Map leader key sequences to Obsidian commands. This UI allows you to add new bindings by specifying a key sequence and picking an Obsidian command from a searchable list. Existing bindings can be removed via the trash icon. These are applied in addition to any bindings defined in your vimrc.

Which-key hints

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Which-key mode	dropdown	off	off, leader, all	vim.opt.whichkey	set whichkey	Show available key continuations in a popup.
Which-key leader grouping	dropdown	grouped	grouped, flat	vim.opt.whichkeygrouping	set whichkeygrouping	How leader key bindings are displayed.
Which-key popup delay	number	500	0–2000	vim.opt.whichkeydelay	set whichkeydelay	Delay in milliseconds before the popup appears. Subsequent keystrokes update the popup instantly.

Which-key group labels

Name groups by their full key prefix. Use the leader character + prefix for leader groups (e.g., \t for table), or a raw prefix for non-leader groups (e.g., cs for surround changes). The UI provides a list of existing labels with the ability to add new ones or delete custom entries. Built-in features register default labels that your entries can override.

Which-key command labels

Describe individual bindings in the which-key popup. The UI shows a list of all active bindings (including those from vimrc) and allows you to provide a custom label for each. Entries set in vimrc appear as read-only rows.

Advanced

Name	Type	Default	Range/Options	Lua	Vimrc	Description
Scrolloff lines	number	5	0–9999	vim.opt.scrolloff	set scrolloff	Number of lines to keep visible above and below when scrolling.
Multi-line text object scan range	slider	20	5–200	vim.opt.scanlimit	set scanlimit	Maximum lines to scan in each direction for multi-line text objects.

Tip

Set Scrolloff lines to 9999 to keep the cursor vertically centered.

Settings not available via vimrc

• Configuration mode (configMode): Cannot be set via vimrc or init.lua because it controls which config files are loaded (circular dependency).
• Hint mode global hotkey (hintModeHotkey): Requires a specialized recording UI to capture modifier keys and cannot be easily represented as a simple string in a vimrc file.
• Leader key bindings (leaderBindings): While the plugin provides a UI for this, the same functionality is already achievable via standard nmap <leader>... commands in your vimrc.