Vim Motions

Status bar

Vim Motions shows the current Vim mode and pending keystrokes in Obsidian’s status bar. All status bar features can be toggled and customized independently.

Vim mode display

Shows NORMAL, INSERT, VISUAL, V-LINE, V-BLOCK, REPLACE, SELECT, V-REPLACE, COMMAND, SEARCH, or NORMAL (insert-normal) in the status bar. Toggle via Settings → Vim Motions → Status bar → Vim mode status bar, vim.opt.statusbar = true in Lua, or set statusbar / set nostatusbar in vimrc.

Custom mode text

Customize the text shown for each mode via Settings → Vim Motions → Vim mode display prompt, in Lua, or in vimrc:

vim.g.mode_prompt_normal = "N"
vim.g.mode_prompt_insert = "I"
vim.g.mode_prompt_visual = "V"
vim.g.mode_prompt_replace = "R"
vim.g.mode_prompt_visual_line = "VL"
vim.g.mode_prompt_visual_block = "VB"
vim.g.mode_prompt_select = "S"
vim.g.mode_prompt_vreplace = "VR"
vim.g.mode_prompt_command = "CMD"
vim.g.mode_prompt_search = "/"
vim.g.mode_prompt_insert_normal = "(i)"
" Or via vimrc:
let g:mode_prompt_normal = "N"
let g:mode_prompt_insert = "I"
let g:mode_prompt_visual = "V"
let g:mode_prompt_visual_line = "VL"
let g:mode_prompt_visual_block = "VB"
let g:mode_prompt_replace = "R"
let g:mode_prompt_select = "S"
let g:mode_prompt_vreplace = "VR"
let g:mode_prompt_command = "CMD"
let g:mode_prompt_search = "/"
let g:mode_prompt_insert_normal = "(i)"

Supports any text including emoji — e.g., vim.g.mode_prompt_normal = "🟢".

Fork mode required

Select, V-Replace, Command, Search, and Insert-Normal indicators require the fork’s vim engine (recommended setup with built-in vim mode OFF). In built-in vim mode, only NORMAL, INSERT, VISUAL, and REPLACE are shown.

Chord display

Shows pending keystrokes as you type a multi-key command (e.g., 2d, gq, <leader>t). This helps confirm your input is being registered, especially for long sequences.

Toggle via Settings → Vim Motions → Status bar → Vim chord display, vim.opt.chorddisplay = true in Lua, or set chorddisplay / set nochorddisplay in vimrc.

Macro recording indicator

When recording a macro, the status bar shows RECORDING @{register} (e.g., RECORDING @q). This is always active when the status bar is enabled.

Powerline-style mode indicator

Optional colored mode indicator with per-mode background colors and a triangular separator. No special fonts required — the separator is a Unicode character.

Toggle via Settings → Vim Motions → Status bar → Powerline-style status bar, vim.opt.powerline = true in Lua, or set powerline / set nopowerline in vimrc.

Color customization

Override powerline colors via CSS custom properties in a CSS snippet:

body {
    --vim-pl-normal-bg: #a3be8c;
    --vim-pl-insert-bg: #88c0d0;
    --vim-pl-visual-bg: #b48ead;
    --vim-pl-v-line-bg: #b48ead;
    --vim-pl-v-block-bg: #b48ead;
    --vim-pl-replace-bg: #bf616a;
    --vim-pl-select-bg: #b48ead;
    --vim-pl-vreplace-bg: #bf616a;
    --vim-pl-command-bg: #88c0d0;
    --vim-pl-search-bg: #88c0d0;
}

These properties can also be configured via the Style Settings plugin, which provides separate light and dark mode defaults.

data-vim-mode attribute

The status bar element has a data-vim-mode attribute for CSS targeting. This allows you to apply custom styles to the status bar based on the current Vim mode.

Available attribute values:

  • normal
  • insert
  • visual
  • v-line
  • v-block
  • replace
  • select
  • vreplace
  • command
  • search
  • insert-normal

Example CSS snippet targeting a specific mode:

.vim-motions-mode[data-vim-mode='insert'] {
    border: 1px solid var(--text-accent);
}

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