Quality of life

Vim Motions includes several convenience features that improve the day-to-day Vim experience in Obsidian.

Keybindings

Quality of life

Enhanced Vim behavior and Obsidian-specific improvements.

Keybinding	Description
o / O	Smart list continuation (bullets, numbers, checkboxes)
Y	Yank to end of line (y$)
Q	Replay last recorded macro (@@)

Link to original

Smart list continuation

Pressing o or O on a list line automatically continues the list marker on the new line. Supports:

• Unordered lists (-, *, +)
• Ordered lists (1., 2.)
• Task lists (- [ ], - [x]), including custom checkbox states ([!], [?], [/])
• Indented and nested lists
• Blockquote lists (> - )

Works correctly on the first line after YAML frontmatter. Disable for plain Neovim behavior via Settings → Vim Motions → Smart list continuation on o/O, vim.opt.listcontinuation = false in Lua, or set nolistcontinuation in vimrc.

Neovim defaults

• Y yanks to end of line (y$) instead of the entire line — matching Neovim’s default
• Q replays the last recorded macro (@@) instead of entering Ex mode — matching Neovim’s default

Vim mode status bar

Shows the current mode (NORMAL / INSERT / VISUAL / REPLACE) in Obsidian’s status bar. Customizable per-mode text (including emoji) via Settings → Vim Motions → Vim mode display prompt, vim.g.mode_prompt_normal = "N" in Lua, or let g:mode_prompt_normal = "N" in vimrc.

Vim chord display

Shows pending keystrokes (e.g., 2d, gq) in the status bar as you type a multi-key command. Toggle via Settings → Vim Motions → Vim chord display, vim.opt.chorddisplay = false in Lua, or set nochorddisplay in vimrc.

Powerline-style status bar

Optional colored mode indicator with per-mode background colors and a triangular separator. No special fonts required.

Override colors via CSS custom properties (--vim-pl-normal-bg, --vim-pl-insert-bg, --vim-pl-visual-bg, --vim-pl-replace-bg) or via the Style Settings plugin with separate light/dark mode defaults.

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

Which-key hints

Shows available key continuations in a popup after a short delay. Three modes:

• Off — no popup (default)
• Leader key only — popup appears after pressing the leader key
• All partial keys — popup appears after any partial key sequence (d shows motions/text objects, g shows g-prefixed commands, etc.)

Leader bindings can be grouped by prefix — pressing <leader> shows t → Table (+11) instead of listing all table commands. Drill into a group by pressing its key.

Configure via Settings → Vim Motions → Which-key hints, vim.opt.whichkey = "leader" in Lua, or set whichkey=leader in vimrc. See which-key for detailed setup.

Scrolloff

Configurable number of lines to keep visible above and below the cursor when scrolling (0–9999, default: 5).

Centered cursor

Set vim.opt.scrolloff = 999 in your Lua config or set scrolloff=999 in your vimrc to keep the cursor vertically centered while scrolling — the standard Vim pattern for centered scrolling.

Adapts to your font size automatically via EditorView.defaultLineHeight. Configure via Settings → Vim Motions → Advanced → Scrolloff lines, vim.opt.scrolloff = 5 in Lua, or set scrolloff=5 in vimrc.

Configurable insert escape

Set a two-key sequence to exit insert mode (e.g., jk, jj):

• vim.opt.insertmodeescape = "jk" in Lua
• set insertmodeescape=jk in vimrc
• Settings → Vim Motions → Vim engine → Insert mode escape

Timeout is configurable via vim.opt.insertmodeescapetimeout = 1000 in Lua or set insertmodeescapetimeout=1000 in vimrc (default: 1000ms, matching Neovim’s timeoutlen).

Macro recording indicator

Shows RECORDING @{register} in the status bar when recording a macro.

Ex command completion

Tab-complete ex commands as you type in the : command line.

Settings hot-reload

All feature toggles and vim engine settings take effect immediately when changed — no Obsidian restart required. This includes clipboard, tabstop, shiftwidth, expandtab, insertmodeescape, insertmodeescapetimeout, and textwidth.

See known-limitations > UI & display for known display-related limitations and known-limitations > Vimrc for vimrc timing issues.