vi editing mode (like claude code /vim)
Open 💬 11 comments Opened Jan 14, 2026 by gabrielnan
What feature would you like to see?
Feature: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/interactive-mode#vim-mode
https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/2387 helps but it's not great, since the vim editor by default takes up the whole pane and then the user can't see the context from the current codex thread. There are workarounds, like having the editor open a new smaller pane, but ideally one can have vi mode to edit the prompt inline like in Claude code.
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11 Comments
Not to sound like a snob, but this one is a blocker for me to do anything more than play around with Codex... the muscle memory is too strong.
Yes; vim-mode is _not_ ctrl+g to open a full vim editor (though, that's nice, thanks!)
Vim mode is having a modal command line with classic vim keybindings like described in the #2387 (stangely closed) issue: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/interactive-mode#vim-editor-mode
For us vim users it makes a huge world of difference; it's half the reason i prefer claude code over codex.
gemini-cli also has this feature
Linking #14386 because it feels like a close sibling to the same terminal-native modal direction.
This ticket is about vim-style inline editing for the composer. #14386 is about a modal keyboard surface for navigating and actioning reply structure itself: paragraphs, list items, code blocks, tool calls/results, multi-select, and configurable actions.
They are not the same feature, but they point in the same direction: Codex should feel more like a serious modal TUI/editor surface and less like a single text box with scattered shortcuts.
I'm going crazy switching between claude code (which has the great VIM mode) and codex, I can't use both. Please add VIM mode.
how is this still an open issue, we need VIM
please use vim mode
definitely need it !
https://github.com/openai/codex/commit/b6f81257f865a5edae36fa019bfd874c9c9f24a9
this commit finally implemented it:)
Thanks for taking a look at it! While I appreciate even imperfect Vim keybindings, I would highly recommend considering headless neovim instead of rolling your own keybindings. For instance, Claude Code's Vim mode rolled their own support, and there are many features that are subtly broken. Using headless neovim would guarantee that codex's implementation is perfect.
It does introduce the slight complication of requiring an external run-time dependency, but I still think it's worth considering as an option.
absolute beast feature. love it