ctrlvim is a from-scratch Rust reimplementation of Neovim's editing engine with a Ratatui-powered terminal frontend. Same modes, same motions, zero C.
$ cargo run -p ctrlvim-tui
Compiling ctrlvim v0.1.0
Finished `release` profile [optimized] target(s)
Running `target/release/cvi`Every layer is Rust — from the rope data structure to the terminal renderer.
Rope-backed buffers with a unified mark tree, undo tree with branch traversal (g-/g+), and a register ring.
Normal, Insert, Visual, and Cmdline modes with full motions, operators, and text objects — just like Neovim.
mlua-based Lua 5.4 embedding with vim.api.*, vim.fn.*, vim.keymap, and vim.treesitter.
Tokio-backed event loop with timers and msgpack-RPC codec for plugin and UI communication.
Split frame tree with <C-w> commands. Horizontal and vertical splits, just as you'd expect.
Ratatui + crossterm dashboard, plugin manager, file browser, floating overlays, and mouse support.
Tree-walking interpreter supporting let, if, for, while, and function — the essentials.
Parse, query, and node-range extraction via the tree-sitter crate for syntax-aware editing.
13 crates, strict dependency direction, no global mutable state.
| crate | replaces (Neovim C) | what it does |
|---|---|---|
ctrlvim-types |
Object / typval, handles | Dynamic Object, arena handles, Position/Range, errors |
ctrlvim-text |
memline.c, mark.c, undo.c, register.c | Rope-backed Buffer, MarkStore, UndoTree, Registers |
ctrlvim-options |
option.c + options.lua | Three-tier (global/buffer/window) option overrides |
ctrlvim-editor |
normal.c, ops.c, textobject.c, edit.c, state.c | Motions, operators, Mode state machine, Session dispatch |
ctrlvim-vimscript |
eval.c + eval/*.c | Minimal Vimscript interpreter with builtins |
ctrlvim-treesitter |
lua/treesitter.c | Parse, query, node ranges via tree-sitter |
ctrlvim-api |
src/ctrlvim/api/*.c | ApiContext, #[ctrlvim_api] functions, autocmd store |
ctrlvim-lua |
executor.c + converter.c | mlua embedding, Object ↔ Lua converter, vim.* bridges |
ctrlvim-async |
event/*.c, msgpack_rpc/*.c | Tokio event loop, timers, msgpack-RPC codec |
ctrlvim-core |
startup wiring | Ctrlvim facade + demo binary |
ctrlvim-tui |
(the UI, split out) | Ratatui + crossterm frontend |
Editor with copy-able integer handles — a stale handle is a clean None.
Object::LuaRef resolved through the same registry.
#[ctrlvim_api] on a Rust fn emits both Lua and RPC dispatch — no C-text parser needed.
Requires Rust 1.80+. Clone, build, run.
$ git clone https://github.com/CtrlUserKnown/ctrlvim.git
$ cd ctrlvim$ cargo test --workspace$ cargo run -p ctrlvim-tuictrlvim is early-stage but functional. Contributions, issues, and feedback welcome.