Stop trying to turn Vim into a bloated IDE. You’re missing the point.

As a programmer, I spend the better part of my life staring at a grid of
pixels. Over the decades—stretching back to the days of Turbo Pascal and
Borland C++—I’ve used every heavyweight tool in the book. I’ve been there
for the “Version 1.0” launches of Visual Studio, Eclipse, and IntelliJ.

But after years of chasing the “ultimate” setup, I’ve realized something: The
most productive screen real estate is the emptiest one.

The “IDE-fication” of Neovim

Lately, I’ve watched the Neovim ecosystem explode with plugins designed to
mimic the very IDEs many of us were trying to escape. We’re seeing:

• Intrusive autocompletion popups that break flow.
• File explorer sidebars that eat up horizontal space.
• LSP “noise” everywhere.
• Flashy icons and “eye candy” that add zero functional value.

My Philosophy: Vim + Tmux (And nothing else)

For me, the combination of Vim inside Tmux remains unbeatable and I don’t
want my editor to feel like a cockpit.

• No File Explorers: If I need to find a file, I use the terminal or quick
  jumps. I cannot stand the idea of a persistent tree view wasting space. Fuzzy
  Finder and NerdTree plugins are fine, i use them but no more than that.
• No UI Distractions: I’ve written my own plugins and customized my
  .vimrc extensively, but the goal is always to remove UI elements, not add
  them.
• Zero Popups: I want to see my code, and only my code.
• Keyboard-Centric: Every action is keyboard-driven. No mouse, no touchpad,
  no distractions.
• No LSP Noise: ctags, grep, and vim buildin commands are enough for me. I
  don’t need inline diagnostics or code actions popping up.
• Debugging: The terminal is my debugger. I run tests and inspect logs
  outside of Vim. The termdebug plugin is enough for my needs; do yourself
  a favor and learn how to use gdb from the command line and you will never
  look back to bloated IDE debuggers.

• codingismycraft/dotfiles

• codingismycraft/VimMyTools
• codingismycraft/VimStatusLine
• codingismycraft/VimCommentator

The Hot Take

Transforming Vim into a “lightweight IDE” misses the point of what makes Vim powerful in the first place.

But Vim stands apart for a reason. It’s not just a tool; it is the definition of the UNIX philosophy: lean, precise, does one thing and does it well.

The emptier my workspace, the easier it is to do what matters most: write code.