From Neovim back to VS Code, it probably wasn't worth it.

After investing a lot of time into a Neovim configuration that worked for me, and reaching a state where I no longer felt the need to try every new plugin I saw—I decided to switch back a state where I didn't feel the need to try any new plugin I would see I decided to switch back to VS Code using the Vim plugin.

I am aware of alternatives like VS Code Neovim but I made the Vim plugin work well enough to match my previous Neovim setup.

VS Code meme

What bothered me with Neovim

Maintenance, it felt like driving a high-mileage car where you're the DIY mechanic. This gives you the power to understand how to change anything and sometimes it all clicked and worked great, but then a plugin, LSP or Neovim update would break things again.

Maintaining LSPs is a lot of work, especially across multiple languages, so I wanted to get rid of that and have more time to actually code. One of the core LSP plugins my configuration relied on stopped being maintained. That was the last straw, along with a frustrating issue where register content would randomly overwrite the top of the file I was editing. I also had past issues with LSPs and got tired of resolving them.

What I miss about Neovim

  • Being in the terminal all the time with tmux and super-convenient project switching.
  • Full keyboard control in VS Code (still fine-tuning, but the Vim plugin imported my Neovim tweaks easily).
  • Far more power over the editor and its configuration.

Why not WebStorm

I considered it since I used WebStorm in the past. Some things like Svelte LSP or Git integration might be better, and the pricing seems reasonable. But I'd hate to use multiple IDEs for different languages, and paying for the full JetBrains suite feels excessive when I'd mostly use WebStorm.

If I worked 100% of the time with TypeScript, I would give it a go, and I still might in the future (same with different Vim plugins).

Why not Cursor

If I could make Cursor work stably with all my VS Code configuration and Vim keybindings, it could be a solid choice, although I still feel like AI autocomplete, in its current state, is not the best for me.

What is better in VS Code

  • I don't need to care about LSP, that's the main thing.
  • I also like being out of the terminal in a more modern UX where drag and drop in file manager, image preview etc. works out of the box.
  • File and folder related refactoring is better, e.g. moving files around and auto updating imports.
  • If I use VS Code integrated terminal I don't need to maintain iTerm configuration and it works quite nicely with tmux individual sessions per project.
  • I don't need to switch from Neovim to VS Code for debugging. I gave up on maintaining debugger configuration in Neovim for several languages.
  • Transition to another modern IDE may be easier, e.g. Xcode. I don't want to be stuck in a terminal without a mouse forever when building UIs.

Future plans

As of 2026, I'm still using VS Code and rarely touch my configuration, though there's always room for improvement. I may give Cursor another shot soon. Otherwise, I'll keep improving my VS Code workflow toward a fully keyboard-controlled experience, but I also don't fear the mouse anymore.

I don't regret trying out Neovim as I learned a lot—not only about Vim but also how IDEs work—some of which I brought back to VS Code. I'm now more comfortable contributing to Vim plugins.

Bright Future Meme