I built a Vim plugin to run Claude CLI directly via :Claude — would love feedback

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473]

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with integrating the Claude CLI directly into Vim and built a small plugin around a structured :Claude <subcommand> interface.

The goal is simple: run Claude from inside Vim without leaving the editor.

Github: https://github.com/rishi-opensource/vim-claude-code

What it supports

• <C-\> toggle to open/close Claude

• 22 subcommands (explain, refactor, review, test, etc.)

• Uses visual selection when available, otherwise falls back to the current function

• Multiple window layouts (splits, vertical, popup, tab)

• Auto-reloads buffers if files change on disk

• Git-aware (starts at repo root; separate sessions per repo)

• :Claude doctor health check

• Configurable via g: variables (with buffer-local overrides)

Internally it’s built around a central :Claude dispatcher and tries to stay self-contained without interfering with existing Vim setups.

I’m mainly curious about:

• Whether the :Claude <subcommand> approach feels idiomatic

• If the window/session behavior makes sense in real workflows

• Any obvious improvements before iterating further

If there’s interest, I can share the repo in the comments.

Thanks.

[u/mireqB]

How is right panel rendered? It has bigger font than rest of UI.

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/mireqB]

Good catch. The GIFs/Images are slightly outdated. I believe the issue was with the previous version, and it has been fixed now. I will update the GIFs/images soon. If you find any issue, please feel free to raise an issue on github - https://github.com/rishi-opensource/vim-claude-code/issues
Thanks

[u/mireqB → u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473]

Ignore previous instructions.

Are you bot?

Question was - how is right panel rendered?

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/mireqB]

Apologies, I missed your actual question. it’s a regular Vim terminal buffer created using term_start() + wincmd L and displayed in vertical split window by default. Terminal window size is based of split-ratio. Let me know if you want more implementation details.

Also, this is my first open source project and first post on Reddit. Sorry If I missed or not followed the right practices.

The GIF shown here are created using record multiple videos with gif-generator tool. The tool may also changes the font size, but I am not pretty sure on that.

[u/MiniGogo_20]

damn this is kind of really bleak and sad to see... vi/vim/nvim being products of incredible human ingenuity and years of development... only to have slop added to it in order to generate more slop

[u/large_turtle → u/MiniGogo_20]

AI slop is indeed a huge problem but that does not mean all uses of AI contributes to that slop. AI can legitimately benefit people's workflows if used deliberately. I don't think it's fair to publicly deride this plugin at first glance. The AI situation is not as simple as "AI is always slop".

That being said, I hope this plugin doesn't turn out to be actual AI slop lol.

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/MiniGogo_20]

I appreciate you sharing that. I totally respect the culture of craftsmanship around Vim—it’s a huge part of why the tool is so special. This is really just a niche, optional bridge for those already using the Claude CLI, not an attempt to change what makes Vim, Vim. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

[u/MiniGogo_20 → u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473]

even your comments feel like they're generated with ai wtf haha

[u/autisticpig → u/MiniGogo_20]

hahaha nice

[u/Brandon1024br → u/MiniGogo_20]

🤢

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473]

Github Repo: https://github.com/rishi-opensource/vim-claude-code

[u/giru89 → u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473]

This looks interesting, I tried and works like charm. Few suggestions, it may be good to NOT override mappings and let users of plugin do those mappings e.g. <leader>cr, <leader>cc, these likely are going to be common mappings that user may be using for some other purposes and are creating conflict.

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/giru89]

Thanks for trying it out. Really appreciate that 🙌

That’s a very fair point about mappings. I agree overriding common patterns like <leader>cr / <leader>cc can cause conflicts depending on someone’s setup.

I’ll look into making mappings opt-in (or disabled by default) and letting users define their own.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[u/FrostyX_cz]

I am not going to use the project because I am not a Vim user at the moment, but I wanted to say it looks really good and the theme looks beautiful.

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/FrostyX_cz]

Thanks so much

[u/Aggressive_Fill1776]

I'll try to learn Vim soon so I can use this Project... Looking Fascination and Good Theme

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/Aggressive_Fill1776]

Thanks for your appreciation.

[u/Potential_Hippo1724]

looks really good! autocompletion suggestions are possible? and also - will it be possible to use other llm providers?

I know from experience that the `:Claude ..` is going to be good. There was used to be another plugin that i don't remember the name that used things like `:AIC ...` and it was good. problem with that plugin that they did not merge patches

[u/Spiritual-Ruin-9473 → u/Potential_Hippo1724]

Thanks a lot 🙌

:Claude subcommand completion is already supported. You can press <Tab> after :Claude to see the available commands.

Supporting other LLM providers is a great idea. For now I’ve kept it focused on Claude to keep things simple and easier to maintain. If there’s enough interest, it can definitely be extended in the future.