Vim Motions with Zed: 2-Week Starter Plan

This plan helps students build core Vim motions in a low-friction GUI environment before moving to terminal Neovim.

Setup

  1. Ask students to install Zed from the official download page: https://zed.dev/download.
  2. In Zed, enable Vim mode:
    1. Open command palette (cmd-shift-p on macOS, ctrl-shift-p on Windows/Linux).
    2. Search vim mode and enable it.
  3. Keep lessons short and repeat daily.

Learning Goals

By the end of two weeks, students should be able to:

  • move quickly with hjkl, w, b, e, 0, $, gg, G
  • edit confidently with x, dd, yy, p, u, ctrl-r
  • use operator + motion combinations (d2w, c$, yap)
  • navigate and search with /, n, N

Week 1: Movement and Basic Editing

Day 1

  • modes: normal vs insert (i, a, esc)
  • movement: hjkl
  • mini drill (5 min): move cursor only, no mouse

Day 2

  • word motions: w, b, e
  • line anchors: 0, $
  • drill: reach highlighted targets in as few keystrokes as possible

Day 3

  • delete and undo: x, dd, u, ctrl-r
  • drill: clean a noisy paragraph without mouse use

Day 4

  • copy/paste: yy, p
  • counts: 3w, 2dd, 5j
  • drill: duplicate and rearrange short code blocks

Day 5

  • search: /pattern, n, N
  • week check: 10-minute editing challenge in pairs

Week 2: Composable Editing

Day 6

  • operator + motion concept: d, c, y + motion
  • examples: dw, d$, cw

Day 7

  • text objects (starter): iw, aw, ip, ap
  • examples: diw, ciw, yap

Day 8

  • navigation scale-up: gg, G
  • drill: move through a longer file with no scrolling bar

Day 9

  • practical refactor drill:
    • rename repeated terms
    • reorder lines
    • delete filler text

Day 10

  • capstone: 15-minute “mouse-free edit” task
  • reflection: what still feels slow, what now feels automatic

Classroom Routine (5-10 minutes each class)

  1. One new motion rule.
  2. One short live demo.
  3. One timed drill.
  4. One debrief prompt: “Which keystroke saved you the most time today?”

Suggested Bridge to Neovim

After two weeks, invite interested students to repeat the same drills in Neovim. Keep tasks identical so they transfer motor memory rather than relearn workflows.