Echo-Long/PinyinVim

A floating Vim editor for writing in Chinese.

English · 简体中文

Write in a focused floating window, edit with real Neovim, then return your text to the application you were using. PinyinVim combines familiar Vim editing with local Chinese navigation, a frosted-glass interface, and customizable themes.

Download the latest release · Quick start · Watch the demo

Actual application screenshot with a custom background image.

Released for Windows x64. The application interface is in Simplified Chinese. The product version is defined in package.json.

Demo · Quick start · Chinese navigation · Vim basics · Appearance · Notifications · Compatibility

• Real Vim editing. Normal, Insert and Visual modes, operators, registers, macros, undo and repeat are handled by Neovim.
• Chinese and English navigation. Character searches still match literal letters; lowercase letters additionally match Chinese pinyin initials. Chinese word navigation extends familiar motions and text objects.
• A draft close at hand. Open the editor with a global shortcut, hide it when you are done, and resume your automatically saved draft later.
• A customizable interface. Ten color themes, light or dark mode, background images, adjustable blur, and separate transparency for the window background and capsule panels.
• Mode-aware input methods. Remember the input-method state used in Insert, use English in Normal and Visual, and restore the previous state on returning to Insert. This policy can be disabled.
• Copy or return your text. Attempt one paste into a confirmed original input field, or keep the text in the clipboard for manual pasting. Copy notifications can be turned on or off.

Chinese navigation is processed locally. PinyinVim does not call AI services or upload your draft while you edit.

Play the full demonstration here (1 min 37.5 s):

Download the demo as an MP4

The recording demonstrates character navigation in mixed Chinese and English text, Vim editing and undo, themes, background images, appearance settings, and submitting text back to Notepad. All images and recordings show the real application with the recording user's settings.

Download the Windows x64 portable archive from the latest release. Extract the entire folder into a writable location, then open PinyinVim.exe. Neovim, Neovide, dictionaries and a fallback font are bundled; Node.js, Python and a separate Vim installation are not needed to run it.

System requirements include .NET Framework 4.8, Microsoft Visual C++ v14 x64 runtime and a working graphics driver. If startup reports a missing VCRUNTIME140.dll, see the portable guide and Microsoft's official runtime download. Source code is available in this repository; see build and test.

1. Place the caret in the application where you want to write, then press Ctrl+Shift+X.
2. Press i to enter Insert mode and write. Press Esc to return to Normal mode, where you can navigate and edit with Vim commands.
3. Press Ctrl+Enter to submit. In compatible input fields, PinyinVim attempts to paste back once. In clipboard-only cases, return to the desired field and press Ctrl+V yourself.

To keep writing later, press Esc in Normal mode to hide the window. Use F2 for settings; changes are saved and applied automatically.

Submission starts when you press Ctrl+Enter and hides the editor immediately. Holding the keys down still submits only once.

Application shortcuts can be changed in settings and take precedence over their original Vim bindings in the modes where they apply. Closing the window, Alt+F4 and minimizing also hide it. Use Exit in the system tray menu to quit the application.

Enable Pinyin initial navigation (拼音首字母定位) and Chinese word navigation (中文分词导览) under F2 → 编辑与草稿. The two switches are independent.

Paste this line into a draft, press Esc to enter Normal mode, then try the commands below. Each command starts with 0 to return to the beginning of the line.

0 is Vim's “first character of the current line” motion, including any leading spaces. For example, 0fr means press 0, then f, then r; 02fm means return to the line start, then find the second m match with 2fm.

今天 review 中文，明天 merge 项目。

The search is confined to the current line. Lowercase Latin targets match both literal letters and Chinese pinyin initials; uppercase targets retain literal matching. After a search, ; repeats in the same direction and , repeats in the opposite direction.

For instance, move onto 项目 in the example and type ciw to replace that word. Chinese boundaries come from the included local dictionary; punctuation forms a separate boundary. Turning the two Chinese switches off returns the corresponding motions to native behavior.

The document, undo and command model remain Neovim's existing implementation. English-only regression tests compare supported motions and operators against native Neovim.

If you are new to Vim, start with this small set. Type Normal-mode commands after pressing Esc.

Use Ctrl+C for the Windows clipboard; yy and p use Vim registers. App shortcuts override their original Vim bindings only in the modes where they apply.

Open F2 → 外观. Changes apply immediately and are saved automatically.

Rose theme and custom background image, captured from the demo.

See the appearance settings screenshot for the controls below. Screenshots show custom settings; the default values are listed after the table.

For a first glass setup, try the defaults: Mist Blue, glass enabled, background transparency 50%, capsule transparency 20%, and blur 5 px. For a background image, lower background transparency if the picture is too faint. Lower capsule transparency if you want more solid panels behind the text; text opacity is kept separate. 恢复默认外观 resets appearance settings.

Move the window by dragging an empty area of its outer shell; resize it from the edges or corners.

Under F2 → 编辑与草稿, turn System notifications (系统通知) on or off. It is off by default, takes effect immediately and is remembered after restarting. An existing saved choice is preserved when upgrading.

When on, successful copies and non-empty submissions request a system notification showing the result; startup status may also notify you. When off, these system notifications are suppressed. Clipboard copying, paste attempts and automatic draft saving still work, and in-editor feedback remains visible.

Windows notification settings may also prevent notifications from appearing.

We have tested PinyinVim across many Windows applications. Open it from the field where you want to write, then submit your draft. When the original field can be identified and verified, the app restores focus and sends one paste attempt. The submit button's hover text indicates whether the current route is paste-back or clipboard-only.

Automatic paste-back is currently unavailable in these two known cases. Clipboard copying still works. Microsoft To Do's original-field focus problem has been fixed and confirmed in testing. Results can vary with application versions, privileges and input controls; if another field cannot be confirmed, the same clipboard fallback is used.

Every successful non-empty submission puts the text in the clipboard. If system notifications are enabled, the notification describes whether a paste was sent or manual pasting is needed. “Paste sent” confirms shortcut dispatch, not acceptance by the receiving application.

PinyinVim does not send Enter to the target application, automatically send chat messages, or retry pasting. Submitted text remains in the clipboard; restoring the previous clipboard contents is not implemented. See compatibility and known limitations.

Drafts and settings are stored in prototype-profile, created next to the application on first launch. Drafts are saved automatically while you edit. Hiding the editor preserves them; clear draft on exit applies only when you quit from the system tray. If disabled, quitting also preserves the draft. After a paste is sent successfully, the next invocation prepares a fresh draft; the previous submission is kept in prototype-profile/last-submitted.txt for recovery. Clipboard-only submissions and failures preserve the current draft.

Before upgrading, save any text you need, quit the old instance and use a separate folder for the new build. See the portable guide for migration details. Draft and settings files may contain personal information; keep them out of public commits and bug reports.

Input-field detection checks focus, control capabilities and window/process identity without reading the target application's text. Integration diagnostics record process names, control types and outcomes rather than draft contents.

Use Windows x64 with Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7, the .NET Framework compiler and MinGW-w64 gcc available on PATH. See the build guide for setup and runtime verification.

# Download and verify the pinned Neovim and Neovide runtimes.
.\native\setup-runtime.ps1

# Build the application, then run automated checks.
.\native\build.ps1
.\native\test.ps1

# Open an existing build.
.\native\start.ps1

If Node.js is installed, npm run build, npm test and npm start provide the corresponding commands. Ordinary builds use the included dictionaries and do not require installing npm dependencies. Node.js 20+ and npm ci are needed when regenerating dictionary data with npm run data:regenerate.

The build derives application metadata from package.json; pinned runtime versions and checksums are in native/runtime-assets.json. Automated checks cover native Vim equivalence, Chinese navigation, draft persistence, submission, focus policies and settings contracts. They do not replace desktop testing of real input methods, DPI scaling, graphics or receiving applications.

The roadmap prioritizes application compatibility, real input-method testing and multi-monitor DPI checks. Published downloads are available in Releases; the release workflow documents packaging, verification and publication.

See the changelog for version updates and third-party notices for component licenses and attribution.

Use the repository's Issues page to report bugs or request features. Include your product version, Windows version, the affected application/version, steps to reproduce, and what you expected versus what happened. Please omit private drafts, clipboard text and settings containing personal paths.

Contributions should preserve the existing Neovim/Neovide architecture and extend it through the current layers. Include reproduction steps and relevant checks for behavior changes; see the build guide and roadmap.

Project source is licensed under MIT. Third-party components, dictionaries, fonts and interface icons retain their own licenses; see third-party notices. Neovim and Neovide remain the editor and rendering foundations of this project.