Edit Popup

Open your actual Neovim installation in a popup terminal. Your full config, plugins, and keybindings are available.

Edit popup opening Neovim

How it works

Edit Popup opens a real Neovim instance in a terminal window. Unlike In-Place Mode which simulates Vim commands, Edit Popup gives you the full power of Neovim - your complete ~/.config/nvim configuration, all installed plugins, custom keybindings, macros, and everything else.

Workflow

  1. Assign a shortcut to "Toggle Edit Popup" in Settings
  2. Select text in any application (optional - captures existing text)
  3. Press your shortcut to open Neovim in a popup terminal
  4. Edit with your full Neovim setup
  5. Type :wq to save and paste back, or close the window to cancel

Supported terminals

Edit Popup works with these terminal emulators:

  • Alacritty (recommended)
  • Kitty
  • WezTerm
  • iTerm2
  • Terminal.app

When to use Edit Popup vs In-Place Mode

FeatureIn-Place ModeEdit Popup
Vim supportBasic motions and operatorsFull Neovim with all plugins
SpeedInstant~500ms (terminal startup)
ConfigIn-app settingsYour ~/.config/nvim
Best forQuick edits, navigationComplex edits, regex, macros

Custom launcher scripts

You can customize how ovim spawns editors using launcher scripts. Open the editor in tmux popups, split panes, or send text to an existing Neovim instance.

Enable "Use custom launcher script" in settings, then edit the script:

# ~/.config/ovim/terminal-launcher.sh
# Example: Open in tmux popup
if command -v tmux &>/dev/null && tmux list-sessions &>/dev/null 2>&1; then
    osascript -e 'tell application "Alacritty" to activate'
    ovim launcher-handled --session "$OVIM_SESSION_ID"
    tmux popup -E -w 80% -h 80% "$OVIM_EDITOR --listen $OVIM_SOCKET $OVIM_FILE"
fi

ovim launcher-fallthrough --session "$OVIM_SESSION_ID"