Helix’s modes

Helix has three modes you’ll live in:

• Normal mode — for navigation and editing commands. Helix starts here.
• Insert mode — for typing text. Very similar to the ‘default’ state of a modeless editor.
• Select mode — for extending selections as you move. We’ll meet it properly in a later lesson.

The editor always tells you which mode you’re in: look at the left end of the statusline at the bottom of the editor. Right now it reads NOR — normal mode. It flips to INS in insert mode and SEL in select mode.

Glancing at that indicator is a habit worth building early. Whenever Helix seems to be ignoring you (or doing something wild), the statusline tells you why.

That’s the whole map. Compared to some modal editors — Vim famously has 13 modes — Helix keeps the surface small, and you’ll use these three constantly.