Dev Rebuilds Vim in Rust from Scratch Using AI, Jumping to 95% Spec Compliance
1cedm4n · reddit · 2026-08-13
A developer shared a project named NextVim, rebuilding Vim in Rust and Zig from scratch using Zed + OpenAI. It utilizes Zed's rope/text core and includes a vim-script engine and vim-regex.
The author also highlighted two related attempts: DZed (bringing Zed to the terminal) and Textmate (a fast syntax highlighter). AI significantly accelerated these hobby projects; for instance, AI helped Textmate jump from 65% to 95% spec compliance, while NextVim was coded with AI from the very beginning. This showcases how AI empowers hobbyist coders to produce worthwhile, functional tools.
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