06-28-2026, 08:52 PM
Six months ago I made the switch. Here is an honest assessment without the hype.
What actually improved:
What is still annoying:
Would I go back? No. But I would not recommend it to someone who is not interested in spending time configuring their environment. It is a hobby as much as a tool.
Using LazyVim as a base if anyone wants to know the starting point.
What actually improved:
- Keyboard-only workflow is genuinely faster once muscle memory kicks in. I stopped reaching for the mouse in the editor entirely.
- Startup time is instant vs VS Code which takes 3-5 seconds on my machine.
- SSH editing is miles better - the whole editor is in the terminal, no remote extension jank.
- I understand my editor now. VS Code was a black box. Neovim config is just Lua I can read and modify.
What is still annoying:
- Plugin ecosystem is powerful but inconsistent. Two plugins solving the same problem will have completely different config styles.
- Debugging support still lags. DAP works but the ergonomics are rough compared to VS Code.
- Every 3 months something breaks because a plugin changed its API.
Would I go back? No. But I would not recommend it to someone who is not interested in spending time configuring their environment. It is a hobby as much as a tool.
Using LazyVim as a base if anyone wants to know the starting point.