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Make Vim Your Go-To Git Commit Editor

· 2 min read
Arunesh
Arunesh
GDG Event Organizer

When you run git commit, Git opens a text editor. By default, that editor is often nano. Nano is actually pretty simple to use.

git commit with nano
user@userver:~/linux$ git add new
user@userver:~/linux$ git status
On branch master

No commits yet

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
	new file:   new
info

Just press Ctrl + X to exit, then hit Y to save your changes and you are out of the nano editor!

But I am guessing you are curious about Vim. It is a powerful text editor that many developers love especially for how fast and efficient it can be once you get the hang of it.

In this post, I will show you how to:

  • Set Vim as your default Git editor

  • Understand why Vim can be a better choice for some workflows

  • Learn a few quick tips to make editing Git messages in Vim easier

Let’s dive in and make your Git experience a little smoother!

Set Vim as the Default Editor in Git​

git config --global core.editor "vim"

That’s it! This tells Git to open Vim any time it needs you to type something in an editor (e.g., a commit message).