Vim Tutor: VimNinja in your AI assistant
Vim Tutor is VimNinja's app for ChatGPT and other AI assistants. Ask a Vim question, or paste a few lines and ask which keys would change them, and the assistant runs the keys in VimNinja's Vim engine. You see your text before and after, then press the keys yourself in an editor right in the chat, checked as you go. It's free and needs no account.
Try it here first
This is what the app's "Try it yourself" opens. The assistant said ci" changes the text inside the quotes. Press it, type good morning, then Esc.
What it does
- Try Vim keys on text: runs the keys an assistant suggests on the text you shared and shows the result before you touch your file. Then you can press them yourself.
- Vim how-to: the answer to common tasks (exit Vim, find and replace, delete lines, record a macro) with its keys and a short exercise, or a round of pressing the keys from memory where an editor can't run them (quitting, windows).
- Practise a Vim exercise: five short exercises on a group of commands, such as w b e, f and t, or the dot command.
- Today's Vim golf hole: turn one text into another in as few keys as you can. It never gives away a solution.
- Vim command lookup: the keys for a task, with a one-line description of each.
Every answer also comes as plain text, so it works where an assistant can't show the editor, and links to the matching page here.
Add it to your assistant
- ChatGPT: search the app directory for "Vim Tutor" (it's on its way there). Until it's listed, with developer mode on (Settings, Apps, Advanced), add a custom MCP server with the address
https://www.vimninja.com/mcp/chatgptand no authentication. - Claude: in Settings, Connectors, add a custom connector with the address
https://www.vimninja.com/mcp/claude. A listing in Claude's directory is coming. - Other MCP clients (Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code and others): add a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP, no authentication) at
https://www.vimninja.com/mcp.
Then ask, for example: "What do the vim keys dt( do to this line: print(total)", "Give me exercises for w, b and e in vim", or "What's today's vim golf?". In ChatGPT you can pick Vim Tutor in the composer to make sure it's used.
What it can't do
The engine covers Vim's Normal, Insert, Visual and command-line modes, text objects, registers and macros, plus the surround and commentary plugins. It doesn't run windows, tabs, buffers, folds, your vimrc or other plugins, and says so instead of guessing. It shows what keys do to text; it never edits your files.
If something doesn't work
- The editor doesn't take keys: click inside it first. Keys go to the chat until the editor has focus.
- Esc stops the reply instead: in some windows the assistant keeps Esc for itself. Ctrl-[ does the same in Vim, or use the Esc key on the keypad.
- On a phone: no keyboard opens inside the app. Open the editor full screen and use its keypad; in Insert mode a word tile types the text.
- The card looks out of date: assistants keep a copy of the app. Refresh the app in your assistant's settings, then start a new chat.
Your data
The app needs no account and stores nothing you paste: text sent to "Try Vim keys on text" is used for that one answer and discarded. We record one line per tool call (which tool, which item, which assistant) to count use and fix errors. The details are in the privacy policy, and the app is covered by our terms. Vim Tutor isn't made or endorsed by OpenAI, Anthropic or any other assistant provider.
Support
Write to support@vimninja.com, or use the feedback form. Tell us which assistant you used and what you asked; a screenshot helps.