---
title: "[Cool Tool] Checking Out VsVim"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2011/12/14/cool-tool-checking-out-vsvim.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2011/12/14/cool-tool-checking-out-vsvim.html"
published: "2011-12-14T04:56:18"
updated: "2011-12-14T04:56:18"
tags: ["Cool Tools"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "I've been using VsVim in my latest TDD course. It's a simulator of Vim keybindings for visual studio. I've been using vim since january 2011, so almost a year now, and i've come to really like the power you get when…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# \[Cool Tool\] Checking Out VsVim

By Roy Osherove December 14, 2011 In [Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools)

**Historical article** · Originally published December 14, 2011; technical details may be outdated.

I've been [using VsVim](http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/59ca71b3-a4a3-46ca-8fe1-0e90e3f79329) in my latest TDD course. It's a simulator of Vim keybindings for visual studio. I've been using vim since january 2011, so almost a year now, and i've come to really like the power you get when editing code with it.

Unlike [ViEmu](http://www.viemu.com/), another vim emulator for visual studio.net, VsVim is 'soft' on overriding keybindings. So, because I also use reshaper, VsVim doesn't override any keybindings that are already taken by other visual studio addins.

That means that out of the box, vsvim "just works" and reshaper continues to "just work" without any fiddling needed. Very few of the bindings that I 'lost' to reshaper are ones that I actually like in reshaper (ctrl-d to duplicate in reshaper is also 'scroll down' in vim, but that's ok).

In short, VsVim is free, you can get it from the VS extension manager, and it 'just works' if you're a Vim fan.

Nice job! Also, kudos to Lars Magen Engedal from my TDD course in Stavanger, Norway, for letting me know about it.

## More in Cool Tools

[All posts in Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools)

- Jun 26, 2012

    ### [FakeItEasy or NSubstitute? Which should I use for samples in art of unit testing 2nd edition?](https://osherove.com/blog/2012/6/26/fakeiteasy-or-nsubstitute-which-should-i-use-for-samples-in.html)

- Jun 18, 2012

    ### [\[Cool Tool\] Chocolatey for windows is what you will not live without in two years](https://osherove.com/blog/2012/6/18/cool-tool-chocolatey-for-windows-is-what-you-will-not-live-w.html)

- Aug 2, 2010

    ### [Case Study: SmartInspect in the real world](https://osherove.com/blog/2010/8/2/case-study-smartinspect-in-the-real-world.html)

- Aug 2, 2010

    ### [Case Study: CryptoLicensing + CryptoObfuscator in the real world](https://osherove.com/blog/2010/8/2/case-study-cryptolicensing-cryptoobfuscator-in-the-real-worl.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/