MacVim is a macOS version of the Vim text editor, providing a graphical user interface for Vim, while tightly integrating with macOS and providing features specific to the platform.
- Smooth native GUI that supports menus, dialog boxes, toolbars, and scroll bars.
- Native and non-native full-screen modes.
- Trackpad gestures, Touch Bar, and Command key shortcuts can be mapped to Vim actions.
- Integrates with system services, dictionary lookup, and Apple Intelligence Writing Tools.
- Vim GUI tabs with customizable colors.
- Font ligatures and accurate text rendering.
See installation documentation for more details and alternative methods to install.
You can download the latest version of MacVim from the Releases page.
If you would like to install using a package manager, MacVim can be installed via Homebrew:
brew install macvim
MacVim is also available as a Homebrew cask. It will install the same pre-built binary as the one available from GitHub release:
brew install --cask macvim-app
After installation, MacVim can be launched using the Dock or in the terminal using the mvim command.
If you prefer to build MacVim from source, detailed instructions are provided in the Building MacVim guide.
MacVim is a downstream fork of Vim, and routinely merges from upstream. The original Vim README can be found at README_vim.md. Vim itself is also available for macOS, but it does not have a GUI.
In Homebrew, there are both a macvim and vim package. Both packages will provide a terminal version of Vim with similar features. The vim package is from the upstream Vim project and is usually a bit more up-to-date in core Vim features, while the macvim package will provide the additional GUI version bundled as an app.
MacVim is released under the Vim License.
If you encounter any issues or have questions, feel free to open an issue or visit the discussions page.