Having only dabbled in Lisp and knowing nothing about the plugins TFA mentions, there's also this FWIW:
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In Lisp in Vim (2019)jpalardy
vim-slime
Vim Script2012–2026
jpalardy / vim-slime
vim-slime
A vim plugin to give you some slime. (Emacs)
27Distinct people
31Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
2.1KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A vim plugin to give you some slime. (Emacs)
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
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Mentions over time
HN mentions by year31 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2012-03-26 13:09:11 UTC to 2026-05-24 10:50:28 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
vim-slime
Demo
What is vim-slime?
What is SLIME?
SLIME is an Emacs plugin to turn Emacs into a Lisp IDE. You can type text
in a file, send it to a live REPL, and avoid having to reload all your code
every time you make a change.
So, what is vim-slime?
vim-slime is a humble attempt at getting _some_ of the SLIME features into Vim.
It works with any REPL and isn't tied to Lisp.
Grab some text and send it to a target:
The target contains a REPL, maybe Clojure, R or python. If you can type text into it, vim-slime can send text to it.
Why do this? Because you want the benefits of a REPL (instant feedback, no need to reload ...) and the benefits of using Vim (familiar environment, syntax highlighting, persistence ...).
More details in the blog post.
Targets
Configure vim-slime for your desired target:
" for all buffers
let g:slime_target = "tmux"
" and/or as a buffer-level override
let b:slime_target = "wezterm"
" if not explicitly configured, it defaults to `screen`
Many targets are supported, check their documentation for details:
conemu
dtach
kitty
neovim
screen — default
tmux
vimterminal
wezterm
whimrepl
x11
zellij
Installation
Use your favorite package manager, or use Vim's built-in package support (since Vim 7.4.1528):
mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/plugins/start
git clone https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime.git
You can try vim-slime in Docker before committing to anything else.
Usage
Put your cursor over the text you want to send and type:
ctrl-c ctrl-c --- the same as slime
(You can just hold ctrl and double-tap c.)
The current paragraph — what would be selected if you typed vip — is automatically selected.
To control exactly what is sent, you can manually select text before calling vim-slime.
Vim Style Mappings
To send text using vim-style mappings, such as slime operator+motion or slime operator+text object see the appropriate section of the advanced configuration documentation.
Config prompt
vim-slime needs to know where to send your text, it will prompt you.
It will remember your answers and won't prompt you again.
If you want to reconfigure, type:
ctrl-c v --- mnemonic: "variables"
or call:
:SlimeConfig
Language Support
vim-slime might have to modify its behavior according to the language or REPL
you want to use.
Many languages are supported without modifications, while others
might tweak the text without explicit configuration:
coffee-script
elm
fsharp
haskell / lhaskell -- README
matlab
ocaml
python / ipython -- README
scala / ammonite -- README
sml
stata
Advanced Configuration
If plain vim-slime isn't doing exactly what you want, have a look
at advanced configuration.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
31 sourcesFor vim users, there's vim-slime:
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
I don't know if it's as powerful as the real thing, but it allows you to "send" your current vim line or paragraph to a tmux instance running a lisp interpreter, essentially. Very useful.
In Getting Started in Common Lispvim-slime is another variant, easing pasting across a screen multiplexor. It works well with IPython.
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In We Lost Something: 1970s REPLs Were Better Than Modern Development EnvironmentsGreat question - it's shocking easy to learn. Just three steps 1. Install (via vim-plug, lazy.nvim, or whatever vim plugin manager you're using), 2. configure it. Depending on your terminal the instructions are a little different, but it should only take a few moments due to the brilliant instructions found here: https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime/tree/main?tab=readme-o... I use kitty so I add two lines to kitty.conf and it's all ready to go. But it will depend on your terminal/terminal emulator. The instructions in the readme should have you covered.
Then 3. use it. This is shockingly easy, open two panes in your terminal with neovim on one side and REPL/interpreter on the other. For example I have neovim with my ruby file on the left pane and a rails console on the right (but on the right could be SBCL, python interpreter, or any oth
Read the rest
er interpreter). In neovim, move the cursor to the line you want to run and press ctrl + c twice in quick succession. It will 'send' that line to the interpreter on the right pane and run that line!
Note: The first time you do this you may be asked which pane vim-slime should 'send' the code to, with the numbers displayed over the panes. For example in kitty I'm usually sending to pane 2, so I press: 2 enter enter. If it was pane 5, I'd press 5 enter enter etc.
If the line of code is immediately proceeded by another line(s) it will run that/those as well (for example, a multi-line Active Record query). It will do the same if there's one or more lines immediately above the current line. This takes a tiny bit of getting used to as you may unintentionally run lines immediately above/below the line for a short while.
That's all there is to it!
A few tips
- As explained above, ctrl + c ctrl + c will run the line under the cursor. But you can also select and run any code you want by selecting it with vim's visual mode and ctrl + c ctrl + c to run that selected code. For example, if you want to run part of a line, select it in visual mode and ctrl + c ctrl + c and it will run! Same for say a few hundred lines of code: select it all in visual mode (e.g. v ctrl + f ctrl + f then j or k to get to the exact line), then ctrl + c ctrl + c will run everything you selected.
- Rails specific: The rails console has a pager set to 'on' by default (this would necessitate back and forth between panes in order to press 'q' to quit out of the pager). So I turn it off by adding one line (IRB.conf[:USE_PAGER] = false) to ~/.vimrc or just .vimrc in the project directory.
Let me know if you have any questions/troubles.
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
you can have a REPL in nvim/vim/tmux/screen/another terminal/or any other window , and send regions from your vim buffer to that repl
In Racket LanguageFor vim users, check out vim-slime[1]. It's really changed my workflow! It can work for any language that uses a REPL, including bash/shell. Combined with tmux, it is an amazing and (in hindsight) obvious tool. I honestly can't imagine myself going back to not having it now.
[1]: https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In Livebook: Elixir's Swiss Army Knifehttps://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime is a terrible SLIME to be honest! Wait! It is not even a SLIME. It just copies text from one text buffer and pastes it to another Vim buffer which is probably running a REPL. "Probably" because who knows what the target buffer is running. vim-slime does not care. This is not Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for $EDITOR (SLIME) in any way.
vim-slime does not connect to any Swank server. It does not understanding Lisp s-expressions. It would happily copies any random text into any random REPL and call it job done! Lisp interaction mode is much much more than just copying and pasting text around. A superior lisp interaction mode gives you live debugging, handling conditions, inspecting variables, navigating the stack frames, ... Vim-slime cannot do anything like this because, well, it is not SLIME! It just
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copy-pastes stuff around. Vim-slime is a disingenious and misleading name for a project that is not SLIME.
If you really want to use Vim, do yourself a favor and use https://github.com/kovisoft/slimv and experience a true Lisp interaction mode. It contains an actual Swank server and an actual Swank client that connects to the Swank server to provide an actual Lisp interaction mode in Vim just like SLIME does in Emacs!
Boiling down some of his points on the problems with common lisp that made him switch away from it:
1. Editor support. The original poster bemoans that the only fully supported editor is emacs and that there is not sufficient support for neovim. I have used emacs and slime, but I had to stop because of the ulnar tunnel syndrome it was causing. But I knew vim before I learned emacs and I am a neovimmer myself. I have used jpalardy's plugin[1] for many years and couldn't be happier with it. There's a visible repl built in, so by definition it's fully featured. The reason emacs is the only editor for lispers is that it tries to be the whole operating system. It turns out using a terminal multiplexer along with an editor gives you everything you need. I like GNU screen on Linux and ConEmu on windows.
2. Community. The original poster speaks o
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f toxicity and a community full of people who are not welcoming to newcomers who ask simple questions. I'm just barely starting my Common Lisp journey so I can't speak to that. But I don't know if I'm discouraged by a community that values members who are capable of doing their own research and not needing their hands held. I'm often surprised by developers who need YouTube videos to explain to them how to do their job as if they can't read their own code. Maybe that's why the documentation is so poor in the Common Lisp community: the expectation is that you can read their code and figure out what it does. The original poster says that the community is full of people who do not wish to work with others. That makes me feel like if I write in this language I'll be able to be productive even if no one else wants to work with me. I'm not hugely popular and don't have a ton of stars on my GitHub pages, so the idea of a language that allows me to be productive even if no one else wants to help sounds pretty good to me.
3. Packaging. The original poster speaks against packagers who take responsibility for the cleanliness of code before it gets packaged up for the quicklisp dist. He complains that packages are released on a monthly basis and that this is not fast enough for him. As a DevOps engineer, I think this is fantastic. I hate it when developers release code too frequently because the new releases often break things even when they are not intended to, and reacting to those changes takes time. A little bit of time before each release is easier on your consumers. I feel like the best sweet spot is 90 days. I'm getting killed at work right now because of the breakneck speed of helm chart packages and how fast they release completely breaking changes. I also consider that the absolute best packaging community on this planet is Fedora and Debian operating system packages. The idea of having a separate packager from the actual software making sure that the software lands well and plays nice with its neighbors is a huge feature of those communities. Those operating systems wouldn't be possible without them. The original poster also complains that there is not any versioning. If this is the case it is very sad to me and I hope that somebody can refute this claim.
1: https://GitHub.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
With this:
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
It doesn't do everything, it doesn't do it as elegantly, but it works
In Common Lisp vs RacketI am very loyal to ConEmu. They were here long before Windows Terminal showed up and they are still the best one. Easy to set up color schemes, support for all the different types of terminals. I also love that "like slime for vim"[1] supports them. I doubt I'll ever switch.
1: https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In ConEmu – Handy Windows TerminalI learned about https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime by digging after reading this article awhile back.
It's wonderful for more than lisp. Bash, Python, etc. Vsplit your screen/tmux session and use it to send content into whatever interpreter you like. Great for fiddling and then having the final result already in your text editor.
In Lisp in Vim (2019)Not OP, but I like to avoid Jupyter where I can too. I like using a REPL though.
For very interactive, experimental work I like having code in one pane and a REPL in another separate one - so that you can highlight and send snippets of a file to the REPL with a keystroke or two, and the code and results aren't mixed together.
RStudio or Vim Slime[1] would be my favourite examples of this kind of approach.
For more "static" literate programming, I prefer the way RMarkdown and Sweave work to Jupyter Notebooks (though I don't even use R anymore). Both have their strengths and weaknesses of course.
[1] https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In Evcxr: A Rust REPL and Jupyter KernelI should have read more comments before posting, but it seems I reinvented an inferior wheel:
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In On Repl-Driven ProgrammingFor those of us that don't use Lisp (or Emacs+SLIME), and are stuck with Python/Julia/Lua/etc and Vim may I give a practical recommendation? The Vim-Slime plugin [1] is a half-decent way of making interactive development work. With a bit of tuning you can make it start a terminal emulator window inside Vim, and have it send the current paragraph of your source code into it with a press of a button.
While not as great as working with a proper Repl-oriented language (as the article explains), this is still so much more pleasant than having to re-run the whole program every time you change a function.
[1] https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
In On Repl-Driven ProgrammingIf you're set on using vim slime is great. Basically you bring up the REPL in another tmux or screen split then you can just pipe your forms to it.
https://github.com/jpalardy/vim-slime
Here's a few previews for fun books I enjoyed, land of lisp and realm of racket by conrad barski
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Realm_of_Racket.html?id=...
https://books.google.ca/books?id=9apQfCRhvm0C&printsec=front...
In Ask HN: I want to start learning Lisp. Where do I begin?Showing the 15 most recent of 31 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.