MacVim

About

MacVim is a macOS version of the Vim text editor that provides a graphical user interface for Vim while integrating closely with macOS. Its native GUI supports menus, dialog boxes, toolbars, and scroll bars, and it offers both native and non-native full-screen modes. Trackpad gestures, the Touch Bar, and Command key shortcuts can be mapped to Vim actions. MacVim also integrates with system services, dictionary lookup, and Apple Intelligence Writing Tools, and it includes Vim GUI tabs with customizable colors, font ligatures, and accurate text rendering.

MacVim can be downloaded from the Releases page on GitHub. It can also be installed with Homebrew using either the macvim formula or the macvim-app cask, which installs the same pre-built binary as the GitHub release. After installation, MacVim can be launched from the Dock or from the terminal with the mvim command. Detailed instructions are available for building MacVim from source.

MacVim is a downstream fork of Vim that routinely merges changes from upstream. Vim is also available for macOS, but without a GUI. Homebrew offers both a macvim package, which includes the GUI app, and a vim package from the upstream project, which provides a terminal version with similar core features. MacVim is released under the Vim License.