Skink vs Helix

Ctrl+D for the next match, Alt+Shift+↓ for the line below.

Helix and Skink share a goal: a terminal editor where language servers and tree-sitter work on first start, with no plugin setup. The difference is the editing model. Helix is modal and selection-first; Skink is modeless with Micro / VS Code style keys.

Helix is the more mature project. Skink adds a terminal tab, git tooling and an AI agent client.

Who should pick Helix

You want modal editing. Helix’s “select first, then act” model (the Kakoune tradition) makes more sense to you than Vim’s.
You want maturity. Helix has a large user base and broad language configuration. Skink is alpha.
You need a language Skink does not cover. Helix supports many more languages out of the box. Skink has tree-sitter for 19 by default and starts servers for six.

Who should pick Skink

No modes. You want IDE features in the terminal without learning a modal model.
A real terminal inside the editor. Helix has no built-in terminal. Skink has terminal tabs, a bottom dock, history search and clickable file:line links.
Git in the editor. Hunks you can stage or revert, inline blame, a git panel, side-by-side diff and conflict resolution.
AI agents. You run Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex or others and want a prompt box with inline diff review and an agent panel.

Feature comparison

	Skink	Helix
Editing model	Modeless	Modal, selection-first
Mouse	On	On by default (`mouse = true`)
Multiple cursors	Yes (`Ctrl`+`D`, `Alt`+click)	Yes, central to the model
LSP	Built in	Built in
tree-sitter	Built in	Built in, many languages
Built-in terminal	Yes	No
Git	Gutter, hunks, blame, panel, diff	Gutter diff markers
AI agents	ACP client	No built-in agent client
Plugins	None yet	Not in mainline yet (a Scheme-based system is in development)
Debugger	Yes (DAP)	Experimental
Clipboard over SSH	OSC 52 by default	`clipboard-provider = "termcode"`
Works over plain SSH	Yes	Yes
Footprint	Small	Small (runtime folder with grammars and queries)
Maturity	Alpha	Mature

Neither has a plugin system you can use today. What ships is what you get, so the built-in feature list is the real comparison.

Helix keys and their Skink equivalents

What Helix does with a selection plus a verb, Skink does with familiar shortcuts:

Helix	Skink
`w`, `b` to select words	`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`→` / `←`
`x` select line	`Home`, then `Shift`+`↓`
`Alt-o` / `Alt-i` expand / shrink to syntax node	`Alt`+`O` / `Alt`+`I` (`:expand` / `:contract`)
`C` copy selection to next line	`Alt`+`Shift`+`↓` (`:cursorbelow`)
`*` then `n` for next match	`Ctrl`+`D` repeatedly
`d` / `y` / `p`	`Ctrl`+`X` / `Ctrl`+`C` / `Ctrl`+`V`
`Space f` file picker	`Alt`+`P` (or `:recent`)
`Space /` global search	`Alt`+`S`
`Space r` rename	`Alt`+`Shift`+`R`
`Space a` code action	`Alt`+`Enter` (`:fix`)
`gd`	`Alt`+`G` (`:def`)
`:w`, `:q`	`Ctrl`+`S`, `Ctrl`+`Q` (or `:w`, `:q`)

Commands like :w are typed after Ctrl+E, which opens the command line with the colon already shown. Every key also has a typed command (like :expand, :cursorbelow and :fix above), which helps when a terminal swallows an Alt chord. See typed commands.

Multi-file edits

Rename, code actions, project replace and structural replace (:srep) open a refactor preview in Skink. It lists files and hunks with checkboxes and a side-by-side diff, so you can uncheck the parts you do not want.

A note on design

Skink’s authors read Helix’s design, but no Helix code is used. Helix is MPL-2.0; Skink is MIT OR Apache-2.0 and only takes code from permissively licensed projects.

Both are written in Rust and use tree-sitter.

Try it

curl -fsSL https://skink.cc/install.sh | sh
skink .

Helix and Skink install side by side, and both use the language servers you already have on PATH.

Next: quick start, or compare with Neovim.