mnml
  1. mnml Docs
  2. Getting Started

Getting Started

Open a project, answer the first-launch questions once, and find everything else from the command palette.

This page assumes mnml is installed and mnml --version prints a version. To try mnml without it touching your own config first, see Try It First.

Opening a project

Run mnml in a project folder, or name one:

cd ~/src/my-project && mnml
mnml ~/src/my-project
mnml ~/src/my-project src/main.zig     # and open a file in it

The folder is the workspace: the file tree shows it, searches cover it, and mnml keeps its per-project state in a .mnml/ folder inside it.

When you quit (ctrl+q, or :q in the vim profile) mnml saves the session — the layout, the open files, the cursor positions — and puts it back the next time you open that workspace. --no-session starts clean.

The first launch

The first time mnml runs, it opens a short setup with eight sections:

Section What it asks
Nerd Font Do the icons show, or boxes? If boxes, space installs Symbols Nerd Font Mono for you.
Keyboard Checks that your terminal sends Option/Alt chords, and offers the fix it knows for your terminal.
Input style vim or standard.
Claude Code + Codex Whether they are installed; space runs their vendors' installers for whichever is missing.
AI billing preference Whether Claude and Codex requests use your subscription or an API key.
AI ghost-text Whether to show inline suggestions as you type.
VSCode code shim On macOS, links VS Code's code command if you have VS Code but not the command.
Integrations Jira and Bitbucket as checkboxes (none ticked), and a row for adding a private source.

Press Enter to save. Only the answers you changed are written, to your home config.zon, and ticked integrations are installed on the way out. Press Esc to skip; nothing is written, and the setup comes back next launch. first_launch.show opens it again whenever you like.

After that, mnml needs no configuration. Everything else has a default.

Vim or standard

mnml has two complete keymaps. standard (the default) is modeless, with VS Code's chords. vim has modes, motions, operators, the : line, and NvChad's leader menus under space. Change your mind any time in the settings overlay, for one launch with --input vim, or in config.zon:

.{ .editor = .{ .input_style = .vim } }

The Editor page compares the everyday chords, and the keymap profiles page lists all of them.

Finding things

Every action in mnml is a named command, and there are over a thousand. You do not need to learn many keys, because these four find the rest:

Keys (both profiles) Opens
ctrl+shift+p The command palette: any command by name, with its chord beside it — so it is also how you learn the keys.
ctrl+p A file by name.
ctrl+; A : command line, in either profile. Besides vim's own commands it runs any command by its id, as in :tab.close.
space (vim) / ctrl+k (standard) which-key: a menu of every leader chord, grouped.

Right-click almost anything — a file, a tab, a chip on the statusline — for a menu of what you can do with it. Each row prints its chord for your profile, so the menus teach the keys too; see Menus, Tabs and Fields.

The command palette
Every command has a palette row: the palette filters as you type, Ctrl+P finds a file, and the theme picker previews NvChad's themes live.

A tour in five commands

  • ctrl+shift+` opens a terminal beside your code. Or type :term.
  • space g s (ctrl+k g s in standard) opens git status.
  • space a c (ctrl+k a c) starts a Claude Code session in a split, if you have Claude Code installed. See AI Coding Sessions.
  • ctrl+shift+x opens the INTEGRATIONS section and its Marketplace.
  • ctrl+, opens the settings overlay: the everyday options, one row each, changed with the arrow keys and applied as you go. Enter keeps the changes; Esc puts everything back.

Where to next

Edit on GitHub