vim-airline
A lightweight status and tab line for Vim that shows mode, file, and position info.
- Stars
- 18k
- Forks
- 1.1k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Vim Script
- Last update
- 22 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
vim-airline is a plugin for the Vim text editor that adds a status line at the bottom of each window and a tab line at the top. The status line shows information such as the current mode, file name, file type, encoding, and cursor position, and can also show version control details. People use it to see more context at a glance while editing, and it is designed to stay small and fast to load.
- See the current Git branch and hunk summary in the status line while editing a project
- Display all open buffers in the tab line when only one Vim tab is open
- Show warnings or errors from other plugins such as syntastic in a second status line
- Customize the status line sections using standard Vim statusline syntax
Great for
- Vim users who want a clearer status bar without heavy configuration
- People who use plugins like fugitive, ctrlp, or tagbar and want them integrated into the status line
- Users who want to switch between open buffers using the tab line
- Anyone who wants to customize which sections appear in the bar
Not ideal for
- People who do not use Vim or Neovim, since it is a Vim plugin
- Users who want a fully styled IDE-like interface out of the box, since the README describes it as lean with mostly defaults that you configure
- Users on very old Vim versions, since the README lists 7.2 as the minimum supported version and newer features may need more recent versions
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Vim (README states minimum 7.2)
Vundle install (add to vimrc)
Plugin 'vim-airline/vim-airline'Plug install (add to vimrc)
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'Pathogen clone
git clone https://github.com/vim-airline/vim-airline ~/.vim/bundle/vim-airline - 2
Run it
- Install the plugin with one of the plugin managers listed in the README
- Restart Vim or run your plugin manager's install command
- Open a file in Vim and look for the status line at the bottom of the window
- Optionally add let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1 to your vimrc to enable the tab line
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Enable the tab line extension with let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1 to see buffers at the top
- Choose a tab path formatter such as unique_tail using the formatter setting in the README
- Install vim-airline-themes to use color themes that match your color scheme
- Use the integrations with plugins like ctrlp, tagbar, or vim-gitgutter to show more information in the status line
- Customize sections using standard statusline syntax if the defaults do not suit you
Downloads
Strengths
- Designed to be lightweight, and the README says it loads in under a millisecond
- Integrates with many popular Vim plugins and loads those integrations only when those plugins are installed
- Works with a wide range of plugin managers, including Vundle, Plug, and the native pack feature
Trade-offs
- Themes are now in a separate repository, so you must install vim-airline-themes separately if you want them
- Some display features depend on fonts or symbols, and the README notes that powerline symbols are optional configuration
- Configuration is done by editing your vimrc, which may take effort for beginners
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vim-airline (this) | 18k | App | beginner | 22 days ago | Vim users who want a clearer status bar without heavy configuration |
| coc.nvim | 25.1k | App | intermediate | 11 days ago | Vim or Neovim users who want autocompletion and language features similar to VS Code |
| Vim | 15.2k | App | beginner | 6 days ago | Developers who already know Vim and want its keybindings in VS Code |
| ideavim | 10.3k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who already know Vim and want its keys inside a JetBrains IDE |
| fzf | 83.9k | Dev tool | beginner | 8 days ago | Command-line users who often search file names or command history |
| claude-hud | 29.1k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who use Claude Code daily and want to see context usage at a glance |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.