feat(vim): optional vim-style modal editing in the compose entry

[sypianski]

Closes #535.

What this adds

An optional vim modal editing mode for the message compose entry, enabled by setting vim_mode=1 in ~/.config/nchat/ui.conf. Default is 0 — zero overhead, existing behaviour unchanged.

Commands (normal mode)

Group	Commands
Motions	h l 0 ^ $, w e b W E B, ( ) sentence, { } paragraph, j k, gg G, f F t T
Operators	d c y + any motion; dd cc yy (linewise); D C Y
Text objects	iw aw is as ip ap i" a" i' a' i\ a` i( a( i[ a[ i{ a{ i< a<`
Visual	v → character-wise selection; d c y x; visual text objects (viw, vi", vi( …)
Edit	x X s S o O p P r ~ J
Counts	3w, d3w, 2dd, …
Repeat	. repeats last mutating op (including text-object changes: ciw.)
Clipboard	p/P sync with system clipboard (X11/Wayland/macOS)

Mode is shown as a colored badge in the status bar and the cursor changes shape (bar in insert, block in normal). Badge colors configurable via color.conf (vim_normal_* / vim_insert_* / vim_visual_*).

Other additions in this branch

• Send on double-Enter — send_on_double_enter=1 in ui.conf (default 0): single Enter inserts newline, second consecutive Enter sends
• Per-protocol sidebar tints — muted color per protocol (Telegram/WhatsApp/Signal), configurable via color.conf, toggle with list_protocol_colors

Test plan

• vim_mode=0 (default): no behavioral change, no overhead
• vim_mode=1: ESC enters normal mode, i/a/A/I returns to insert
• Motions move cursor correctly in normal mode
• d/c/y + motion operates on correct range; register available via p
• Text objects: ciw, di", ya( operate correctly
• Visual mode: v starts selection, d/y/c acts on it; viw expands to word
• . repeats last change
• p pastes text copied from outside nchat (clipboard sync)
• Badge color updates on mode change; correct badge in status bar
• send_on_double_enter=1: double Enter sends, single Enter inserts newline

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[desgua]

@sypianski the last commit of your fork (ab87419) has a problem on the user interface:

• all the chats appears as if they were "unread",
• I loose the background of the status and the top bars,

And I have some warnings when compiling:
[ 89%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/nchat.dir/src/uiview.cpp.o
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp: In function ‘bool {anonymous}::VimQuoteObjectRange(const std::wstring&, int, wchar_t, bool, int&, int&)’:
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:313:9: warning: unused variable ‘n’ [-Wunused-variable]
313 | int n = (int)s.size();
| ^
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp: In member function ‘void UiModel::Impl::EntryKeyHandler(wint_t)’:
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:836:75: warning: comparison of integer expressions of different signedness: ‘__gnu_cxx::__alloc_traits<std::allocator<wchar_t>, wchar_t>::value_type’ {aka ‘wchar_t’} and ‘wint_t’ {aka ‘unsigned int’} [-Wsign-compare]
836 | if (sendOnDoubleEnter && (entryPos > 0) && (entryStr.at(entryPos - 1) == keyLF))
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp: In member function ‘void UiModel::Impl::VimRepeatLast(int)’:
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:1141:16: warning: switch missing default case [-Wswitch-default]
1141 | switch (lc.textObjKind)
| ^
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:1041:10: warning: switch missing default case [-Wswitch-default]
1041 | switch (lc.kind)
| ^
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp: In member function ‘void UiModel::Impl::VimNormalKey(wint_t)’:
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:1302:67: warning: narrowing conversion of ‘(around ? 97 : 105)’ from ‘wchar_t’ to ‘wint_t’ {aka ‘unsigned int’} [-Wnarrowing]
1302 | m_VimLast = VimLastChange{op, 1, 0, 0, 0, false, around ? L'a' : L'i', p_Key};
| ~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~
/home/desgua/Temp/nchat/src/uimodel.cpp:1387:14: warning: switch missing default case [-Wswitch-default]
1387 | switch (findKey) {
| ^
[ 90%] Linking CXX executable bin/nchat
[100%] Built target nchat
-- Ccache stats: 6 hits, 18 misses, 24 total.
[n] /.../nchat $ git log --oneline -n 5
ab87419 (HEAD -> vim_mode_3, sypianski/master, sypianski/HEAD) feat(vim): visual text-objects, c-repeat, clipboard sync
5c650dd feat(vim): r, text-objects, ;/, Y/J//V, and . repeat
9b32106 feat(vim): conventional mode badge colors (blue/green/yellow)
4f4d3d5 feat(vim): neutral INSERT badge (protocol color), red NORMAL, violet VISUAL
38a52be fix(vim): high-contrast mode badges over protocol-tinted status bar

[desgua]

I didn't bissect the issue yet, but the first commit 94d1775 doesn't have that problem.

[desgua]

Finished the bisect.

1377466 is the first bad commit
commit 1377466 (HEAD)
Author: Jakub sypianski@outlook.com
Date: Mon Jun 8 17:31:39 2026 +0200

feat(ui): protocol-color the chrome + interlocutor messages

Extend per-protocol coloring per user request:
- Chrome (top bar, status bar, help bar, list/message separator) is
  tinted by the ACTIVE chat's protocol color; redraws on chat switch
  (added UiView::SetTopDirty + dirty hooks).
- Message history: 1:1 received (interlocutor) name + text use the
  chat's protocol color; group chats keep per-sender colors; outgoing
  ("me") messages are neutral default fg (defaultSentColor no longer
  gray).
- Chat list: only the selected row shows the protocol color (reverse
  bar); other chat-name text stays neutral.
- Factor UiColorConfig::GetProtocolColorPair(profileId) shared by all
  views.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/uicolorconfig.cpp | 9 ++++++++-
src/uicolorconfig.h | 3 +++
src/uihelpview.cpp | 12 +++++++++++-
src/uihistoryview.cpp | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
src/uilistborderview.cpp | 9 ++-------
src/uilistview.cpp | 8 ++++----
src/uimodel.cpp | 1 +
src/uistatusview.cpp | 11 ++++++++++-
src/uitopview.cpp | 11 ++++++++++-
src/uiview.cpp | 5 +++++
src/uiview.h | 1 +
11 files changed, 72 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

[sypianski]

@desgua thanks for the report — both reproduced from code inspection.

Root cause (chrome bg loss + visual "unread" inversion):
The chrome views (uistatusview / uitopview / uihelpview / uilistborderview) and the chat-list row tinting all called GetProtocolColorPair(profileId), which returns the list_color_<proto> pair. Its _bg default is empty → GetColorId returns -1 (terminal default), so wbkgd(... | colorPair | ' ') overpainted the bar's configured background with the terminal's. Same effect tinted chat-list rows past list_color_bg, so untintable unread rows ended up looking less prominent than tinted read rows.

Fix (dbea82d4 on sypianski/master): new UiColorConfig::GetProtocolChromePair(baseParam, profileId) returns a cached pair combining the protocol fg with baseParam_bg, so each surface keeps its intended bg while picking up the protocol hue. All six call sites routed through it (status / top / help / listborder / list / history).

Compile warnings — fixed in the same commit:

• uimodel.cpp:313 unused int n → removed
• uimodel.cpp:836 signed/unsigned compare → wchar_t keyLF = L'\n'
• uimodel.cpp:1041 / 1141 / 1387 missing default: → added
• uimodel.cpp:1302 wchar_t→wint_t narrowing → explicit cast

Please pull and let me know if the bars and chat-list look right now.

[desgua]

*edit: actually it wasn't a bug, it was the configuration of the colors.

@sypianski it seems almost perfect now. But there is still one bug left: all the chats still appear with the foreground color of the unread, as if all of them were unreaded.

I bisect that last bug:

[i] ~/.../nchat $ git bisect good
8b4fc75 is the first bad commit
commit 8b4fc75
Author: Jakub sypianski@outlook.com
Date: Mon Jun 8 16:10:00 2026 +0200

feat(list): subtle per-protocol chat-list tint

Tint chat-list entries by protocol (Telegram / WhatsApp / Signal) using
muted, low-saturation colors close to the terminal's neutral text, so the
network is recognizable at a glance without being loud. Keyed off the
profileId prefix (protocol GetName()).

- ui.conf: list_protocol_colors (default 1) to toggle.
- color.conf: list_color_{telegram,whatsapp,signal}_{fg,bg}; muted hex
  defaults fall back to neutral text on terminals without custom colors.
- Unread chats keep their unread color; tint applies to read chats.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
src/uicolorconfig.cpp | 9 +++++++++
src/uiconfig.cpp | 1 +
src/uilistview.cpp | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4 files changed, 74 insertions(+)

[desgua]

@sypianski I just figured out that the commit I thoght had a bug actually adds a configuration to change the WhatsApp foreground to green and my own configuration was using green for the unread messages. It was just a matter of changing the config file (~/.config/nchat/color.conf) to differentiate read and unread.
The last commit (dbea82d) is working fine. It wasn't a bug. It was the coincidence of adding a new default configuration + my own configuration setting both unread and read messages to the same green color.
Thank you so much for the amazing work at implementing vim-style modal ❤️

[d99kris]

Thanks for contributing @sypianski - I hope to find time soon to review this PR.

[desgua]

I've been using the implementation for 2 days and it is working flawless and it is incredible useful for those used to vim.

[sypianski]

@desgua — you're right, and I had already separated this into a vim-only branch a while ago but forgot to update the PR. Sorry about that.

New PR with vim-only changes: #543

Closing this one.