These are the really minimal dot files and config that I am using at the moment on WSL2 to set up helix and tmux. I also set a (mostly) matching theme (catppuccin mochiatto) for helix, tmux, micro, and bat.

1. Back up any of the files that might get overwritten below
2. Get the files by cloning the repo: git clone https://github.com/rahji/dotfiles
3. Move .tmux.conf and the contents of .config to your home directory

tmux should already be installed, but you will want to install helix (probably by using the AppImage if you're using WSL) or by using snap if you're on a raspberry pi.

Add the following to the bottom of ~/.bashrc, then run source ~/.bashrc to reload the file.

export COLORTERM=truecolor
export "MICRO_TRUECOLOR=1"

I really don't mind the tmux defaults, but I do want it to look nicer.

1. Install tmux-plugins by typing git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
2. Run tmux and press prefix (ctrl+b by default) + I (capital letter i) to install the all plugins listed in ~/.tmux.conf (which is just the catppuccin plugin at the moment)

Note that bat may be installed as batcat on linux, in which case you should probably make a shorter alias. In any case, you'll need to run the following command to get bat to recognize the added themes:

bat cache --build

Helix is ready to go once it's installed, but you do have to install the language servers for the kinds of files you typically edit. It's still pretty simple and you only have to do it once. This is the main reason why I'm using this instead of neovim - I just want to edit some files and not spend my life dealing with config/plugins.

1. Check to see what is needed for the languages you intend to use: hx --health
2. Look at https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/wiki/Language-Server-Configurations to see how to install what's missing

For me, using WSL to mainly edit Markdown and Go and Javascript, that means:

1. Before installing Go stuff, make sure that $HOME/go/bin is in the PATH
2. For markdown, install marksman and ltex-ls (for spelling and grammar checking)
3. Install each of the following language servers...

go install golang.org/x/tools/gopls@latest            # Go LSP
go install github.com/go-delve/delve/cmd/dlv@latest   # Go Debugger
go install golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports@latest    # Go Formatter
go install github.com/nametake/golangci-lint-langserver@latest
npm i -g vscode-langservers-extracted                 # HTML, JSON, et al
npm install -g typescript typescript-language-server  # javascript
npm i -g yaml-language-server@next                    # YAML
npm i -g bash-language-server                         # bash
npm install -g dockerfile-language-server-nodejs      # docker files

dprint is a file formatter, ala prettier. Download it by running this command:

curl -fsSL https://dprint.dev/install.sh | sh

dprint doesn't work without a dprint.json config file in the local directory. There's no such thing as a global config file, strangely. This works for me, when working with Markdown:

{
  "markdown": {
    "lineWidth":120,
    "emphasisKind":"asterisks",
    "unorderedListKind":"asterisks",
  },
  "excludes": [],
  "plugins": [
    "https://plugins.dprint.dev/markdown-0.16.1.wasm"
  ]
}

Other possible options are in the dprint Markdown Configuration page

The languages.toml file in this repo is already set up to use dprint as its formatter. It's configured to format every time you save, but you can also format by typing :format or :fmt. Most of this dprint config info came from https://medium.com/@CaffeineForCode/helix-setup-for-markdown-b29d9891a812.

In WSL2, Helix seems to have clipboard-related trouble that causes startup to take longer than it should. Install the following to (hopefully) resolve the issue:

sudo apt install wl-clipboard

Some of the above config works when using helix and micro in Windows (ie: without WSL2). The micro configuration should not be used since I think the status line configuration causes the editor to move really slowly. The colorschemes folder can be used for Windows, however. It will require that the following environment variable is set though. You'll need to use the "Edit system environment variables" control panel if you want the setting to stick.

set MICRO_TRUECOLOR=1