DEV Community: Muhammad Kashif Ilyas

Why I Built a 26MB Nvim Distro, And Why You Might Want It Too

Muhammad Kashif Ilyas — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:27:40 +0000

I'm 13. I have a 4GB RAM laptop with an HDD and an i5-3330U processor.

VS Code? Too heavy. Neovim from scratch? Too much config. So I built Quantum Vim — a pre-configured Neovim distro that balances speed and features.

The Problem
VS Code is great, but it's a resource hog. On my system, it would eat up 400-500MB of RAM and lag on startup. I tried configuring Neovim myself, but I spent more time fixing configs than actually coding. I needed an editor that "just worked" without the bloat.

The "No Bloat" Solution
I built Quantum Vim to be lightweight, fast, and familiar to VS Code users. It's designed to run on low-spec machines without sacrificing modern IDE features like LSP, autocomplete, or Git integration. The goal was to create a Neovim distro that gets out of the way.

What's Inside?

LSP: Code completion, hover, and go-to-definition.

Autocomplete: Snippets and suggestions.

File Tree: Project navigation similar to VS Code.

Git Integration: See changes, diff, and commit.

Why 26MB RAM?
The core philosophy is to avoid bloat. Everything is lazy-loaded, meaning plugins are only loaded when needed, keeping the memory footprint minimal.

The Vibe

Tiling WM Energy: Works well with i3 and Hyprland.

VS Code Vibes: Familiar feel, terminal speed.

Zero Config: You're ready to code immediately.

How It Compares

VS Code: 400-800MB RAM

Quantum Vim: ~26MB RAM

This means lower memory usage = smoother performance on older laptops.

Who Is This For?

Developers on low-spec hardware.

VS Code users tired of the bloat.

Neovim users who don't want to deal with configs.

People who just want an editor that works out of the box.

Where to Get It
If this sounds useful, you can find it here: https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_e7ZaWRsYzDbr17dP5fi8yNEdWUau35AHzPG6X3fM2mA

💡 No account needed. Just email + card. No sign-up, no password, no spam.

It's a small one-time payment ($10) for lifetime updates. I'm funding a better laptop to keep building tools like this.

FAQ

Is it actually 26MB? Yes, on a fresh start. It may vary with LSPs.

Is it hard to set up? No, it's pre-configured.

"I built this for myself. I hope it helps you too." – Taha

I need help for the arch installation.

Muhammad Kashif Ilyas — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 17:19:44 +0000

can someone tell me how much time and patience it takes cause I'm about to install it and switch from windows to it.

I built a Neovim distro that uses 26MB RAM — and I use it every day

Muhammad Kashif Ilyas — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 10:00:04 +0000

I'm 13. I have a 4GB RAM laptop with an HDD and an i5-3330U processor.

VS Code? Too heavy. Neovim from scratch? Too much config.

So I built Quantum Vim — a pre-configured Neovim distro that:

Uses ~26MB RAM (less than Task Manager)
Has LSP, autocomplete, file tree, Git integration
Starts up instantly
Feels like VS Code but runs in the terminal

I use it every day. No lag. No bloat.

🧠 Why I built it

I needed an editor that worked on my low-spec laptop. I didn't want to spend weeks tweaking configs. I just wanted to code.

So I built a Neovim config that works out of the box.

📊 Memory Usage

Here's what it looks like in Task Manager:

26MB RAM. Not 150MB. Not 100MB. Just 26MB.

That's less than a single Chrome tab. Less than Windows Explorer. Less than Task Manager itself.

🛠️ Features

LSP — code completion, hover, go-to-definition
Autocomplete — snippets, suggestions, and more
File Tree — navigate projects like VS Code
Git integration — see changes, diff, and commit
Pre-configured — zero config required
Lifetime updates — never pay again

💸 Price

$10 — one-time payment. Lifetime updates. No subscriptions.

I'm a student building tools I actually use. This helps me save up for a better laptop.

🔗 Links

Buy Quantum Vim: https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_e7ZaWRsYzDbr17dP5fi8yNEdWUau35AHzPG6X3fM2mA
My other projects: Omarchy CLI — a 22+ command CLI tool for devs

🙏 Why I'm sharing this

I built this for myself. But I figured other developers might find it useful too. If you're tired of bloated editors or spending hours on configs, give it a shot.

Open to feedback, questions, or just a friendly conversation. ❤️

How I made Omarchy a 22+ command CLI

Muhammad Kashif Ilyas — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:17:56 +0000

The Problem That Started It All
I was tired of switching between multiple commands just to understand what was happening in my projects:

bash
git status
find . -name "*.go" | wc -l
grep -r "TODO" .
du -sh .

Every time I wanted a quick overview, I'd have to remember and type all these commands. It was annoying, and I knew there had to be a better way.

So I built one.

Introducing Omarchy
Omarchy is a single Go binary that gives you instant insights into your project:

bash
omarchy info
And it outputs:

text
📊 Project Info
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📁 Files: 127
🧮 Lines: 8,452
🐛 TODOs: 3
🌿 Branch: main
⏰ Last commit: 2 hours ago
That's it. One command, instant clarity.

What Else Can It Do?
I kept adding features as I found more annoyances:

omarchy sync – Safe git orchestration with auto-commit and push

bash
omarchy sync -a # auto-commit + push
omarchy sync --tag v1.0 # commit + tag + push
omarchy cleanup – Recursive purge of build artifacts and logs

bash
omarchy cleanup --docker # remove dangling images too
omarchy doctor – Environment health diagnostics

bash
omarchy doctor # checks PATH, Go version, git config, etc.
omarchy use/save – Project templates

bash
omarchy save my-starter # save current project as template
omarchy use my-starter new-project # create new project from template
Why I Built It This Way

It's fast – Written in Go, runs everywhere, no dependencies
It's safe – Won't let you commit your home folder or drop a production DB without confirmation
It's zero config – Works out of the box
It's cross-platform – Windows, macOS, Linux

The Open-Core Model
Omarchy v1 is completely free and open source (MIT license). I believe good tools should be accessible to everyone.

But I also added a paid upgrade (Omarchy v2) for power users. It costs $5 one-time and adds a cross-shell shortcut manager:

bash
tap add dbreset "docker-compose down -v && docker-compose up -d"
tap add push "git add . && git commit -m '$1' && git push"
Now I can type dbreset instead of that long Docker command, and push "fix bug" instead of the whole git dance.

What I Learned Building This

Go is perfect for CLIs The standard library is fantastic, cross-compilation is trivial, and the resulting binary is tiny. Here's how I structure my projects:

text
pkg/
cmd/ # command implementations
core/ # business logic
utils/ # helpers

Start with a single command
My first version of Omarchy only had info. Once that worked well, I added more commands. Don't try to build everything at once.
Safety features matter
Adding safety checks was the best decision I made. Users trust tools that won't accidentally delete their work.
Open source is powerful
I open-sourced v1 and got feedback that made v2 better. Users also contributed ideas I hadn't thought of.

The Tech Stack
Language: Go

Build: go build -o omarchy

Dependencies: None (uses Go standard library)

Cross-compilation: GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build

Distribution: GitHub Releases

Try It Out
Install Omarchy v1 (free):

bash
go install github.com/Taha95-dev/Omarchy-CLI-tool@latest
Or download from releases: https://github.com/Taha95-dev/Omarchy-CLI-tool/releases

Upgrade to v2 ($5):[https://buy.polar.sh/polar_cl_zvnuIMcqUEG0ghrgaFfFV9PivHvnI9esOA40D25wvUK]

What's Next?
I'm working on:

More template commands (React, Next.js, Go projects)

A web dashboard for project analytics

Plugin support for custom commands

Questions for You
I'm genuinely curious:

What commands do you type most often that could be shortcuts?

What would make a CLI tool like this essential for your workflow?

What's the most annoying part of your dev setup right now?

I'm 13 and still learning. I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Thanks for reading!

GitHub: https://github.com/Taha95-dev/Omarchy-CLI-Tool