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Muhammad Kashif Ilyas
Muhammad Kashif Ilyas

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

#vim #neovim #productivity #linux 

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.
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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.
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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.
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How It Compares

VS Code: 400-800MB RAM

Quantum Vim: ~26MB RAM

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

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