Calm Down and Code: Finding Flow State with Vim and AI

After doing lots of stuff with AI Claude Code, I’ve had a realization.

The Reward Loop

You know what’s incredibly rewarding? Using vim and actually getting stuff done.

Not explaining what you want. Not waiting for responses. Not describing your intent in natural language prose.

Just doing.

Flow State is Real

This is what flow state actually feels like:

Your fingers move faster than your thoughts. Muscle memory takes over. dd, ciw, :%s, gq - these aren’t commands anymore, they’re extensions of your intent.

AI is amazing for architecture, for boilerplate, for “figure this out for me” moments. Claude Code has fundamentally changed how I work.

But there’s something else entirely about just editing code yourself.

The Zen of Direct Action

When you’re in the zone with vim:

• No context switching to explain what you want changed
• No waiting for a response to generate
• No reviewing AI changes to verify they match your mental model
• Just pure, immediate, tactile manipulation of text

It’s meditative. It’s zen.

The Best of Both Worlds

Here’s the thing: it’s not either/or.

Use Claude Code for:

• Scaffolding new features
• Researching unfamiliar codebases
• Refactoring gnarly legacy code
• Explaining complex systems

Use vim for:

• Quick edits you can visualize
• Fine-tuning AI-generated code
• Flow state deep work sessions
• Everything that feels faster to just do

Calm Down and Code

After hours of prompting AI, sometimes the most productive thing you can do is:

Close the chat. Open vim. Trust your fingers. Get it done.

This is flow state. This is zen.

Calm down and code.

Written in vim, obviously.