Developers can’t reliably tailor editor shortcuts and settings per project
Developers want editor shortcuts and settings that match a project, file type, or preferred editing style, but the reported workflows often put keybindings at the user or global level. Custom file types may require an editor extension before settings can be shared portably, and configuring chord-based shortcuts is described as cumbersome. The signals also point to a discoverability problem: some users want a ready-made native-keybinding setup without unwanted modal bindings.
For developers who customize their editor workflows. Mentioned from Mar 2017 to Jun 2026 on GitHub and Hacker News.
5 different people described this problem in 4 separate discussions.
- Indie fit
- 3.0/10
- Pain
- 5.2/10
- Frequency
- 6.5/10
- Willingness to pay
- 0.0/10
- Momentum
- 5.0/10
- Who pays
- Professionals
- Competition
- High
- Build difficulty
- Medium
What people said
Quoted word for word. Follow a link to read the whole discussion.
same as the settings.json, I should be able to specify a local keybindings.json that overrides user keybindings and global keybindings
Imagine grabbing a third party codebase and then unwittingly running their shortcut to a binary as you copy a line out of the editor
Build brief
See what to build and who will buy it
- 2 product ideas with the smallest useful version and pricing
- 4 places to find your first customers
- 3 more quotes from people who have this problem
- Current workarounds, existing solutions and risks