Alt-o, Alt-i and the other tree-sitter keys walk the file's syntax tree

helix's expand/shrink, previous/next sibling, all siblings, all children and
parent-node end/start (Alt-o/up, Alt-i/down, Alt-p/left, Alt-right, Alt-a,
Alt-I, Alt-e, Alt-b; Alt-n stays the new terminal) walk a whole-file parse
the file keeps (File.node_tree), made on the first such key after an edit and
reused until the next, never per key. syntax.walkNodes follows helix's
TreeCursor over every node, anonymous ones included, and Alt-i goes back to
what Alt-o grew from while the selection still holds it. The harness runs
without grammars, so the cases prove the plain-text no-op; a test replays
eleven JSON walks whose results were taken from the installed hx.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>

1 files changed, 2 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/docs/helix-keys.md b/docs/helix-keys.md
index 5c3972a5..f2901b92 100644
--- a/docs/helix-keys.md
+++ b/docs/helix-keys.md
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ language-backend queries, and the shell pipe.
 | `:` (normal, body or tag) | in the body, focuses the pane's tag in normal mode at its remembered cursor (the first time, on `Save`); in the tag, goes back to the body; in a column or workspace tag, back to the active pane. The tag's normal and insert modes ARE the body's: every motion, selection, edit and undo works there, and `0` goes to the line's start, the path's. Tab runs the word under the cursor or the selection and Enter looks it up (in a column or workspace tag Enter runs it too), and either hands the keyboard back to the body first. Clicks choose a new cursor position and type into the tag. | Each tag keeps its own cursor during the session. The computed path/marker/page is reachable and yankable but read-only: an edit into it is refused, and typing into a file's path drafts a new name. File-name changes are staged as described in [editable tags](tags.md). | pardes-specific |
 | `Ctrl-w k` / `SPC w k` (pane with nothing above) | focuses its column's tag, then the workspace tag; with `ColumnTags` disabled it goes directly to the workspace. `Ctrl-w j` walks back to the panes, `Ctrl-w h`/`l` walk the column tags. Headers edit exactly as a pane tag does. | Column commands target that column's active pane, or its first pane when coming from elsewhere. Workspace and column text are independently editable and persist in dumps. See [editable tags](tags.md). | pardes-specific |
 | `Ctrl-w` + `h/j/k/l`/arrows | directional pane focus prefix — editor normal mode only | pardes' own window handling (helix window mode skipped, section C). Runs the SAME `Left`/`Down`/`Up`/`Right` builtins `SPC w h/j/k/l` runs; Raw **tty** mode forwards Ctrl-w to the child. Insert mode owns `Ctrl-w` = delete-word-back, so a tag being TYPED into swallows it; from a tag in normal mode it moves focus to the neighbour's BODY, as from a body, and from the top pane `Up` reaches the column and workspace tags | pardes-specific |
-| `Alt-n` | new terminal below (outside raw tty) | shadows helix `Alt-n` TS sibling-select — skipped anyway (tree-sitter) | pardes-specific |
+| `Alt-n` | new terminal below (outside raw tty) | shadows helix `Alt-n` (select next sibling), which pardes spells `Alt-right` alone | pardes-specific |
 | `Alt-c` | move active terminal to a fresh column (outside raw tty) | helix `Alt-c` is change-noyank; the pardes window op wins (do-not-touch contract). `Alt-d` + `i` covers the behavior | waived (`alt-c-window-op`) |
 | `Space` (normal, body) | starts the pardes LEADER: a key path runs the same builtin words used by tags and the topbar. The main groups are `f` files, `h` docs, `c` columns, `t` toggles/effects, `a` panel animations, `s` session, `j` jumps, `l` language, and `w` directional focus; `SPC ?` lists every path and `<prefix> ?` lists one group in `+Help`. Neither `Exit` (quits the editor, acme's Exit) nor `Kill` (stops the commands pardes typed into terminals, acme's Kill) has a leader path: both are the topbar's and the root `ctl`'s. The pending path appears on the active pane's transient body/message row. Esc or an unmapped key abandons it. Paths, Help rows, and dispatch are all generated from the builtin registry at comptime; the leader applies only to a BODY in normal mode because tags and tty programs own their input | pardes-specific; helix spends Space on pickers/LSP (section C), while pardes uses acme-style executable words |
 | `SPC y` `SPC Y` `SPC p` `SPC P` `SPC R` | helix's clipboard menu on helix's own letters: yank the selection to the system clipboard (`ClipYank`) or the PRIMARY selection alone (`ClipYankMain`), paste the system clipboard after (`ClipPaste`) / before (`ClipPasteBefore`) the selection, replace the selection with it (`ClipReplace`) | the same as `"+y`, `"+p`, `"+P`, `"+R`: register `+` (and `*`) IS the desktop's clipboard, the only register that reaches it. `SPC y` writes `+` alone, as helix's does, not the default register too. Builtins rather than bare chords because a leader path names a builtin: they land in Help's index and are executable words like every other verb. The clipboard holds one text, so N values go out joined by newlines, as helix sends them. On a tty the write is OSC 52 out and the READ is OSC 52 back, which many terminals refuse or gate — so `SPC y` works there and `SPC p` can be a no-op | out of corpus |
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ found. Pure text math in `modal.zig`: `findChar`, `matchBracket`,
 | `;` | collapse selection to cursor | drops vsel/msel, cursor stays | helix-verified (phase 5) |
 | `Alt-;` | flip anchor and head | vsel: swap cursor ↔ anchor; msel: cursor to the other end (r0/r1 swapped to keep the cursor-at-r1 invariant) | helix-verified (phase 5) |
 | `Alt-:` | make every range point forward | helix `ensure_selections_forward` | helix-verified |
+| `Alt-o`/`Alt-up`, `Alt-i`/`Alt-down`, `Alt-p`/`Alt-left`, `Alt-right`, `Alt-a`, `Alt-I`, `Alt-e`, `Alt-b` | walk the file's syntax tree from every range: grow to the enclosing node (and remember what it grew from), shrink back to that or to the first child, the previous / next sibling (anonymous ones included, so often a comma), every named sibling or child, the enclosing named node's end / start (stretching to it in select mode) | helix `expand_selection` and kin, on a whole-file parse (`File.node_tree`) made on the first such key after an edit and reused until the next; a range the tree says nothing about, and every range of a file without a grammar, stays. Checked against the installed hx on JSON (`normal.zig` test): the harness runs without grammars, so it only proves the plain-text no-op | helix-verified (plain text), hx-checked (JSON) |
 | `%` | select whole buffer | vsel anchor 0,0, cursor on the buffer's last char | helix-verified (phase 5) |
 | `X` | snap selection to line bounds | vsel → msel over its row span; bare cursor → 1-line msel; msel: already line-wise, no-op | helix-verified (phase 5) |
 | `Alt-x` | shrink selection to line bounds | vsel only: partial first/last lines drop out; nothing left collapses the selection; msel: no-op | helix-verified (phase 5) |
@@ -352,7 +353,6 @@ text.
 | `gw` | word-label jump | label-jump overlay machinery, not core editing |
 | `g.` | goto last modification | jumplist/history position tracking |
 | Window mode table: `Ctrl-w` + `w v s t f F h j k l q o H J K L ns nv` (+ Ctrl variants) | splits/window management | window mode — pardes has its own Ctrl-w focus + Alt-n/Alt-c + mouse layout drags |
-| `Alt-o`/`Alt-up`, `Alt-i`/`Alt-down`, `Alt-p`/`Alt-left`, `Alt-n`/`Alt-right`, `Alt-a`, `Alt-I`, `Alt-e`, `Alt-b` | syntax-node selection | tree-sitter |
 | `]f [f ]t [t ]a [a ]c [c ]e [e ]T [T ]x [x` | TS unimpaired jumps | tree-sitter |
 | `]g [g ]G [G` | git change jumps | needs VCS diff state |
 | insert `Ctrl-x` | completion menu | completion exists, but not as a popup: insert-mode Tab straight after a `.` opens a buffer of candidate DECLARATIONS (section A). helix's menu itself is skipped |