> they'll show me all references, take me to the definition or declaration, stack those jumps so as I follow the links I can pop back a level to where I was. Al

> they'll show me all references, take me to the definition or declaration, stack those jumps so as I follow the links I can pop back a level to where I was. All of this is instant. I do this in stock vim using ctags files. You can generate them with anything, though “exuberant ctags” is very popular. Ctrl+] when over an identifier jumps to its definition, and there’s a tag stack to jump backwards similarly (you can also use the jump list). This too, is instant. It’s also an essential feature of the help system in vim for navigating cross-references. There’s also other robust IDE-like features built-in. Syntax-aware code folding (with adjustable fold levels, see ‘folding’), compiler integration so that it’ll highlight where compilation errors occurred (see :make, makeprg, errorfmt) and so forth. Not saying your life won’t be better without some plugins, but stock vim is quite a bit more powerful than having to shell out and grep.