vim-awesome VS vim-vinegar

I encourage you to add plugins to your vim (tip: use vim-plug). Use vimawesome.com for inspiration.

I don't have a solution for each one of your points, but I'm going to point out a couple that are very useful for me at least (most of these can be found on a site like vimawesome or just native configuration/usage).

Vim Awesome. This is probs the best resource for text editor related plugins for vim. Browse around the site and see what looks like it would work for you. Fugitive, NerdTree, Syntastic, and surround are pretty great for utility.

Get inspired and find your new plugins at https://vimawesome.com/

I originally landed on https://neovimcraft.com because of https://vimawesome.com

then linked to a very useful guide and repository of plugins

Vim is infinitely customizable. While Vscode allows you to change the app’s color scheme, install plugins, and change a few app settings, Vim offers you complete control over the editor’s experience. You have thousands of plugins to choose from. You can completely remap any keybinding and create new shortcuts for tasks in your daily workflow. And giving you more power as a developer, you can completely reprogram or automate your Vim experience with the built-in Vimscript language or Lua for Neovim.

I just recently got into the "plugin frenzy", and since I was already using netrw, I ignored all the tree-style options and just installed the tpope's vim-vinegar to extend it.

Netrw + vim-vinegar works for me. In conjunction with harpoon and a bufferline and maybe vim-eunuch, it works out pretty well

I think you might be looking for netrw (:Ex brings it up). It is the default file explorer and can be used in many cool ways. There are extensions for it, like (vim-vinegar, and :help netrw is your friend :)

Plain `netrw` with a few options changed and tpope's vim-vinegar for easy access

I use Vinegar but should try Oil. https://github.com/tpope/vim-vinegar

Hijacking netrw to prevent disruptive "project drawer" style plugins as mentioned in the vim-vinegar readme is important to me.

When you understand the default file explorer, you'll probably appreciate https://github.com/tpope/vim-vinegar

ThePrimeagen suggests pv as the mapping to see the folder, but - comes from me being used to https://github.com/tpope/vim-vinegar some time ago. Choose your's to your liking.

Netrw, vim’s built in file explorer is pretty solid if you’re looking to understand the topology of a project. I really like the pattern of browsing the file tree in the window pane where the file will open. vim vinegar is a great plugin for refining the netrw experience and making it a little more seamless. Takes a minute to learn the keybindings, but I find it much lighter and less intrusive than nerd tree or it’s offshoots.

This one is for the vinegar workflow enjoyers. Netrw is good enough for my needs but it was missing a bit of *bling*. This plugins adds basic icon supports and custom keymappings.