diff --git a/vim/compiler/newt.vim b/vim/compiler/newt.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c221ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/compiler/newt.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+let current_compiler = 'newt'
+
+" doesn't work
+CompilerSet errorformat='ERROR at (%l, %c)'
diff --git a/vim/ftdetect/newt.vim b/vim/ftdetect/newt.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba1acec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/ftdetect/newt.vim
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.newt set filetype=newt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vim/ftplugin/newt.vim b/vim/ftplugin/newt.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80e4e8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/ftplugin/newt.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+setlocal syntax=newt
+setlocal commentstring=--\ %s
+setlocal expandtab
+setlocal tabstop=2
+
+setlocal makeprg=build/exec/newt\ %
diff --git a/vim/indent/newt.vim b/vim/indent/newt.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/vim/syntax/newt.vim b/vim/syntax/newt.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4155633
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vim/syntax/newt.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+syn keyword newtInfix infix infixl infixr
+syn keyword newtKW data where let in case of
+syn keyword newtLet let in
+syn match newtIdentifier "[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z]*" contained
+syn keyword newtStructure data import module where
+syn region newtBlockComment start="/-" end="-/" contained
+syn match newtLineComment "--.*$" contains=@Spell
+
+" no idea why this works for idris but not here
+"highlight dev link newtIdentifier Identifier
+highlight def link newtInfix PreProc
+highlight def link newtBlockComment Comment
+highlight def link newtLineComment Comment
+highlight def link newtLet Structure
+highlight def link newtStructure Structure
+
+let b:current_syntax = "newt"