I don't.

but I think the things you want to look for, if you start from scratch, are 1. evil mode https://evil.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview.html#installa... 2. the leader key https://github.com/noctuid/evil-guide#leader-key

these are random search results that may or may not be authoritative, but they should be a good start.

Didn’t know that evil has leader key support built in, this seems to be a big piece of the puzzle. Thanks!

Why do you want to wean yourself off them?

Mostly to force myself into learning emacs more deeply. I’ve been using them since 2016 but I feel like I’ve hit a wall with how well I know emacs and elisp.

not OP, so personal opinion here:

Starter kits are usually opinionated, have too much in them that I may not want, I may want to do things differently, and like was said in a sibling reply, I would also want to understand my own config better...

I can vouch for general.el[1]. It's easy to use and it integrates with use-package clauses, which-key and evil states. You can look at my config[2] for examples.

1. https://github.com/noctuid/general.el

2. https://github.com/gekoke/dotfiles/blob/main/modules/program...

As another commenter pointed out, what you're probably looking for is general.el: https://github.com/noctuid/general.el