diff --git a/src/nvim/lua/vim.lua b/src/nvim/lua/vim.lua
index 00f7c8a48b..090869c68e 100644
--- a/src/nvim/lua/vim.lua
+++ b/src/nvim/lua/vim.lua
@@ -277,6 +277,10 @@ setmetatable(vim, {
   __index = __index
 })
 
+-- An easier alias for commands.
+vim.cmd = vim.api.nvim_command
+
+-- These are the vim.env/v/g/o/bo/wo variable magic accessors.
 do
   local a = vim.api
   local validate = vim.validate
diff --git a/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua b/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
index 877d14f7e7..45818d2a99 100644
--- a/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
@@ -618,4 +618,13 @@ describe('lua stdlib', function()
     matches("^Error executing lua: .*: Expected lua string$",
        pcall_err(exec_lua, 'return vim.wo[0][0].list'))
   end)
+
+  it('vim.cmd', function()
+    exec_lua [[
+    vim.cmd "autocmd BufNew * ++once lua BUF = vim.fn.expand('<abuf>')"
+    vim.cmd "new"
+    ]]
+    eq('2', funcs.luaeval "BUF")
+    eq(2, funcs.luaeval "#vim.api.nvim_list_bufs()")
+  end)
 end)