Discover Fresh: A Fast, Lightweight Rust‑Based Terminal Text Editor

Project Overview

Fresh is a next‑generation terminal text editor written in Rust. It aims to be lightweight, fast, and powerful, delivering a modern GUI‑like editing experience (similar to VS Code) within the terminal and supporting Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Key Features

Zero‑learning curve : native UI, full menu system, command palette, mouse support, click, select, scroll.

Lightweight and fast : quick startup, low resource usage, can open files of hundreds of MB or several GB.

Code‑friendly : built‑in Language Server Protocol (LSP) support for go‑to definition, autocomplete, refactoring, diagnostics, references, rename, syntax highlighting.

Productivity tools : keyboard macros, Git log viewer, diagnostic panel, bookmarks, location history, and other navigation aids.

Extensible via plugins : plugins can be written in TypeScript and run safely in a sandbox.

Quick Installation

Multiple installation methods are provided:

macOS

brew tap sinelaw/fresh
brew install fresh-editor

Linux (Arch) yay -S fresh-editor Or download the latest binary from the GitHub Releases page, extract, and run.

Alternatively, install via npm: npm install -g @fresh-editor/fresh-editor After installation, start the editor with the fresh command. Use Ctrl+P to open the command palette, and mouse interactions work similarly to graphical editors.

Basic Usage

Open file : Ctrl+O or File → Open.

Edit operations : multi‑cursor editing, block selection, smart indent, code commenting, etc.

Save file : Ctrl+S.

Search & replace : Ctrl+F for search, Ctrl+H for replace.

Plugin management : open the command palette with Ctrl+Shift+P to install or manage plugins.

Conclusion

Fresh combines the lightweight, fast nature of terminal tools with the usability and extensibility of modern graphical editors, making it a compelling choice for developers who need efficient text editing directly in the terminal.

Project URL

https://github.com/sinelaw/fresh