A minimalist terminal text editor. Zero-config, UTF-8 native, atomically safe.
| Metric | edit | nano | vim | micro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binary Size | 64 KB | ~200 KB | 5.4 MB | 11 MB |
| RAM Usage | ~1-2 MB | ~3 MB | ~10 MB | ~30 MB |
| Startup Time | Instant | Fast | Slow | Moderate |
| Full UTF-8/Emoji | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Atomic Save | Yes | No | No | No |
| Crash Recovery | Yes | No | Swap file | No |
- 64 KB binary — 84x smaller than vim
- Atomic saves — write, fsync, rename (no data corruption)
- Crash-safe — Ctrl+C triggers save before exit
- True UTF-8 — Emojis render and save correctly
- Line numbers — Always visible, dynamic width
- Mouse support — Click to position cursor
- Large file warning — Prompts before loading files >100 MB
- Safety Hardened — Zero warnings with strict compiler flags (
-Weverything) - Adaptive UI — Status bar scales for narrow terminals
One-liner install (auto-installs dependencies):
rm -rf edit && git clone https://github.com/rahuldangeofficial/edit.git && cd edit && bash install.shManual install (if you have dependencies):
rm -rf edit && git clone https://github.com/rahuldangeofficial/edit.git && cd edit && make && sudo make installUninstall:
cd edit && sudo make uninstall && cd .. && rm -rf edit- Debian / Ubuntu
- Fedora / RHEL / CentOS
- Arch Linux
- Alpine Linux
- macOS
edit filename.txt| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Navigate |
| Home / End | Jump to line start/end |
| PageUp / PageDown | Scroll |
| Backspace | Delete character |
| Delete | Delete forward |
| Enter | New line |
| Esc | Save and exit |
| Mouse click | Position cursor |
edit is intentionally minimal. It does not include:
- Syntax highlighting
- Undo/redo
- Search
- Plugins
- Config files
This is by design. edit is for quick edits, not IDE workflows.
- Config file edits (~/.bashrc, ~/.gitconfig)
- Git commit messages
- Small scripts and notes
- Embedded systems / Docker containers
- Low-RAM environments (Raspberry Pi, VPS)
- C++17 compiler (g++, clang++)
- ncurses library
- POSIX system (Linux, macOS)
MIT