mi

mi is a minimal, Vim-inspired text editor written in C++ using ncurses. It is designed as a lightweight minimal but powerful terminal editor.

Features

• Modal editing (NORMAL, INSERT, COMMAND)
• Line numbers
• User-configurable config.hpp
• Command mode (:w, :q, :wq)
• Status bar with:
  • Current mode
  • Line and column position
  • Open file name
• Colored status bar (mode-aware)
• Cursor navigation with arrow keys and wasd alternatives
• File loading and saving
• Built-in file manager (FLM)
• Built with ncurses

Customization

The editor ships with a central config file at src/include/config.hpp.

You can tweak things like:

• Line number mode (NONE, ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE)
• TAB width
• FLM panel width
• Status bar and FLM colors
• Custom ncurses RGB colors in 0..1000 scale

Example with multiple custom colors in src/include/config.hpp:

constexpr CustomColor custom_black = make_custom_color(0, 30, 30, 30);
constexpr CustomColor custom_grey = make_custom_color(2, 120, 120, 120);
constexpr CustomColor active_custom_colors[] = {
 custom_black,
 custom_grey,
};
constexpr short status_normal_fg = custom_black;
constexpr short flm_select_fg = custom_grey;

Controls

NORMAL mode

• i — enter INSERT mode
• ARROW KEYS or wasd — move cursor
• A — enter INSERT mode after the cursor
• : — enter COMMAND mode

INSERT mode

• Type to insert text
• ESC — return to NORMAL mode
• ARROW KEYS — move cursor
• BACKSPACE — delete character

COMMAND mode

• :w — save file
• :q — quit
• :wq — save and quit
• ESC — cancel command

Keybinds

• Ctrl+f or :flm — open the FLM file manager
• In the FLM, use w/s to move, d or ENTER to open, and a/BACKSPACE to go up

Dependencies

• GNU GCC/G++
• GNU Make
• ncurses

Building and Running

STEP 1 - Installing libncurses:

On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libncurses-dev

On CentOS/RHEL/Scientific Linux 6.x/7.x+ and Fedora Linux 21 or older:

sudo yum install ncurses-devel

On Fedora Linux 22.x+:

sudo dnf install ncurses-devel

STEP 2 - Cloning and Installing:

git clone https://github.com/nothingburguer/mi
cd mi
sudo make install
mi [filename]
# Examples:
# mi main.cpp
# mi index.js
# mi script.py

ALT 1 - Uninstalling:

(On the repo folder)

cd mi
sudo make uninstall

ALT 2 - Local Build

git clone https://github.com/nothingburguer/mi
cd mi
make
# To clean:
# make clean

Screenshots