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A powerful terminal text editor and IDE.
LinuxmacOSWindows
Install:
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sinelaw/fresh/refs/heads/master/scripts/install.sh | shCopied
More options…
Instant startup. Text appears as you type. Small memory footprint. Stays responsive on multi-GB files and remote editing over SSH.
Start each task in its own worktree, hop between them with an arrow key, and leave the rest running.
claude, codex, opencode or aider loose in any of themSplit-panel review with staged / unstaged / untracked files on the left and the selected diff on the right. Stage, unstage or discard individual hunks; leave line comments and review notes; export to Markdown. Side-by-side diff view for file comparisons.
Run multiple LSP servers per language (for example pylsp + pyright) with feature routing and merged completions. Per-project workspace roots detected from configurable markers like Cargo.toml or package.json.
node_modules, site-packages, .cargo)Start a named daemon, detach and reattach across terminal disconnects. The --wait flag blocks until the buffer is closed, which lets Fresh serve as git core.editor or $EDITOR. Hot Exit persists every buffer across restarts and crashes.
fresh -a myproject)--wait for commit messages, rebases and scripted flowsOpen files on an SSH host with fresh user@host:path. Connections reconnect in the background if they drop. Saves to large files transfer only the patch, not the whole file.
Plugins are compiled with OXC and run in an embedded QuickJS VM, sandboxed and shipped inside the same binary. No node_modules on disk. Packages are installed from the official registry; language packs bundle a grammar, settings and LSP config together.
--initBoth sides of the status bar are configurable via a visual picker, with reorderable elements including a {clock}, git branch and LSP status. Themes are edited live. The interface is translated into several languages including Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese.
Command palette with prefix routing (> commands, # buffers, : lines). Keybinding editor with conflict detection and per-context bindings. Full mouse support.
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sinelaw/fresh/refs/heads/master/scripts/install.sh | sh
One-line install. No toolchain required.
brew install fresh-editor
winget install fresh-editor
Grab the .deb from Releases, then:
sudo dpkg -i fresh-editor_*.deb
yay -S fresh-editor
View on AUR — aarch64 supported.
npx @fresh-editor/fresh-editor
Or global: npm install -g @fresh-editor/fresh-editor
Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD binaries on GitHub Releases. Drop anywhere on $PATH.
cargo install --locked fresh-editor
If you already have a Rust toolchain.
fresh -a)--wait for git core.editor / $EDITOR--init{clock} elementhow come nobody is talking about [Fresh] … by far the best terminal-based ADE/orchestration tool i've used so far 🔥🔥🔥
— Paul Bettner (@paulbettner), X
FINALLY A TERMINAL EDITOR THAT WORKS AND LOOKS GOOD AND IT WORKS LIKE EDIT.COM BUT LIKE VSCODE AND IT'S NOT A HOTKEY GALORE WHERE YOU NEED A SEPARATE BRAIN TO LEARN HOW TO USE IT OH MY GOD I WAS ABLE TO COPY AND PASTE LIKE A NORMAL PERSON
— u/darkguy2008, r/CLI
A new code editor, and it looks good! It's called Fresh and it's an alternative to Vim and Nano. 100% in the terminal. Built in Rust, so it flies.
— Miguel Ángel Durán (@midudev), X — translated from Spanish
Out of the box this is the best new TUI editor I've tried, probably ever. … you really nailed the discoverability / accessibility — basically everything works intuitively and needs very little explanation.
— 20after4, Hacker News
So this absolutely the most amazing terminal IDE I have ever seen or used! I'm really amazed that it's not heavy on key bindings so you don't have to be an expert in Vim or Emacs to get around the application. It works just like a GUI application with mouse integration. Wow totally impressed!
— u/Salemx27x, r/CLI
I used to work with Micro, Nice Editor, or Tilde, but now Fresh is the best text editor i have ever seen!
— marco-trovato, GitHub
It's fast, cross-platform and, unlike Vim or Emacs, you don't need to learn complicated commands. It's intuitive like VS Code… it even recognises the mouse, and I installed it with a single npm command. 🤯
— Fazt (@FaztTech), X — translated from Spanish
Omg I am using your ide for like 1.5+ months atp! Such an amazing cli code editor! I was looking for a cli alternative to vscode and this is honestly great.
— u/colmehurze, r/CLI
It has actually replaced both Sublime and VSCode as my IDE of choice on my laptop. I got tired of the fan running full speed when I wanted to work on a project.
— rkram5424, GitHub
I'm really impressed with Fresh, a terminal text editor that you can just use.
— DistroTube, YouTube
This is incredible and really fills a niche: an editor that feels and works like a GUI, but works in terminal. It's so nice to be able to switch from GUI to terminal and be able to retain the same mechanics and intuition. … for everyone who mostly lives in the GUI (which is most people now), this is a godsend.
— u/JumpingJack79, r/commandline
I had given up hope on ever finding an editor like this. Just did a little bit of browsing in a current project and WOW.
— rglover, Hacker News
There haven't really been any [new text editors] that made me go, “Yeah, I want to switch to that,” in a long time. I think fresh might be the one that I would really think about switching to.
— Awesome Open Source, YouTube
The thing is sick! First editor ever to make me actually switch from nano.
— u/diacid, r/CLI
Thank you for a amazing terminal editor. Something that I felt was truly lacking in the modern age. Even though its unintended it's the perfect editor if you have mobility issues or are missing a limb. No need for weird vim/emacs bindings all over the keyboard making it hard to use.
— EliteAMDGamer, GitHub
man... i'm blown away, this project is so insane i had to personally congratulate you guys for it, it's simply fantastic
— eusebioleite, GitHub
Ive tried maybe every terminal editor attempting it to works like simple IDE, no luck :) so thank you pretty much for delivering this great stuff 🔥🔥🔥
— u/kisdmitri, r/CLI
The multi-cursor experience is the smoothest I've seen in a terminal based editor. Congrats!
— yoavm, Hacker News
Thank goodness for a terminal editor that behaves like a proper editor should. No silly mode, no weird key bindings, function keys even behave as expected and the mouse works if you have one.
— shartrec, GitHub
This is insane, love this project so much! Is now my main
— u/Ok_Trifle3308, r/commandline
i REALLY love this thing, especially the efficiency and speed (phenomenal!). gonna start using it daily.
— winterrdog, Hacker News
I love this editor. I'm looking to wean myself off vscode. Also the text based animations are *chefs-kiss*. Makes using the computer feel like the good old days.
— u/Virtual-Spring-5884, r/CLI
I really enjoy the command palette, the open file menu and the multi cursor. It's well thought, really intuitive so far and I definitively will use it regularly.
— az09mugen, Hacker News
I've been using it for over a month. It's getting better at each update. I've made an alias to replace nano with fresh
— u/not-them, r/CLI
Thanks for the great project, I've been waiting for a fully-featured and modern terminal text editor, and I've really, really enjoyed using fresh so far.
— long-live-yossarian, GitHub
i have been searching for something like this for weeks. thanks a lot for developing this. … can't wait to see this becoming more popular and even contributing to it where i can. kudos to you!
— u/Ropl, r/commandline
I have to say... I really like it. I was settled on NVim and VSCode … Everybody loves fast and responsive software, what can I say.
— desireco42, Hacker News
It works like a GUI editor but runs in your terminal.
— Sourav Rudra, It's FOSS
Been using fresh to edit some scripts across multiple VM's in my homelab the past few weeks and loving it so far! Been able to get hours and hours of usage with no hiccups. Hotkeys for fresh also feel pretty intuitive!
— u/Thebareassbear, r/CLI
I'm very impressed by the Fresh editor. I have a feeling this will very quickly become my favorite command line text editor!
— TobberH, GitHub
Fresh is well suited for you if you want modern editor conveniences and features like file explorers, split views, and LSP support without switching to a GUI editor. Give Fresh a try.
— Haroon Javed, Make Tech Easier
I just used this piece of software and I loved it. Good work sinelaw. It has real good potential esp. for people who want to shift towards working with TUI as their primary interface than say using a GUI.
— u/let_us_reddit, r/commandline
It is really awsome. Never imagine I would be able to use vscode inside a terminal 😆
— goutou1994, GitHub
What sets it apart from similar applications is that it targets developers who want IDE-style functionality while remaining entirely inside the terminal.
— Bobby Borisov, Linuxiac
Iam using your IDE on a daily basis for fun personal projects and learning. I love it. … I was looking for something efficient and not too heavy on the system + with some style.
— u/Classic-Weakness-788, r/commandline
Wow, the console editor I have been looking for for SO long, thank you!
— jetpax, GitHub
This has to be one of the best text editors that probably saved me for my upcoming semesters.
— VA-Valtorious, GitHub
Great work! This should have been made years ago.
— u/Suspicious_Selfy, r/commandline
This was the last blocker to making fresh my daily driver!
— steve-price-immybot, GitHub
I really like your code editor, because I wanted something that works out of the box and is also in the terminal (since I use it a lot).
— X3NON-11, GitHub
Really nice project! I very dislike modal editors, but I'm forced to use them since they are the only available editors in terminal.
— hkalbasi, GitHub
Just started using fresh and i love it, keep up the good work.
— Fegsav, GitHub
I wanted a list of all the cool things people are doing with Fresh (LOVE this editor).
— sottey, GitHub
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