# abo-abo/hydra

make Emacs bindings that stick around

Repository: https://github.com/abo-abo/hydra
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/abo-abo-hydra
Language: Emacs Lisp
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-03-16T12:55:28+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 28/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 11, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4243, "days_push": 535, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1942, forks 112 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:57.537282+00:00)

## What it is
Hydra is an Emacs Lisp package that ties related commands into a family of short key bindings sharing a common prefix. Once invoked, the heads of a Hydra can be called repeatedly with single keystrokes until any other key exits the state, with on-screen hints showing available options.

## Use cases
- create sticky keybindings for repeated commands in emacs
- bind zoom in/out to single keys after one prefix
- show a hint menu of related commands while editing
- chain navigation or window-management commands quickly
- replace repetitive prefix key sequences in my emacs config

## When to choose
- you use Emacs and want efficient, repeatable key chords for related commands
- you want discoverable on-screen hints for your custom bindings
- you frequently run sequences of commands like resizing, navigation, or text scaling

## When to avoid
- you don't use GNU Emacs
- you prefer modal editing solutions like evil-mode instead of prefix-based hydras
- you need bindings outside of Emacs

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: ui-components, developer-tools
- domain: text-editors, developer-tools
- platform: editor-plugin
- tags: emacs-lisp, keybindings, keyboard-driven, modal-editing, gnu-elpa, emacs

## Member repositories
- abo-abo/hydra (main) score 28

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.537282+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:08:03.503263+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/abo-abo/hydra (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:57.537282+00:00, sha c618c924f059)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.