# coteditor/CotEditor

Lightweight Plain Text Editor for macOS

Repository: https://github.com/coteditor/CotEditor
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/coteditor
Homepage: https://coteditor.com
Language: Swift
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: macos, swift, cocoa, mac-app, macos-app, editor, texteditor, coteditor
Last push: 2026-08-26T23:36:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4898, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 27, "gap_med": 13, "n_releases_24m": 46}
- 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 8413, forks 531 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:21.010581+00:00)

## What it is
CotEditor is a lightweight, open-source plain text editor built natively for macOS using Swift and Cocoa. It offers syntax highlighting for 60+ languages, regex find/replace, split editing, scriptable macros, and strong text encoding support with a macOS-native UI.

## Use cases
- edit plain text files on mac
- lightweight code editor for macos
- syntax highlighting for html python ruby markdown
- edit files with legacy or cjk text encodings
- quickly jot down notes in a native mac app
- inspect unicode characters in a document
- run custom text macros via scripts

## When to choose
- you want a fast, native macOS text editor without electron overhead
- you need accurate handling of many text encodings including CJK and vertical text
- you want a simple editor that still offers regex search, split view, and scripting

## When to avoid
- you need a full IDE with debugging, refactoring, or LSP integration
- you need cross-platform editing on Windows or Linux
- you require support for macOS versions older than the last two major releases

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: editor, gui
- domain: text-editors, operating-systems, developer-tools
- platform: -
- tags: plain-text-editor, syntax-highlighting, native-app, swift, cocoa, open-source, macos

## Member repositories
- coteditor/CotEditor (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:21.010581+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 2026-08-29T17:27:17.915877+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/coteditor/CotEditor (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:21.010581+00:00, sha 3915ba69837b)
  - homepage: https://coteditor.com (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:10.318445+00:00, sha 69d8317baff8)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.