# emacs-helm/helm

Emacs incremental completion and selection narrowing framework

Repository: https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/emacs-helm-helm
Homepage: https://emacs-helm.github.io/helm/
Language: Emacs Lisp
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: helm, emacs-helm, emacs-lisp, emacs, completions
Last push: 2026-08-11T04:07:38+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 66/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5284, "days_push": 22, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3476, forks 392 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:06.152176+00:00)

## What it is
Helm is an Emacs framework for incremental completion and narrowing selections, helping users rapidly pick files, buffers, and other candidates. It also offers an API for building custom Helm completion applications.

## Use cases
- fuzzy find files in emacs
- switch buffers with incremental completion
- narrow down candidate lists in emacs
- build custom completion interfaces in emacs lisp
- search and select from lists inside emacs

## When to choose
- you use Emacs as your main editor and want powerful incremental completion everywhere
- you want a framework to build custom selection UIs in Emacs Lisp

## When to avoid
- you use Vim, VS Code, or a non-Emacs editor
- you prefer a lighter minimal completion setup like vanilla Emacs or vertico-style stacks

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: active
- function: ui-components, search-engine, developer-tools
- domain: text-editors, developer-tools
- platform: editor-plugin
- tags: emacs-lisp, incremental-completion, fuzzy-finding, emacs

## Member repositories
- emacs-helm/helm (main) score 66

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:06.152176+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 2026-08-29T18:36:31.716265+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:06.152176+00:00, sha 16c11e589fc6)
  - homepage: https://emacs-helm.github.io/helm/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:30:27.725621+00:00, sha 77a8652fdc46)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.