# mawww/kakoune

mawww's experiment for a better code editor

Repository: https://github.com/mawww/kakoune
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/kakoune
Homepage: http://kakoune.org
Language: C++
License: Unlicense
License Family: permissive
Topics: text-editor, c-plus-plus, console-application, kakoune, vim, modal-editing
Last push: 2026-08-19T07:32:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 85/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 60, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5417, "days_push": 14, "days_rel": 105, "gap_med": 175.0, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: no_readme
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 11033, forks 780 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:45.929607+00:00)

## What it is
Kakoune is a modal terminal-based code editor inspired by Vim, built around multiple selections as its central editing paradigm. It offers syntax highlighting, as-you-type completion, and powerful text manipulation primitives with an orthogonal, scriptable design.

## Use cases
- edit code in the terminal with modal keybindings
- use multiple selections to edit many places at once
- find a faster vim alternative with fewer keystrokes
- syntax-highlighted editing for many programming languages
- script and customize a minimal modal editor
- manipulate text with regex matches, splitting, and alignment

## When to choose
- you want Vim-style modal editing with a more interactive selection-first model
- you work primarily in the terminal and want a fast, lightweight editor
- you frequently need to apply the same edit across many locations via multiple selections
- you value a small, orthogonal, scriptable core

## When to avoid
- you need a full IDE with built-in debugging, LSP GUI panels, or plugin marketplaces out of the box
- you prefer non-modal editing or a graphical editor
- you rely on a large ecosystem of prebuilt plugins like Vim/Neovim's

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: editor, developer-tools, terminal-ui
- domain: text-editors, developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: modal-editing, multiple-selections, vim-inspired, terminal-editor, syntax-highlighting, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- mawww/kakoune (main) score 85

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:45.929607+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 2026-08-29T17:17:11.903929+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - homepage: http://kakoune.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:15:38.029517+00:00, sha 46b541bf829e)
  - site_page: http://kakoune.org/why-kakoune/why-kakoune.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:15:38.039247+00:00, sha a36a54f2ed62)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.