# antirez/linenoise

A small self-contained alternative to readline and libedit

Repository: https://github.com/antirez/linenoise
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/linenoise
Language: C
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-05-02T10:41:43+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 68/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 80, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6010, "days_push": 123, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4343, forks 741 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:46.141103+00:00)

## What it is
Linenoise is a tiny (~1600 lines), zero-configuration, BSD-licensed C library providing readline-style line editing for terminal programs. It supports single and multi-line editing, history, completion, hints, UTF-8, and a multiplexing mode, and is used by Redis, MongoDB, and Android.

## Use cases
- add line editing and history to a CLI tool without linking readline
- embed a small readline alternative in a C project
- implement tab completion in a command-line REPL
- support UTF-8 and emoji input at a terminal prompt
- avoid GPL readline licensing in a BSD-licensed application
- handle asynchronous output while a prompt is active

## When to choose
- you need a small, easily embeddable line editor with minimal dependencies
- GPL licensing of readline is a problem for your project
- you want history, completion, and hints in a REPL with little code
- you need broad terminal compatibility including ANSI.SYS

## When to avoid
- you need advanced readline features like macros, key binding configuration, or vi/emacs mode toggling
- you are building a GUI application with no terminal interface
- you need Windows-native console APIs beyond ANSI.SYS compatibility

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, c
- tags: readline-replacement, line-editing, terminal, embeddable, history, completion, utf-8, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- antirez/linenoise (main) score 68

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:46.141103+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 2026-08-29T18:21:35.911554+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/antirez/linenoise (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:46.141103+00:00, sha cf7a13c08269)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.