TuiCode

A minimalist terminal code editor inspired by VS Code.

tuicode-intro.mp4

Installing

Linux, on any distro (x64 or arm64, no sudo):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mentaldesk/TuiCode/main/install.sh | sh

It installs the latest release to ~/.local/bin/tuicode, after checking its SHA-256. Run it again to update.

TuiCode runs on glibc 2.35 or newer: Debian 12, Ubuntu 22.04, current Fedora and Arch, and anything newer. It doesn't need libicu.

macOS via Homebrew (it works on Linux too):

brew install mentaldesk/tap/tuicode

Windows via Scoop:

scoop bucket add mentaldesk https://github.com/mentaldesk/scoop-bucket
scoop install tuicode

Other channels (winget, Linux packagers) are tracked in #43 and #44. In the meantime, pre-built single-file binaries for every supported RID are attached to each GitHub Release.

Debian or Ubuntu, as a system package: download tuicode_<version>_amd64.deb (or _arm64.deb) from the latest release, then:

sudo apt install ./tuicode_<version>_amd64.deb

Fedora, as a system package (aarch64 in place of x86_64 on arm64):

sudo dnf install https://github.com/mentaldesk/TuiCode/releases/download/v<version>/tuicode-<version>-1.x86_64.rpm

Installing a newer package upgrades it in place, and sudo apt remove tuicode / sudo dnf remove tuicode uninstalls it.

Running

tuicode                  # the folder you're in
tuicode src/App.cs       # that file, with the folder you're in in the explorer
tuicode ~/projects/api   # that folder
tuicode src/App.cs:42    # that file, cursor on line 42 (`:42:9` for a column too)
tuicode src/*.cs         # every match as a tab, the first one active
tuicode --help           # every flag the CLI takes

A path that isn't there is offered for creation first, so a typo doesn't leave an empty file behind.

Needs a real terminal — the app won't render through a non-TTY pipe. On macOS, prefer iTerm2, Ghostty, WezTerm, or Alacritty over Terminal.app, which strips most three-modifier key combos and breaks some chord shortcuts. On Linux, kitty / foot / GNOME Terminal with modifyOtherKeys all work.

Getting help

• Bug reports and feature requests: open an issue.
• Questions and ideas: GitHub Discussions.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for branch/PR/release workflow and AGENTS.md for code-level conventions (key handling, theming, AOT, the test framework). Written for AI coding agents but just as useful for humans.