hed

Modal terminal editor written in C23. hed keeps a small core but ships useful modern tools: tree-sitter highlights, fuzzy file/search pickers, ripgrep-backed quickfix lists, window splits, tmux runner support, and an explicit C API for adding commands, keybindings, and hooks.

Highlights

• Normal / Insert / Command plus Visual (char + block) modes with Vim-like motions and operators, undo/redo, registers, and shared clipboard across buffers.
• Unlimited buffers and multiple windows with vertical/horizontal splits; quickfix pane stays in sync with the cursor for previews.
• Search stack: / and * for intra-file search, ripgrep integrations (:rg, :ssearch, :rgword) that populate quickfix, and jump list navigation (Ctrl-o/Ctrl-i).
• Tree-sitter highlighting with queries in queries/ and prebuilt grammars in ts-langs/; runtime toggle and per-buffer language selection.
• Fuzzy tools: :fzf file picker, :recent recent files, :c command picker, optional bat previews.
• Integrations: tmux runner pane (:tmux_toggle, :tmux_send), lazygit wrapper (:git), shell passthrough (:shell), formatter hook (:fmt), optional word wrap and line-number toggles.

Requirements

• clang, make, POSIX terminal.
• libtree-sitter headers/runtime (-ltree-sitter is linked).
• Optional but recommended: ripgrep, fzf, tmux, lazygit, bat (for previews), nnn (directory browsing)

Build

make            # builds build/hed and build/tsi, copies ts-langs/
make run        # run the binary after building
make clean      # remove build artifacts

Outputs: build/hed (editor) and build/tsi (tree-sitter grammar installer).

Run

./build/hed [file ...]

Use -c "<command>" to run a command at startup (same as typing :<command>), e.g., -c "e other.txt" or -c "q!". Multiple filenames open multiple buffers. Logs go to .hedlog (clear with :logclear).

Quickstart Keys

• Modes: ESC -> Normal, i/a enter Insert/Append, o/O open a new line, v Visual, Ctrl-v block-visual, : Command line.
• Movement: h j k l or arrows, 0/$, gg/G, Ctrl-u/Ctrl-d, % match bracket, * find under cursor, / search, n next match.
• Editing: x delete char, dd delete line, dw/db delete word forward/back, yy yank line, p paste, u undo, Ctrl-r redo, J join lines, >>/<< indent/outdent, cc toggle comment on the line.
• Visual: v or Ctrl-v to start, y yank selection, d delete selection, i/a jump to insert/append.
• Buffers: :e <file>, :ls or <space>bb list, :b N to switch, :bd[ N] close, :bn/:bp next/prev.
• Files: :w, :q, :wq, :q!, :new opens an empty split.
• Windows: :split / :vsplit, <space>ws/wv split, <space>ww cycle focus, <space>wh|wj|wk|wl move focus, <space>wd close window.
• Search & quickfix: <space><space> or <space>ff run :fzf, <space>fr recent files, <space>sd (:rg) and <space>ss (:ssearch), <space>sa ripgrep word under cursor, quickfix toggle <space>tq, next/prev Ctrl-n/Ctrl-p or gn/gp, :copen/:cclose/:cclear.
• Tmux runner: <space>tt toggle runner pane, <space>tT kill it, <space>ts send current line, or :tmux_send <cmd>.
• Misc: <space>cf format buffer (:fmt), <space>tw toggle wrap, <space>qq force quit, <space>rm runs make via shell, <space>gg opens lazygit.

Key chord notation uses literal spaces; <space>ff means press Space then f then f in Normal mode.

Tree-sitter

• hed looks for grammars in $HED_TS_PATH (defaults to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/hed or $XDG_HOME/.config/hed, falling back to ts-langs/). Included: c, c-sharp, html, make, python, rust.
• Install another grammar: ./build/tsi <lang> (clones tree-sitter-<lang>, builds <lang>.so into ts-langs/, copies queries into queries/<lang>/).
• Commands: :ts on|off|auto (auto detects by extension), :tslang <name> to force a language, :tsi <name> installs via the helper.

Search + Quickfix Workflow

• :rg <pattern> (non-interactive) populates quickfix; :rg with no args opens an interactive fzf+rg picker.
• :ssearch searches the current file with live reload and can populate quickfix.
• Quickfix commands: :copen, :cclose, :ctoggle, :cnext/cprev, :copenidx N, :cclear. The quickfix buffer follows the cursor and previews the selected item.

Configuration

• All user-facing customization lives in src/config.c:
  • user_commands_init registers commands (cmd(name, fn, desc) macro).
  • user_keybinds_init sets keybindings for each mode (mapn/mapi/mapv and cmapn/cmapv to map commands).
  • user_hooks_init wires editor hooks (e.g., mode change, buffer lifecycle, cursor movement). Extra quickfix hook logic is in src/user_hooks_quickfix.c.
• Extend in C, and run :reload from inside hed to rebuild and restart.

Project Layout

• src/ core editor (buffers, windows, terminal, commands, keybinds, hooks, undo, quickfix, tmux/fzf/rg helpers, tree-sitter glue).
• src/ui/ rendering helpers and window layout tree.
• src/buf/ buffer and row data structures.
• src/utils/ higher-level features (tree-sitter, quickfix, fzf, tmux, jump list, history, recent files).
• ts/ts_lang_install.c grammar installer; ts-langs/ shared objects; queries/ highlight queries.

Troubleshooting

• Logs: tail -f .hedlog, clear with :logclear.
• If fzf/rg/tmux/lazygit are missing, related commands/keybinds will fail silently or set a status message.