xei 晴

A modern Vim-like terminal editor in Rust with LSP, tree-sitter, and IDE features.

npm install -g xei-editor       # npm
brew install stremtec/xei/xei   # Homebrew
cargo install xei-editor        # Cargo

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stremtec/xei/master/xei/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stremtec/xei/master/xei/install.ps1 | iex

Features

• IN DEV - Vscode plugin intergration (Using Native vscode plugin in xei)

• LSP integration — auto-starts servers when installed (rust-analyzer, pyright, tsserver, clangd, gopls, jdtls, lua-ls, zls, …). Stable init/didOpen/versioned didChange, diagnostics, gd/gr/K, completion, semantic tokens

• Syntax highlighting (quality stack) — LSP semantic tokens ▸ tree-sitter highlights.scm queries (Rust, Python, JS/TS, C, Go, Bash, JSON) ▸ line-tokenizer fallback for many other languages; CJK-safe char columns

• Git gutter — + / ~ / ▁ signs from git diff HEAD

• Source Control (Ctrl+G) — light SCM: commit message, stage/unstage, Changes, commit graph

• Git workbench (Ctrl+Shift+G) — near full-screen mini GitHub: Status (stage/discard) · Branches (create/delete) · History (list/graph, cherry-pick/revert) · Commit · Diff · PRs · Issues · Auth; fetch/pull/rebase-pull/push/stash

• Pretty document preview (Ctrl+Shift+V) — GitHub-flavored Markdown / JSON (h1–h6, setext, tables+align, task/nested lists, alerts, footnotes, autolinks, images, ```/~~~ fences, entities, <kbd>); source transforms into the pretty view behind a ░▒▓ wavefront

• Breadcrumbs — VS Code-style path under the tab bar

• Code folding — indent folds: za toggle · zc/zo · zM/zR

• Git blame — Ctrl+B / gb flame-colored side panel (file slides right)

• Which-key — Space leader map (files/git/lsp/debug/window/…) + delayed chord popups for g/z/d/Ctrl+W

• DAP debugger v2 — F5 start/continue · F6 pause · F9 breakpoints (:bp if expr / :bp log msg) · F10/F11 step · variables tree · console REPL (eval when stopped) · :DapAttach · .vscode/launch.json configs · debugpy / dlv / lldb-dap / js-debug (TCP)

• Call hierarchy — gC / :calls incoming · gH outgoing (LSP); Tab flip · Enter jump

• Interactive rebase — :rebase 8 / SPC g r · pick/squash/fixup/drop · reorder · run

• Code lens — LSP lenses at EOL (:codelens / SPC t l)

• PR review — Enter on a PR (or :pr 12) · files · diff · review comments

• Hooks — ~/.xei/hooks.toml shell commands on save/open/quit

• Snippets — Insert-mode Tab expands triggers (fn, for, if, def, …)

• Session restore — reopens last files + cursors from ~/.xei/session when started with no args

• Multi-buffer tabs — gt/gT to switch, :e opens in new tab, :bd closes

• Vim modal editing — Normal, Insert, Visual, Visual Line + operators (d/c/y) × motions × text objects (diw, ci", daw…)

• Dot-repeat & redo — . repeats last change; Ctrl+R redo

• Incremental search — live / and reverse ?, n/N, */#

• File change detection — auto-reload on external modification

• System clipboard — Cmd+C/V/X, y/d/p sync to OS (pbcopy / xclip / wl-copy + OSC 52)

• Inline preview images — ![alt](local.png) in the Markdown preview renders the actual picture (Kitty graphics; Ghostty/Kitty/WezTerm), sized to the terminal's real cell pixels

• Terminal scrollback — wheel / PageUp scrolls history (↑N badge); wheel forwards to mouse-aware TUIs (claude, vim); CJK-correct rendering

• Terminal paste & file drop — Cmd+V / Ctrl+Shift+V paste into the built-in terminal (bracketed-paste, so agent CLIs see one paste); drag a file onto the window to hand its path to the child (e.g. attach an image to claude-code). A bitmap on the clipboard is saved to a temp PNG and pasted as a path

• Command palette — Ctrl+P files, Ctrl+Shift+P commands, :problems

• Diagnostics — ]d/[d jump, problems list; K LSP hover

• Mouse support — click tabs, drag select, double-click word, scroll, panel resize

• Auto-pairing — brackets/quotes close automatically, smart indent on Enter

• Smart indent — Enter copies indentation, adds extra for {, [, (, :, =>, ->

• Panel system — file explorer (Ctrl+F), built-in PTY terminal (Ctrl+T), XLC command bar (:)

• 10 themes — ocean, monokai, nord, solarized, gruvbox, everforest, sakura, newspaper, mono, mono_dark

• CJK support — Korean, Japanese, Chinese characters render at full width

• Light on large files — row-indexed syntax tokens / folds / search matches (no per-frame whole-file scans), O(n) bulk paste, and an adaptive input loop that idles instead of spinning at 100 Hz

• Self-metrics & benchmark — :status shows this process's live CPU (one-core-normalized, with cores-in-use) and memory in the status line (plus device GPU% on Linux); :bench times the editor's own hot paths on-screen (r rerun · Esc exit)

Terminal compatibility

xei requests the kitty keyboard protocol when the terminal supports it (Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, foot, recent Alacritty) so Ctrl+Shift+… chords are fully disambiguated. On legacy terminals (Terminal.app, plain xterm) those chords collapse into plain Ctrl+… — use the built-in fallbacks:

Chord	Fallback
Ctrl+Shift+V preview	SPC f p · :preview
Ctrl+Shift+G git workbench	SPC g g
Ctrl+Shift+P command palette	SPC p
Ctrl+Shift+F find in files	SPC s f
Ctrl+Shift+T terminal window	SPC w t / SPC t T
Ctrl+Shift+D debug panel	SPC d d
Ctrl+Shift+I format	SPC l f
Ctrl+Shift+O symbols	gO
Ctrl+, settings	:settings
Ctrl+. code actions	SPC l a

⚠ On legacy terminals a Ctrl+Shift+key press arrives as plain Ctrl+key and triggers that binding instead (e.g. Ctrl+Shift+V lands on visual block). Ctrl+, and Ctrl+. produce no byte at all. This is a terminal limitation — the fallbacks above are the supported path.

Windows: runs in Windows Terminal / ConPTY (PowerShell is spawned for the built-in terminal; clipboard falls back to clip / Get-Clipboard + OSC 52).

LSP

Auto-detected on file open. Status bar shows LSP: clangd (3).

Command	Action
:LspStart <cmd>	Manually start a language server
gd	Go to definition
Ctrl+A	Completions (keywords + LSP items)

Keybindings

Normal Mode

Key	Action
h j k l / ←↓↑→	Move cursor
w b	Next / previous word
0 $	Start / end of line
gg G	Top / bottom of file
Space	Leader (which-key): f files · g git · l lsp · w window · …
]c [c	Next / previous git change
i a A o O	Enter Insert mode
x	Delete character
d/c/y + motion	Operators (dw, d$, dG, cc…)
diw ci" dib …	Text objects (inner/around word, quotes, brackets)
"a "A "+	Registers (named / append / clipboard) then y/d/p
ma 'a `a	Set mark / jump (line / exact)
Ctrl+O Ctrl+I	Jumplist back / forward
f/t then ; ,	Find char; repeat / reverse
.	Repeat last change
p P	Paste after / before
u / Ctrl+R	Undo / Redo
v V	Visual / Visual Line
/ ?	Search forward / reverse
n N	Next / previous match
* #	Word under cursor (fwd / back)
gt gT	Next / previous tab
gd	Go to definition (LSP)
gp	Peek definition (Enter opens)
gO / Ctrl+Shift+O	Document symbols (outline)
Ctrl+W v / s	Vertical / horizontal split (repeat → up to 4 panes)
Ctrl+W w / q	Cycle pane / close focused pane
Ctrl+W h/j/k/l	Directional pane focus
zh zl zH zL	Pan view horizontally (wrap_lines = false)
Ctrl+Shift+F	Find in files (workspace)
Ctrl+.	Code actions / quick fix (LSP)
Ctrl+Shift+I	Format document (LSP)
:	Command panel (:42 go to line, :w …)
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+G	Light Source Control (stage/commit)
Ctrl+Shift+G	Full Git workbench (branch/sync/diff)
Ctrl+,	Settings (About / Setting / Help)
Ctrl+Shift+V	Pretty preview (Markdown / JSON)
Ctrl+P / Cmd+P	Quick open files
Ctrl+Shift+P	Command palette
]d / [d	Next / prev diagnostic
K	LSP hover
Cmd+C / Cmd+V / Cmd+X	Copy / paste / cut (system clipboard)
Ctrl+V	Visual block
qa … q / @a / @@	Record / play / replay macro
gr	LSP references
gb	Toggle git blame
za zc zo zM zR	Fold toggle / close / open / all
:s/pat/repl/g / :%s//g	Substitute
:Rename name	LSP rename

Visual Mode

Key	Action
d	Delete selection
y	Yank (copy)
Cmd+C	Copy to system clipboard

Insert Mode

Key	Action
Ctrl+A	Trigger autocomplete (LSP + keywords)
Cmd+V	Paste from system clipboard

Panels

Key	Action
Ctrl+F	Toggle file explorer
Ctrl+T / F12	Side terminal panel
Ctrl+Shift+T	Terminal window (auto split). Close: Ctrl+Shift+W then y. Esc goes to shell.
Ctrl+E	Toggle XLC panel

XLC Commands (:)

Command	Action
:w :save	Save file
:e <file>	Open file (new tab if already open)
:q / :q!	Quit / Force quit
:wq :x	Save and quit
:bd	Close current tab
:mv <dest>	Move / rename file
:rm	Delete file
:pwd :ls	Directory info
/pattern	Incremental search
:theme <name>	Switch theme
:preview	Pretty document preview
:pr <N>	PR review surface (gh)
:bp / :bp if <expr>	Breakpoint / conditional
:DapLaunch <prog> [args]	Debug a program
:DapAttach <target>	Attach debugger
:hooks	Reload ~/.xei/hooks.toml
:update	Self-update to the latest release
:mbb	New blank tab (welcome screen)
:LspStart <cmd>	Start language server
:bench	Self-benchmark the editor hot paths (r rerun · Esc exit)
:status	Toggle a live CPU / memory readout in the status line (GPU on Linux)
:help	List all commands

Themes

ocean · monokai · nord · solarized · gruvbox · everforest · sakura · newspaper · mono · mono_dark

:theme sakura    # persists to ~/.xei.toml

Configuration

~/.xei.toml — created on first theme change; every key optional:

theme = "ocean"
tab_width = 4
clipboard_sync = true
relative_number = false
wrap_lines = true       # false = horizontal scroll (zh/zl/zH/zL pan, ↔ badge)
update_check = true     # startup release check (welcome notice · :update)
undo_caching = false    # keep undo history across close/reopen (~/.xei/undo)
gpu_graphics = true     # Kitty-graphics layer (inline images · pet · media)
gpu_hyperlinks = true   # OSC 8 links
gpu_acc = true          # Ghostty/Kitty enhancements (Ctrl+, → Setting)
key_hints = true        # which-key chord popups
lsp_enabled = true      # per-language overrides via [lsp] or Settings

Plugin hooks live in ~/.xei/hooks.toml (on_save / on_open / on_quit).

License

MIT