// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers
A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers.
Most terminal editors demand a ceremony before you can edit: configuring plugins, learning a modal system, or fighting with a setup that takes hours to get right. GUI editors are the opposite problem — they are powerful, but reaching for the mouse to edit a config file or fix a typo breaks your flow.
I built txt because I spend most of my time in the terminal, and switching to a different tool just to make a quick edit always felt like friction I did not want. The editors that live in the terminal either have steep learning curves built around modal paradigms, or they are too limited to be genuinely useful.
The design principle behind txt is simple: editing should feel like thought. The editor opens immediately, keystrokes are predictable and discoverable, and the cursor lands exactly where you expect. There is no modal confusion, no mandatory configuration, and no plugin ecosystem to navigate before you can open your first file.
txt is not trying to replace your main IDE. It is the editor you reach for when you just need to edit something — and you want to stay in the terminal to do it.
Installs the latest release binary to ~/.local/bin. Make sure that directory is on your PATH. Re-run the same command to update.
Installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\txt and adds it to your PATH automatically.
The binary will be at ./target/release/txt. Copy it anywhere on your PATH.
Opening a directory brings up the file sidebar automatically. Press F1 at any time to see the full list of key bindings.
The default txt keymap is shown above. VS Code and IntelliJ IDEA presets are available from the settings UI (Ctrl+,), and a ~/.config/txt/keybindings.toml overrides individual bindings.