{"slug": "kakoune", "name": "Kakoune", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 3.814, "rising": 2.67, "first": "2026-05-03", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "kakoune.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://kakoune.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Kakoune"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804461280, "item_id": 50278830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50278830", "by": "paaloeye", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune) is a good example of it.", "excerpt": "> I wish every application worth putting a plugin system in it followed this philosophy. Does it open the door for compromising on the core XP whilst expecting everything to be a plugin for example? It's also making the task of testing N^2 complex. Sometimes a well-thought-through plugin system is no plugin system. Kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune) is a good example of it. I know it's an Emacs celebration pa", "context": "", "use_case": "Modal text editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs Turns 50"}, {"id": 794741568, "item_id": 49671348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49671348", "by": "atiedebee", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using kakoune for the past 2-3 years and it has been great.", "excerpt": "I've been using kakoune for the past 2-3 years and it has been great. My main reason for switching from vim was the adherence to the Unix philosophy, but the editing model has been great. Seeing your selections change after each command + the clippy help text when entering a different \"mode\"^1 has made learning different editing patterns very easy. The only thing I really miss from vim is the number increment/decreme", "context": "", "use_case": "Terminal text editing", "switched_from": "Vim", "story": "Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers"}, {"id": 789742352, "item_id": 49358897, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49358897", "by": "mawww", "date": "2026-08-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am regularly surprised by how simple/quickly things can be done with Kakoune's shell based model", "excerpt": "https://sr.ht/~hadronized/kak-tree-sitter/ exists. I have not used it personally but the author has been pretty active and we had multiple discussions around performance, AFAIU it does not rely that much on the shell as most communication with Kakoune can take place directly over fifos. Similarly https://github.com/kakoune-lsp/kakoune-lsp exists and has been a pretty good showcase of how complex plugins can be implem", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kakoune Code Editor"}, {"id": 781951664, "item_id": 48871979, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871979", "by": "xlii", "date": "2026-07-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that.", "excerpt": "Obviously Kakoune is much simpler than Emacs, so face variability, very interactive UI is not there (though there'd be nothing preventing writing it, but I doubt anyone wants it enough). As for transition - I always was somewhat of an UNIX guy, so I replaced Swiper/Occur/Consult with delegating to shell. Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that. In some language", "context": "UNIX guy", "use_case": "text editor", "switched_from": "Emacs", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "xlii", "context": "UNIX guy", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871979", "date": "2026-07-11"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["modal text editor", "terminal text editing", "modal text editing", "text editor"], "compared": [{"slug": "vim", "name": "Vim", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gnu-emacs", "name": "GNU Emacs", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "helix", "name": "Helix", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49664322", "title": "Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50310055", "title": "Show HN: Ultrafast Rust Based Agent Workspace", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50273171", "title": "Emacs Turns 50", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49937540", "title": "Make Tmux the OS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49349910", "title": "Kakoune Code Editor", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858121", "title": "Good Tools Are Invisible", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804969873, "item_id": 50310617, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50310617", "by": "paaloeye", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Mine is Ghostty + Kakoune + Nushell", "excerpt": "Exactly. Mine is Ghostty + Kakoune + Nushell sprinkled with Apple Script Ref: https://github.com/paaloeye/libgtty.nu", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Ultrafast Rust Based Agent Workspace"}, {"id": 804461280, "item_id": 50278830, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50278830", "by": "paaloeye", "date": "2026-10-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune) is a good example of it.", "excerpt": "> I wish every application worth putting a plugin system in it followed this philosophy. Does it open the door for compromising on the core XP whilst expecting everything to be a plugin for example? It's also making the task of testing N^2 complex. Sometimes a well-thought-through plugin system is no plugin system. Kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune) is a good example of it. I know it's an Emacs celebration pa", "context": "", "use_case": "Modal text editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs Turns 50"}, {"id": 799562065, "item_id": 49972629, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49972629", "by": "rmunn", "date": "2026-10-06", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "you could try https://kakoune.org/ or https://helix-editor.com/", "excerpt": "Can't give house-layout recommendations, but if you don't like Vim's verb-first syntax (y3w for \"yank 3 words\"), then you could try https://kakoune.org/ or https://helix-editor.com/, both of which (I'm told) operate noun-first (first you select the words, then you press the command key). But Vim can also operate noun-first: just press `v` to go into visual mode. Then you drag out a selection, and press the command. N", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make Tmux the OS"}, {"id": 794741568, "item_id": 49671348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49671348", "by": "atiedebee", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using kakoune for the past 2-3 years and it has been great.", "excerpt": "I've been using kakoune for the past 2-3 years and it has been great. My main reason for switching from vim was the adherence to the Unix philosophy, but the editing model has been great. Seeing your selections change after each command + the clippy help text when entering a different \"mode\"^1 has made learning different editing patterns very easy. The only thing I really miss from vim is the number increment/decreme", "context": "", "use_case": "Terminal text editing", "switched_from": "Vim", "story": "Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers"}, {"id": 794697489, "item_id": 49668593, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668593", "by": "haberman", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "I've seen somewhat convincing arguments that it is a more powerful model for modal editing.", "excerpt": "Vim is great and I have 25 years of muscle memory for it. But I'm also interested in trying Kakoune (https://kakoune.org/why-kakoune/why-kakoune.html) -- which I understand also has a VSCode plugin called Dance (https://github.com/71/dance) -- as I've seen somewhat convincing arguments that it is a more powerful model for modal editing. Instead of \"verb object\" (eg. delete word or \"dw\"), it is \"object verb\" (eg. word", "context": "", "use_case": "modal text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineers"}, {"id": 789742352, "item_id": 49358897, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49358897", "by": "mawww", "date": "2026-08-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am regularly surprised by how simple/quickly things can be done with Kakoune's shell based model", "excerpt": "https://sr.ht/~hadronized/kak-tree-sitter/ exists. I have not used it personally but the author has been pretty active and we had multiple discussions around performance, AFAIU it does not rely that much on the shell as most communication with Kakoune can take place directly over fifos. Similarly https://github.com/kakoune-lsp/kakoune-lsp exists and has been a pretty good showcase of how complex plugins can be implem", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kakoune Code Editor"}, {"id": 781951664, "item_id": 48871979, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871979", "by": "xlii", "date": "2026-07-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that.", "excerpt": "Obviously Kakoune is much simpler than Emacs, so face variability, very interactive UI is not there (though there'd be nothing preventing writing it, but I doubt anyone wants it enough). As for transition - I always was somewhat of an UNIX guy, so I replaced Swiper/Occur/Consult with delegating to shell. Kakoune has just enough utilities to create a on-keystroke-updated-buffer so I'm happy with that. In some language", "context": "UNIX guy", "use_case": "text editor", "switched_from": "Emacs", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}, {"id": 767909443, "item_id": 47994340, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47994340", "by": "59nadir", "date": "2026-05-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Kakoune (a niche text editor that I use)", "excerpt": "> However, I'm not convinced this shows GPT 5.5 being that much better than Opus 4.7. It could very well be the harness around it, the system prompts used in the harness and tools available. A model that can more effectively make use of the tools presented to it is going to be better. You're not wrong about the system prompt; these can have quite a pronounced effect, especially when what the agent is bridging to is n", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kimi K2.6 just beat Claude, GPT-5.5, and Gemini in a coding challenge"}]}