{"slug": "spacemacs", "name": "Spacemacs", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 12, "warners": 2, "score": 3.156, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-11-01", "latest": "2026-10-28", "why": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 4, "compare": 2, "warn": 2}, "spark": [2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.)", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.spacemacs.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Spacemacs"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 777369809, "item_id": 48585613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48585613", "by": "kccqzy", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Doom Emacs and Spacemacs are both very good", "excerpt": "You are just worrying for no good reason. Doom Emacs and Spacemacs are both very good; being far removed from vanilla emacs is not a problem to be worried about.", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving"}, {"id": 776625505, "item_id": 48539094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48539094", "by": "zelphirkalt", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or some other distro like Doom Emacs or Spacemacs or stuff like that, if they are after a better out of the box experience.", "excerpt": "I think whoever really wants to know what Emacs is about will give it a try and spend some time with it. Or some other distro like Doom Emacs or Spacemacs or stuff like that, if they are after a better out of the box experience. What truly is a problem and extremely difficult to solve, is getting multi core and concurrency into Emacs properly. A truly concurrent lightweight thing would be so amazing to have and make ", "context": "", "use_case": "better out-of-the-box Emacs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Even More Batteries Included with Emacs"}, {"id": 735111201, "item_id": 45944450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45944450", "by": "eamonnsullivan", "date": "2025-11-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.)", "excerpt": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.), even though I've used Emacs for over 30 years. I don't use them directly, but they give me ideas and alert me to packages I haven't heard of (eat?). And that gives me an excuse to go on another round of config-tweaking, which any Emacs user loves.", "context": "Emacs user for over 30 years", "use_case": "ideas for Emacs config", "switched_from": "", "story": "IDEmacs: A Visual Studio Code clone for Emacs"}, {"id": 732540576, "item_id": 45783786, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783786", "by": "mijoharas", "date": "2025-11-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'd look into spacemacs (what I use).", "excerpt": "I've been using emacs for a decade by now. I'd look into spacemacs (what I use). It's similar to doom, in that it makes some decisions for you, but you can very much have a customized experience. I for instance have a lot of \"stock\" sections, and other things that are very customized that I've made myself. Look into the \"layers\" (sets of packages that work together). I'd particularly recommend checking out the comple", "context": "Emacs user for a decade", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 776585682, "item_id": 48536605, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536605", "by": "gnulinux", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I constantly had to deal with installing a package and discovering that it broke some unrelated LSP", "excerpt": "My 2 cents (I hope I don't offend anyone, and of course Emacs community is amazing). I've been using Emacs full-time since ~2010 but I must admit it's been more like part-time along with VSCode since ~2024. > This is largely a discoverability problem In my experience it's not a discoverability problem at all. Not even a little bit. My problem with emacs batteries has always been stability between different combinatio", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Even More Batteries Included with Emacs"}, {"id": 732540082, "item_id": 45783755, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783755", "by": "defanor", "date": "2025-11-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So I would not recommend those to new users", "excerpt": "I think the usual advice is to try the vanilla Emacs, maybe use better-defaults (either directly or just for inspiration), as it is a relatively light customization. The setups people use tend to be quite different, as do their opinions on packages, so I doubt there is a single satisfactory and agreed upon \"source of truth\". Others' setups may be useful to check out, possibly pages of emacswiki.org, chatter on the #e", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?"}]}], "who": [{"by": "eamonnsullivan", "context": "Emacs user for over 30 years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45944450", "date": "2025-11-16"}, {"by": "mijoharas", "context": "Emacs user for a decade", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783786", "date": "2025-11-01"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["emacs configuration", "emacs with standard keybindings", "emacs configuration framework", "preconfigured emacs", "better out-of-the-box emacs", "ideas for emacs config"], "compared": [{"slug": "doom-emacs", "name": "Doom Emacs", "co": 11, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "emacs", "name": "Emacs", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vertico", "name": "Vertico", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "consult", "name": "Consult", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "orderless", "name": "Orderless", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "emacs-bedrock", "name": "Emacs Bedrock", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "helm", "name": "Helm", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48584135", "title": "Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783376", "title": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48535886", "title": "Even More Batteries Included with Emacs", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50273171", "title": "Emacs Turns 50", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48857230", "title": "In Emacs, Everything Looks Like a Service", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45941835", "title": "IDEmacs: A Visual Studio Code clone for Emacs", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 2, "compare": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804385510, "item_id": 50274094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50274094", "by": "cyrialize", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "move on from using Spacemacs to making my own configuration", "excerpt": "About 10+ years ago I found a guide on Helm [0] and a guide on Org-mode [1] when I was just getting into Emacs. This helped me move on from using Spacemacs to making my own configuration. I no longer use Helm (I'm doing Vertico/Orderless/Consult), but I've stuck with Org-mode since then. I sometimes venture out to other apps (like Joplin, Obsidian, Apple Notes, Apple Reminders, etc), but Org-mode just works best for ", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs Turns 50"}, {"id": 781735008, "item_id": 48858438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858438", "by": "mimo84", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I also started on spacemacs but then I wanted to learn the basics of it and switched to writing my own configuration from scratch.", "excerpt": "I also started on spacemacs but then I wanted to learn the basics of it and switched to writing my own configuration from scratch. What helped me the most is reading though the Mastering Emacs book by Mickey Petersen which is an amazing resource to learn the basics and beyond. Right now I'm in the process of reducing the number of external packages I use and I'm trying to use more of the built in functionality that i", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "In Emacs, Everything Looks Like a Service"}, {"id": 777513152, "item_id": 48594572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48594572", "by": "didibus", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Spacemacs in holy mode", "excerpt": "Same, I use Spacemacs in holy mode, which is spacemacs with normal emacs key bindings and not vi modals, but still I wish there was a good config that was straight up emacs bindings and didn't pull in evil at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs with standard keybindings", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving"}, {"id": 777369809, "item_id": 48585613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48585613", "by": "kccqzy", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Doom Emacs and Spacemacs are both very good", "excerpt": "You are just worrying for no good reason. Doom Emacs and Spacemacs are both very good; being far removed from vanilla emacs is not a problem to be worried about.", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving"}, {"id": 777358562, "item_id": 48584910, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48584910", "by": "xedrac", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Things like Doom Emacs, and Spacemacs try to solve that problem,  but both feel far removed from vanilla emacs.", "excerpt": "I'm happy to see these improvements. One thing that has always been annoying with Emacs is how much configuration is required to get a modern editor going. Things like Doom Emacs, and Spacemacs try to solve that problem, but both feel far removed from vanilla emacs. I wish Emacs came with several presets so with a single line, you could transform the editor to different base points. For example, most devs want treesi", "context": "", "use_case": "preconfigured Emacs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving"}, {"id": 776625505, "item_id": 48539094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48539094", "by": "zelphirkalt", "date": "2026-06-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or some other distro like Doom Emacs or Spacemacs or stuff like that, if they are after a better out of the box experience.", "excerpt": "I think whoever really wants to know what Emacs is about will give it a try and spend some time with it. Or some other distro like Doom Emacs or Spacemacs or stuff like that, if they are after a better out of the box experience. What truly is a problem and extremely difficult to solve, is getting multi core and concurrency into Emacs properly. A truly concurrent lightweight thing would be so amazing to have and make ", "context": "", "use_case": "better out-of-the-box Emacs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Even More Batteries Included with Emacs"}, {"id": 776585682, "item_id": 48536605, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536605", "by": "gnulinux", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I constantly had to deal with installing a package and discovering that it broke some unrelated LSP", "excerpt": "My 2 cents (I hope I don't offend anyone, and of course Emacs community is amazing). I've been using Emacs full-time since ~2010 but I must admit it's been more like part-time along with VSCode since ~2024. > This is largely a discoverability problem In my experience it's not a discoverability problem at all. Not even a little bit. My problem with emacs batteries has always been stability between different combinatio", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Even More Batteries Included with Emacs"}, {"id": 735111201, "item_id": 45944450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45944450", "by": "eamonnsullivan", "date": "2025-11-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.)", "excerpt": "I love these packages (like this, Spacemacs, Doom, etc.), even though I've used Emacs for over 30 years. I don't use them directly, but they give me ideas and alert me to packages I haven't heard of (eat?). And that gives me an excuse to go on another round of config-tweaking, which any Emacs user loves.", "context": "Emacs user for over 30 years", "use_case": "ideas for Emacs config", "switched_from": "", "story": "IDEmacs: A Visual Studio Code clone for Emacs"}, {"id": 733457394, "item_id": 45841087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841087", "by": "craftkiller", "date": "2025-11-06", "stance": "compare", "quote": "distros like doom/space would be good for avoiding that initial shock/disappointment.", "excerpt": "> What's your take on opinionated distros like Doom Emacs or Spacemacs? If you use vanilla emacs without customization, you are going to have a very basic text editor experience. That is fine if you understand that, and understand that you'll need to start adding your own customizations (like enabling eglot for LSP, and company-mode for code completions, etc) in order to get to an experience closer to what you'd get ", "context": "heavy Emacs user with vanilla config", "use_case": "Emacs starter config", "switched_from": "", "story": "How I am deeply integrating Emacs"}, {"id": 732542657, "item_id": 45783916, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783916", "by": "tammer", "date": "2025-11-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "maybe try spacemacs or doom to see if they offer advantages for your workflow", "excerpt": "I will second the recommendation to start with vanilla emacs. That isn't to disparage releases like spacemacs & doom. I simply found those to be more useful once I fully understood the power that comes with a fully reprogrammable editor. There is a learning curve and there is also a mental model to adopt, and I think that adopting the mental model is easier when starting raw and building up from scratch. Once you fee", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs distribution after learning basics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?"}, {"id": 732540576, "item_id": 45783786, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783786", "by": "mijoharas", "date": "2025-11-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'd look into spacemacs (what I use).", "excerpt": "I've been using emacs for a decade by now. I'd look into spacemacs (what I use). It's similar to doom, in that it makes some decisions for you, but you can very much have a customized experience. I for instance have a lot of \"stock\" sections, and other things that are very customized that I've made myself. Look into the \"layers\" (sets of packages that work together). I'd particularly recommend checking out the comple", "context": "Emacs user for a decade", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?"}, {"id": 732540082, "item_id": 45783755, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45783755", "by": "defanor", "date": "2025-11-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "So I would not recommend those to new users", "excerpt": "I think the usual advice is to try the vanilla Emacs, maybe use better-defaults (either directly or just for inspiration), as it is a relatively light customization. The setups people use tend to be quite different, as do their opinions on packages, so I doubt there is a single satisfactory and agreed upon \"source of truth\". Others' setups may be useful to check out, possibly pages of emacswiki.org, chatter on the #e", "context": "", "use_case": "Emacs configuration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where to begin with \"modern\" Emacs?"}]}