{"slug": "textadept", "name": "Textadept", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.852, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2026-03-04", "latest": "2026-09-02", "why": "What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://orbitalquark.github.io/textadept/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Textadept"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792539328, "item_id": 49533708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49533708", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-09-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Then I switched to textadept.", "excerpt": "I have used it on Windows and I loved it. But seemed to be abandoned. Then I switched to textadept.", "context": "", "use_case": "text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text editor written in C and Lua"}, {"id": 756024240, "item_id": 47251515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251515", "by": "Fwirt", "date": "2026-03-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small", "excerpt": "For starters, Sublime Text is closed-source. A better parallel would be something like Neovim, which also is extensible with Lua. What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend. Contrast with Vim and its massive manual. However, like Emacs, almost everything is fair game for customization. For example, I wanted minimap functionali", "context": "", "use_case": "small extensible editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Textadept"}, {"id": 755961921, "item_id": 47247620, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47247620", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-03-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it could serve as a more secure alternative to Notepad++", "excerpt": "If I was malware, one of the first things I'd do is check that scratch files directory for secrets. The default behavior of Notepad++ is a very real security risk. So many system admins and developers will throw passwords and API keys into there and just forget about it. The scratch files are all sitting there unencrypted and with easy to exploit permissions. Alas, my first thought after seeing TextAdept was that it ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Textadept"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["text editing", "small extensible editor"], "compared": [{"slug": "notepadplusplus", "name": "Notepad++", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47204027", "title": "Textadept", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49525633", "title": "Text editor written in C and Lua", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 792539328, "item_id": 49533708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49533708", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-09-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Then I switched to textadept.", "excerpt": "I have used it on Windows and I loved it. But seemed to be abandoned. Then I switched to textadept.", "context": "", "use_case": "text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text editor written in C and Lua"}, {"id": 756024240, "item_id": 47251515, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47251515", "by": "Fwirt", "date": "2026-03-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small", "excerpt": "For starters, Sublime Text is closed-source. A better parallel would be something like Neovim, which also is extensible with Lua. What draws me to Textadept over Neovim is that it's intentionally kept very small, which means it's very easy to understand and extend. Contrast with Vim and its massive manual. However, like Emacs, almost everything is fair game for customization. For example, I wanted minimap functionali", "context": "", "use_case": "small extensible editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Textadept"}, {"id": 756000995, "item_id": 47250062, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47250062", "by": "SpartanJ", "date": "2026-03-04", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "It's similar in spirit to Notepad++ and Textadept", "excerpt": "Shameless plug: For anyone interested in new code editors, I'm working on a multi-platform one called ecode [1]. It's similar in spirit to Notepad++ and Textadept, and some of the newer ones like Zed. It tries to be a fresh take using modern tools like LSP and DAP. I started it after using Geany for many years but finding it lacking some essential features for my needs. Speed is a big focus and it has very fast start", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Textadept"}, {"id": 755961921, "item_id": 47247620, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47247620", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-03-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it could serve as a more secure alternative to Notepad++", "excerpt": "If I was malware, one of the first things I'd do is check that scratch files directory for secrets. The default behavior of Notepad++ is a very real security risk. So many system admins and developers will throw passwords and API keys into there and just forget about it. The scratch files are all sitting there unencrypted and with easy to exploit permissions. Alas, my first thought after seeing TextAdept was that it ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Textadept"}]}