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Lapce is a Fast, Lightweight Open-Source Code Editor in Making

Lapce is an open-source code editor built in Rust. It is in its early stages of development, but looks promising!

,   and  Ankush Das
3 min read

There are plenty of open-source code editors available for Linux.

What would you think about another option: A Rust-based open source code editor focusing on performance?

It should be exciting, right?

Lapce is one such project in development that aims to present a feature-rich and fast code editor as an alternative to Microsoft's Visual Studio Code.

The developer also mentions that it was inspired by Xi-editor (which is no longer in active development).

Lapce at its Pre-Alpha Stage

lapce editor
Lapce running on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS

Although Lapce is not yet a complete offering, it has much to offer.

So, seeing what we get as the stable releases approach closer should be interesting.

The features worth highlighting include:

  • Command palette (quick actions).
  • Customize the UI font, header height, font shadow, scroll width, etc.
  • Built-in terminal.
  • Vim-like modal editing.
  • Connect to a remote computer.
  • Code syntax highlighting, code completion, and similar essentials.
  • Plugin system.
  • Dark/light mode.

While it focuses on performance, it looks good in terms of user experience (even though it is incomplete).

If users get access to all the essential features one expects in a code editor, and a better-performing application, Lapce can be a popular choice in no time.

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Download Lapce

Lapce is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows as a pre-alpha build.

For Linux, you just need to download and extract the tar.gz package and run the Lapce executable available using the GUI or the terminal.

It is under heavy development at the moment. You can download the package for your platform and test it, but you should expect bugs and new releases soon enough. Explore its GitHub page for more information.

Lapce

I tried it on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS, and noticed the UI freezing a couple of times. However, the functionalities that it provides seem impressive.

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💬 What are your thoughts on Lapce as an open-source code editor built in Rust? Do you think you will consider it over your current favorite? Share what you think in the comments below.

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