macpad

A simple multi-tab notepad for macOS (and Windows/Linux) built on top of the Visual Studio Code open-source editor — Monaco.

Features

• Multi-tab editing (open many files, switch with Ctrl+Tab)
• Syntax highlighting for ~70 languages via Monaco (JS/TS, Python, Go, Rust, Java, C/C++, C#, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML, Markdown, SQL, Shell, PHP, Ruby, Swift, Kotlin, Dockerfile, …)
• Automatic language detection from file extension; manual override via status-bar language picker
• Standard shortcuts: New, Open…, Save, Save As…, Close Tab
• Dirty indicator per tab, save prompt on close
• Light / dark theme (auto follows system by default; ⌥⌘T toggles)
• Line & column display, word wrap

Install

npm install -g macpad
macpad

This installs the editor as a global CLI; running macpad launches the desktop app.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (developed against 22)

Run in dev

npm install
npm run dev

Vite serves the renderer, and vite-plugin-electron boots Electron pointing at it; hot-reload covers both processes.

Production build

npm run build
npm run start

Keyboard shortcuts

| Action | macOS | Windows / Linux | | ------------- | ------------- | ---------------- | | New tab | ⌘N | Ctrl+N | | Open file | ⌘O | Ctrl+O | | Save | ⌘S | Ctrl+S | | Save As | ⇧⌘S | Ctrl+Shift+S | | Close tab | ⌘W | Ctrl+W | | Next tab | ⌃Tab | Ctrl+Tab | | Previous tab | ⌃⇧Tab | Ctrl+Shift+Tab | | Toggle theme | ⌥⌘T | Ctrl+Alt+T |

Inside the editor, all standard Monaco shortcuts work (⌘F find, ⌥⇧F format if the language supports it, multi-cursor, etc.).

Architecture

• Main process (src/main/) — Electron app lifecycle, native menu, file-system IPC handlers.
• Preload (src/main/preload.ts) — contextBridge exposes a narrow window.macpad API to the renderer; contextIsolation is on and nodeIntegration is off.
• Renderer (src/renderer/) — plain TS. Bootstraps Monaco, manages tab models, renders the tab bar and status bar.
• Shared (src/shared/types.ts) — IPC message types used by both sides.