xei 晴

A modern Vim-like terminal editor in Rust with LSP, tree-sitter, and IDE features.

npm install -g xei-editor       # npm
brew install stremtec/xei/xei   # Homebrew
cargo install xei-editor        # Cargo

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stremtec/xei/master/xei/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stremtec/xei/master/xei/install.ps1 | iex

Features

• LSP integration — auto-starts servers when installed (rust-analyzer, pyright, tsserver, clangd, gopls, jdtls, lua-ls, zls, …). Stable init/didOpen/versioned didChange, diagnostics, gd/gr/K, completion, semantic tokens
• Syntax highlighting (quality stack) — LSP semantic tokens ▸ tree-sitter highlights.scm queries (Rust, Python, JS/TS, C, Go, Bash, JSON) ▸ line-tokenizer fallback for many other languages; CJK-safe char columns
• Git gutter — + / ~ / ▁ signs from git diff HEAD
• Source Control (Ctrl+G) — light SCM: commit message, stage/unstage, Changes, commit graph
• Git workbench (Ctrl+Shift+G) — near full-screen mini GitHub: Status (stage/discard) · Branches (create/delete) · History (list/graph, cherry-pick/revert) · Commit · Diff · PRs · Issues · Auth; fetch/pull/rebase-pull/push/stash
• Pretty document preview (Ctrl+Shift+V) — GitHub-flavored Markdown / JSON (h1–h6, setext, tables+align, task/nested lists, alerts, footnotes, autolinks, images, ```/~~~ fences, entities, <kbd>); source transforms into the pretty view behind a ░▒▓ wavefront
• Breadcrumbs — VS Code-style path under the tab bar
• Code folding — indent folds: za toggle · zc/zo · zM/zR
• Git blame — Ctrl+B / gb flame-colored side panel (file slides right)
• Which-key — Space leader map (files/git/lsp/debug/window/…) + delayed chord popups for g/z/d/Ctrl+W
• DAP debugger v2 — F5 start/continue · F6 pause · F9 breakpoints (:bp if expr / :bp log msg) · F10/F11 step · variables tree · console REPL (eval when stopped) · :DapAttach · .vscode/launch.json configs · debugpy / dlv / lldb-dap / js-debug (TCP)
• Call hierarchy — gC / :calls incoming · gH outgoing (LSP); Tab flip · Enter jump
• Interactive rebase — :rebase 8 / SPC g r · pick/squash/fixup/drop · reorder · run
• Code lens — LSP lenses at EOL (:codelens / SPC t l)
• PR review — Enter on a PR (or :pr 12) · files · diff · review comments
• Hooks — ~/.xei/hooks.toml shell commands on save/open/quit
• Snippets — Insert-mode Tab expands triggers (fn, for, if, def, …)
• Session restore — reopens last files + cursors from ~/.xei/session when started with no args
• Multi-buffer tabs — gt/gT to switch, :e opens in new tab, :bd closes
• Vim modal editing — Normal, Insert, Visual, Visual Line + operators (d/c/y) × motions × text objects (diw, ci", daw…)
• Dot-repeat & redo — . repeats last change; Ctrl+R redo
• Incremental search — live / and reverse ?, n/N, */#
• File change detection — auto-reload on external modification
• System clipboard — Cmd+C/V/X, y/d/p sync to OS (pbcopy / xclip / wl-copy + OSC 52)
• Inline preview images — ![alt](local.png) in the Markdown preview renders the actual picture (Kitty graphics; Ghostty/Kitty/WezTerm), sized to the terminal's real cell pixels
• Terminal scrollback — wheel / PageUp scrolls history (↑N badge); wheel forwards to mouse-aware TUIs (claude, vim); CJK-correct rendering
• Command palette — Ctrl+P files, Ctrl+Shift+P commands, :problems
• Diagnostics — ]d/[d jump, problems list; K LSP hover
• Mouse support — click tabs, drag select, double-click word, scroll, panel resize
• Auto-pairing — brackets/quotes close automatically, smart indent on Enter
• Smart indent — Enter copies indentation, adds extra for {, [, (, :, =>, ->
• Panel system — file explorer (Ctrl+F), built-in PTY terminal (Ctrl+T), XLC command bar (:)
• 10 themes — ocean, monokai, nord, solarized, gruvbox, everforest, sakura, newspaper, mono, mono_dark
• CJK support — Korean, Japanese, Chinese characters render at full width

Terminal compatibility

xei requests the kitty keyboard protocol when the terminal supports it (Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, foot, recent Alacritty) so Ctrl+Shift+… chords are fully disambiguated. On legacy terminals (Terminal.app, plain xterm) those chords collapse into plain Ctrl+… — use the built-in fallbacks:

| Chord | Fallback | |---|---| | Ctrl+Shift+V preview | SPC f p · :preview | | Ctrl+Shift+G git workbench | SPC g g | | Ctrl+Shift+P command palette | SPC p | | Ctrl+Shift+F find in files | SPC s f | | Ctrl+Shift+T terminal window | SPC w t / SPC t T | | Ctrl+Shift+D debug panel | SPC d d | | Ctrl+Shift+I format | SPC l f | | Ctrl+Shift+O symbols | gO | | Ctrl+, settings | :settings | | Ctrl+. code actions | SPC l a |

⚠ On legacy terminals a Ctrl+Shift+key press arrives as plain Ctrl+key and triggers that binding instead (e.g. Ctrl+Shift+V lands on visual block). Ctrl+, and Ctrl+. produce no byte at all. This is a terminal limitation — the fallbacks above are the supported path.

Windows: runs in Windows Terminal / ConPTY (PowerShell is spawned for the built-in terminal; clipboard falls back to clip / Get-Clipboard + OSC 52).

LSP

Auto-detected on file open. Status bar shows LSP: clangd (3).

| Command | Action | |---|---| | :LspStart <cmd> | Manually start a language server | | gd | Go to definition | | Ctrl+A | Completions (keywords + LSP items) |

Keybindings

Normal Mode

| Key | Action | |---|---| | h j k l / ←↓↑→ | Move cursor | | w b | Next / previous word | | 0 $ | Start / end of line | | gg G | Top / bottom of file | | Space | Leader (which-key): f files · g git · l lsp · w window · … | | ]c [c | Next / previous git change | | i a A o O | Enter Insert mode | | x | Delete character | | d/c/y + motion | Operators (dw, d$, dG, cc…) | | diw ci" dib … | Text objects (inner/around word, quotes, brackets) | | "a "A "+ | Registers (named / append / clipboard) then y/d/p | | ma 'a `a | Set mark / jump (line / exact) | | Ctrl+O Ctrl+I | Jumplist back / forward | | f/t then ; , | Find char; repeat / reverse | | . | Repeat last change | | p P | Paste after / before | | u / Ctrl+R | Undo / Redo | | v V | Visual / Visual Line | | / ? | Search forward / reverse | | n N | Next / previous match | | * # | Word under cursor (fwd / back) | | gt gT | Next / previous tab | | gd | Go to definition (LSP) | | gp | Peek definition (Enter opens) | | gO / Ctrl+Shift+O | Document symbols (outline) | | Ctrl+W v / s | Vertical / horizontal split (repeat → up to 4 panes) | | Ctrl+W w / q | Cycle pane / close focused pane | | Ctrl+W h/j/k/l | Directional pane focus | | zh zl zH zL | Pan view horizontally (wrap_lines = false) | | Ctrl+Shift+F | Find in files (workspace) | | Ctrl+. | Code actions / quick fix (LSP) | | Ctrl+Shift+I | Format document (LSP) | | : | Command panel (:42 go to line, :w …) | | Ctrl+S | Save | | Ctrl+G | Light Source Control (stage/commit) | | Ctrl+Shift+G | Full Git workbench (branch/sync/diff) | | Ctrl+, | Settings (About / Setting / Help) | | Ctrl+Shift+V | Pretty preview (Markdown / JSON) | | Ctrl+P / Cmd+P | Quick open files | | Ctrl+Shift+P | Command palette | | ]d / [d | Next / prev diagnostic | | K | LSP hover | | Cmd+C / Cmd+V / Cmd+X | Copy / paste / cut (system clipboard) | | Ctrl+V | Visual block | | qa … q / @a / @@ | Record / play / replay macro | | gr | LSP references | | gb | Toggle git blame | | za zc zo zM zR | Fold toggle / close / open / all | | :s/pat/repl/g / :%s//g | Substitute | | :Rename name | LSP rename |

Visual Mode

| Key | Action | |---|---| | d | Delete selection | | y | Yank (copy) | | Cmd+C | Copy to system clipboard |

Insert Mode

| Key | Action | |---|---| | Ctrl+A | Trigger autocomplete (LSP + keywords) | | Cmd+V | Paste from system clipboard |

Panels

| Key | Action | |---|---| | Ctrl+F | Toggle file explorer | | Ctrl+T / F12 | Side terminal panel | | Ctrl+Shift+T | Terminal window (auto split). Close: Ctrl+Shift+W then y. Esc goes to shell. | | Ctrl+E | Toggle XLC panel |

XLC Commands (:)

| Command | Action | |---|---| | :w :save | Save file | | :e <file> | Open file (new tab if already open) | | :q / :q! | Quit / Force quit | | :wq :x | Save and quit | | :bd | Close current tab | | :mv <dest> | Move / rename file | | :rm | Delete file | | :pwd :ls | Directory info | | /pattern | Incremental search | | :theme <name> | Switch theme | | :preview | Pretty document preview | | :pr <N> | PR review surface (gh) | | :bp / :bp if <expr> | Breakpoint / conditional | | :DapLaunch <prog> [args] | Debug a program | | :DapAttach <target> | Attach debugger | | :hooks | Reload ~/.xei/hooks.toml | | :update | Self-update to the latest release | | :mbb | New blank tab (welcome screen) | | :LspStart <cmd> | Start language server | | :help | List all commands |

Themes

ocean · monokai · nord · solarized · gruvbox · everforest · sakura · newspaper · mono · mono_dark

:theme sakura    # persists to ~/.xei.toml

Configuration

~/.xei.toml — created on first theme change; every key optional:

theme = "ocean"
tab_width = 4
clipboard_sync = true
relative_number = false
wrap_lines = true       # false = horizontal scroll (zh/zl/zH/zL pan, ↔ badge)
update_check = true     # startup release check (welcome notice · :update)
undo_caching = false    # keep undo history across close/reopen (~/.xei/undo)
gpu_graphics = true     # Kitty-graphics layer (inline images · pet · media)
gpu_hyperlinks = true   # OSC 8 links
gpu_acc = true          # Ghostty/Kitty enhancements (Ctrl+, → Setting)
key_hints = true        # which-key chord popups
lsp_enabled = true      # per-language overrides via [lsp] or Settings

Plugin hooks live in ~/.xei/hooks.toml (on_save / on_open / on_quit).

License

MIT