Micro is MIT licensed, so it should be shippable in NetBSD base.
https://github.com/micro-editor/MICRO
In NetBSD adds a new text editor called attomicro-editor
micro
Go2016–2026
micro-editor / micro
micro
A modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor
53Distinct people
59Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
29.9KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
I think that you can actually change the keybindings to follow the copy paste conventions that you want in micro But personally I really love these new copy paste conventions,…
Imustaskforhelp used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- fox0430/moe · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year59 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2016-04-17 23:47:43 UTC to 2026-10-29 13:05:08 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the capabilities
of modern terminals. It comes as a single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies; you can download and use it right now!
As its name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use.
It strives to be enjoyable as a full-time editor for people who prefer to work in a terminal, or those who regularly edit files over SSH.
Here is a picture of micro editing its source code.
To see more screenshots of micro, showcasing some of the default color schemes, see here.
You can also check out the website for Micro at https://micro-editor.github.io.
Features
Easy to use and install.
No dependencies or external files are needed — just the binary you can download further down the page.
Multiple cursors.
Common keybindings (Ctrl-s, Ctrl-c, Ctrl-v, Ctrl-z, …).
Keybindings can be rebound to your liking.
Sane defaults.
You shouldn't have to configure much out of the box (and it is extremely easy to configure).
Splits and tabs.
nano-like menu to help you remember the keybindings.
Extremely good mouse support.
This means mouse dragging to create a selection, double click to select by word, and triple click to select by line.
Cross-platform (it should work on all the platforms Go runs on).
Note that while Windows is supported, Mingw/Cygwin is not (see below).
Plugin system (plugins are written in Lua).
micro has a built-in plugin manager to automatically install, remove, and update plugins.
Built-in diff gutter.
Simple autocompletion.
Persistent undo.
Automatic linting and error notifications.
Syntax highlighting for over 130 languages.
Color scheme support.
By default, micro comes with 16, 256, and true color themes.
True color support.
Copy and paste with the system clipboard.
Small and simple.
Easily configurable.
Macros.
Smart highlighting of trailing whitespace and tab vs space errors.
Common editor features such as undo/redo, line numbers, Unicode support, soft wrapping, …
Installation
To install micro, you can download a prebuilt binary, or you can build it from source.
If you want more information about ways to install micro, see this wiki page.
Use micro -version to get the version information after installing. It is only guaranteed that you are installing the most recent
stable version if you install from the prebuilt binaries, Homebrew, or Snap.
A desktop entry file and man page can be found in the assets/packaging directory.
Pre-built binaries
Pre-built binaries are distributed in releases.
To uninstall micro, simply remove the binary, and the configuration directory at ~/.config/micro.
Third-party quick-install script
curl https://getmic.ro | bash
The script will place the micro binary in the current directory. From there, you can move it to a directory on your path of your choosing (e.g. sudo mv micro /usr/bin). See its GitHub repository for more information.
Eget
With Eget installed, you can easily get a pre-built binary:
eget micro-editor/micro
Use --tag VERSION to download a specific tagged version.
eget --tag nightly micro-editor/micro # download the nightly version (compiled every day at midnight UTC)
eget --tag v2.0.8 micro-editor/micro # download version 2.0.8 rather than the latest release
You can install micro by adding --to /usr/local/bin to the eget command, or move the binary manually to a directory on your $PATH after the download completes.
See Eget for more information.
Package managers
You can install micro using Homebrew on Mac:
brew install micro
Note for Mac: All micro keybindings use the control or alt (option) key, not the command
key. By default, macOS terminals do not forward alt key events. To fix this, please see
the section on macOS terminals further below.
On Linux, you can install micro through snap
snap install micro --classic
Micro is also available through other package managers on Linux such as dnf, AUR, Nix, and package managers
for other operating systems. These packages are not guaranteed to be up-to-date.
Linux:
distro-specific package managers:
dnf install micro (Fedora).
apt install micro (Ubuntu and Debian).
pacman -S micro (Arch Linux).
emerge app-editors/micro (Gentoo).
zypper install micro-editor (SUSE)
eopkg install micro (Solus).
pacstall -I micro (Pacstall).
apt-get install micro (ALT Linux)
See wiki for details about CRUX, Termux.
distro-agnostic package managers:
nix profile install nixpkgs#micro (with Nix and flakes enabled)
flox install micro (with Flox)
Windows: Chocolatey, Scoop and WinGet.
choco install micro.
scoop install micro.
winget install zyedidia.micro
OpenBSD: Available in the ports tree and also available as a binary package.
pkg_add -v micro.
NetBSD, macOS, Linux, Illumos, etc. with pkgsrc-current:
pkg_add micro
macOS: Available in package managers.
sudo port install micro (with MacPorts)
brew install micro (with Homebrew)
nix profile install nixpkgs#micro (with Nix and flakes enabled)
flox install micro (with Flox)
Note for Linux desktop environments:
For interfacing with the local system clipboard, the following tools need to be installed:
For X11, xclip or xsel
For Wayland, wl-clipboard
Without these tools installed, micro will use an internal clipboard for copy and paste, but it won't be accessible to external applications.
Building from source
If your operating system does not have a binary release, but does run Go, you can build from source.
Make sure that you have Go version 1.19 or greater and Go modules are enabled.
git clone https://github.com/micro-editor/micro
cd micro
make build
sudo mv micro /usr/local/bin # optional
The binary will be placed in the current directory and can be moved to
anywhere you like (for example /usr/local/bin).
The command make install will install the binary to $GOPATH/bin or $GOBIN.
You can install directly with go get (go get github.com/micro-editor
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
59 sourcesA comparison with editors like micro https://github.com/micro-editor/micro or fresh https://github.com/sinelaw/fresh (discussed in the comments) would make more sense than one with vim and emacs. The shortcuts are CUA based. And to me these editors feel more like using GUI editor like sublime text for example. And that's nice.
While vim and emacs have their advantages which I don't want to discuss here, they are also the "big players" with their own philosophy, shortcuts and commands. Which is a hassle to learn when you're used to GUI editors.
Why not let a little space for users who don't want to re-learn how to edit a file ?
In Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineersSince https://github.com/micro-editor/MICRO exists for some years now, a comparison would be welcome.
In Txt: A fast, keyboard-driven terminal text editor for engineersI think that you can actually change the keybindings to follow the copy paste conventions that you want in micro
But personally I really love these new copy paste conventions, its the ctrl q convention which troubled me in ghostty but what I did was "ctrl > " write quit enter
https://github.com/micro-editor/micro/blob/master/runtime/he...
In Claude Code is being dumbed down?Great work, my only nitpick is that when you quit, it tells you that its not gonna save, then its yes to confirm quit. I instinctively wanna type N to quit without saving.
I feel like thats the opposite behavior. For example, I use https://github.com/zyedidia/micro as my main editor in terminal, where it says `Save changes to filename before closing? (y,n,esc)”` when you try to quit.
In Show HN: Fresh – A new terminal editor built in Rustmicro: A modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor
2 points · Open discussionI checked this out. It's kind of neat. It's barebones from a programming perspective though.. it didn't seem to have syntax highlighting out of the box for example.
If you want a TUI text editor with CTRL-C/V and mouse support, I'd recommend looking at micro: https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
In Using Microsoft's New CLI Text Editor on UbuntuOr Micro[0]
[0]: https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
In Edit is now open sourceLove the look, definitely throwing me back to the halcyon QBasic days.
Slightly related but another way to simulate a retro text editor (old school raster style green screen aesthetic in this instance) is to combine the "cool-retro-term" terminal with the minimal editor "micro".
https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term
https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
In Show HN: A retro terminal text editor for GNU/Linux coded in C (C-edit)Micro text editor https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
MS Paint
In Ask HN: What software sparks joy when using?> The config files in this repository turn vim into a modeless editor. Instead of remembering cryptic commands, you can use standard key binds, like Ctrl+S to save, select text using Shift+←/→/↑/↓, and copy/paste using Ctrl+C/V.
> This configuration is not meant for the aficionado who prefers vim over graphical editors. This is meant for people who normally use GUI editors (like VSCode), but sometimes need an editor that can run in a terminal.
I think it's unrealistic to expect users who only occasionally use vim to edit the odd config file in the terminal to fiddle with a custom vim setup.
If you're really looking for a good editor that behaves like GUI editors I really recommend micro [1]. It has mouse support by default, syntax highlighting for many languages out of the box, most keybinds are the same as in GUI editors and copy/paste w
Read the rest
orks like expected.
[1] https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
Not sure these are really popular, but I cannot resist advertising a few utilities written in Go that I regularly use in my daily workflow:
- gdu: a NCDU clone, much faster on SSD mounts [1]
- duf: a `df` clone with a nicer interface [2]
- massren: a `vidir` clone (simpler to use but with fewer options) [3]
- gotop: a `top` clone [4]
- micro: a nice TUI editor [5]
Building this kind of tools in Go makes sense, as the executables are statically compiled and are thus easy to install on remote servers.
[1]: https://github.com/dundee/gdu
[2]: https://github.com/muesli/duf
[3]: https://github.com/laurent22/massren
[4]: https://github.com/xxxserxxx/gotop
[5]: https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
In Go: What we got right, what we got wrong> The worst way to store and manipulate text is to use an array.
Claim made from theoretical considerations, without any actual reference to real-world editors. The popular Micro[1] text editor uses a simple line array[2], and performs fantastically well on real-world editing tasks.
Meanwhile, ropes are so complicated that even high-quality implementations have extremely subtle bugs[3] that can lead to state or content corruption.
Which data structure is "best" is not just a function of its asymptotic performance. Practical considerations are equally important (arguably more so).
[1] https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
[2] https://github.com/zyedidia/micro/blob/master/internal/buffe...
[3] https://github.com/cessen/ropey/pull/67
In Text Editor: Data StructuresA certificate that says "this installer really did come from the owner of exampleapp.com" is better than users just trusting whatever random file came up in a Google search.
And meanwhile, in Linux land, people will install things by piping curl into bash[0][1], so the bar is just not that high. And the ultimate answer to security will come from better app sandboxing, not from charging every native-app developer in the world $700/year for a code signing certificate.
[0] https://docs.chef.io/chef_install_script/ [1] https://github.com/zyedidia/micro#quick-install-script
In The Windows installer of ImageMagick will no longer be signedI think micro is like that https://github.com/zyedidia/micro
In Show HN: Tome, aka Tom's Editor – a new command-line text editorShowing the 15 most recent of 59 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.