edit Documentation

Rust editor & rust repository by @microsoft. Model Context Protocol (MCP) server & tools with 14k stars.

14,415 stars Rust Rust 1 file ยท ~6,472 tokens #editor#rust#terminal#text-editor
RAW Doc

1. Project Overview & Quickstart (microsoft/edit)

File: README.md

Edit

A simple editor for simple needs.

This editor pays homage to the classic MS-DOS Editor, but with a modern interface and input controls similar to VS Code. The goal is to provide an accessible editor that even users largely unfamiliar with terminals can easily use.

Installation

You can also download binaries from our Releases page.

Windows

You can install the latest version with WinGet:

powershell
winget install Microsoft.Edit

Linux (build from source)

If your distribution does not provide binaries, or if you'd like to build your own, you can use our install script, provided you have installed:

  • Rust (via rustup or similar)
  • A C compiler (e.g. gcc)
  • ICU (e.g. libicu78, libicu, icu)
  • curl/wget and tar

The following command will then install msedit into ~/.local/bin:

sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/edit/main/assets/install.sh | sh

Additional flags are --dev, to build directly from the main branch, and --system to install into /usr/local/bin. For instance:

sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/edit/main/assets/install.sh | sh -s -- --dev --system

macOS

You can install the latest version with Homebrew:

sh
brew install msedit

Build Instructions

  • Install Rust
  • Clone the repository
  • If you're using nightly Rust:
    sh
    cargo build --release --config .cargo/release.toml
  • If you're using stable Rust:
    • Ideally: Set the environment variable RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 and use the nightly build instructions above.
      This is recommended, because it drastically reduces the binary size and slightly improves performance.
    • Otherwise, simply run:
      sh
      cargo build --release

Build Configuration

You can set the following environment variables at build-time to configure the build:

Environment variable Description
EDIT_CFG_ICU* See ICU library name (SONAME) below for details. Linux package maintainers are advised to review and configure these options.
EDIT_CFG_LANGUAGES A comma-separated list of languages to include in the build. See i18n/edit.toml for available languages.

Notes to Package Maintainers

Package Naming

The canonical executable name is "edit" and the alternative name is "msedit".
We're aware of the potential conflict of "edit" with existing commands and recommend alternatively naming packages and executables "msedit".
Names such as "ms-edit" should be avoided.
Assigning an "edit" alias is recommended, if possible.

ICU library name (SONAME)

This project optionally depends on the ICU library for its Search and Replace functionality.

By default, the project will look for the following library names:

Variable Windows macOS Linux / Other
EDIT_CFG_ICUUC_SONAME icuuc.dll libicucore.dylib libicuuc.so
EDIT_CFG_ICUI18N_SONAME icuin.dll libicucore.dylib libicui18n.so

If your installation uses a different SONAME, please set the following environment variable at build time:

  • EDIT_CFG_ICUUC_SONAME:
    For instance, libicuuc.so.76.
  • EDIT_CFG_ICUI18N_SONAME:
    For instance, libicui18n.so.76.

Additionally, this project assumes that the ICU exports symbols without _ prefix and without version suffix, such as u_errorName.
If your installation uses versioned exports, please set:

  • EDIT_CFG_ICU_CPP_EXPORTS:
    If set to true, it'll look for C++ symbols such as _u_errorName.
    Enabled by default on macOS.
  • EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_VERSION:
    If set to a version number, such as 76, it'll look for symbols such as u_errorName_76.

Finally, you can set the following environment variables:

  • EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_AUTO_DETECT:
    If set to true, the executable will try to detect the EDIT_CFG_ICU_RENAMING_VERSION value at runtime.
    The way it does this is not officially supported by ICU and as such is not recommended to be relied upon.
    Enabled by default on UNIX (excluding macOS) if no other options are set.

To test your build settings, run cargo test with the --ignored flag. For instance:

sh
cargo test -- --ignored

File: assets/editing-traces/README.md

editing-traces

This directory contains Seph Gentle's ASCII-only rustcode editing traces from: https://github.com/josephg/editing-traces

The trace was provided under the CC BY 4.0 license.


File: crates/unicode-gen/README.md

Grapheme Table Generator

This tool processes Unicode Character Database (UCD) XML files to generate efficient, multi-stage trie lookup tables for properties relevant to terminal applications:

  • Grapheme cluster breaking rules
  • Line breaking rules (optional)
  • Character width properties

Usage

  • Download ucd.nounihan.grouped.zip
  • Run some equivalent of:
    sh
    grapheme-table-gen --lang=rust --extended --no-ambiguous --line-breaks path/to/ucd.nounihan.grouped.xml
  • Place the result in src/unicode/tables.rs

2. Official Technical Reference & Guides (microsoft/microsoft.github.io)

[microsoft.github.io](https://microsoft.github.io)

Many open source projects released by Microsoft products, services and teams also have
deployments powered by GitHub Pages on this domain.

To discover Microsoft-released open source projects, learn about Microsoft's open source
approach and other information, check us out online at opensource.microsoft.com.

If we can help answer questions about the open source program at Microsoft, you can
contact opensource at microsoft com - although we are not able to provide support
for projects through this mechanism.

Microsoft GitHub resources

Microsoft open source resources

Resources for Microsoft employees

How to identify an official Microsoft organization on GitHub

  • Official Microsoft GitHub orgs have a professional avatar and include a web address at Microsoft.com or an associated official domain
  • Official Microsoft orgs are Verified on GitHub - look for the domain verification indicator on GitHub