https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/ Recent content on Kaivalya Editor Hugo -- gohugo.io en Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/first-steps/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/first-steps/ Not installed yet? Install the editor first — it also says what spelling and git need on your system. This walks you through a first session, in order. Each step is a few keys; the pages linked at the end of each go deeper when you want them. Where this ends up: a project, a note in split view, its outline 1. Open a project Start the editor with no file — kaivalya-editor, or the launcher. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/getting-started/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/getting-started/ What you need Kaivalya Editor is a Rust program with a GPU-accelerated UI, so it needs a Rust toolchain and the development files for Wayland, xkbcommon and Vulkan. On Ubuntu 24.04: sudo apt install cmake clang mold vulkan-tools libwayland-dev \ libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libvulkan-dev libasound2-dev Install Rust with rustup. The version is pinned by rust-toolchain.toml and rustup will fetch it for you. mold is a faster linker, and clang is what invokes it. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/how-to-guides/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/how-to-guides/ Each recipe is a task, start to finish. For what each part is, see the Technical reference; for why, see Understanding the architecture. A change is done when the code is written, its tests cover the paths that fail as well as the one that works, its cost is measured where a budget applies, and the documentation says so — in English and in French. Add a setting Add the field to Settings in crates/kve-config/src/settings. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/how-to-guides/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/how-to-guides/ Each section is one task, from start to finish. For what a feature does in full, see the User guide. Install the editor, and what it needs Prerequisites Kaivalya Editor runs on Linux, under Wayland or X11, and draws with the graphics card through Vulkan — any desktop from the last ten years has it. Everything else is optional: the editor opens without it, and the feature that needs it says so when you ask for it. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/build-on-windows/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/build-on-windows/ Untested — at your own risk. Nothing on this page has been run on Windows. The editor’s libraries were checked to compile for it, from Linux; the window itself has never been built, let alone started, there. Expect it not to work, and expect nobody to have seen why. Kaivalya Editor is written on Linux and released for Linux. Windows is not supported: there is no download for it, and nobody tests it there before a release. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/technical/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/technical/ This page describes each part of Kaivalya Editor as it is. To build it for the first time, see Getting started; for a task — adding a setting, a command, a benchmark — see the How-to guides; for why it is built this way, see Understanding the architecture. AI authorship. Most of the source code was written by an AI assistant (Claude), directed, reviewed and decided by the human author. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/user-guide/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/user-guide/ The reference: every feature, what it does, how to use it and what it will not do, area by area. For a first walk through the editor, see First steps; for a task start to finish, the How-to guides; for why it works as it does, Understanding the editor. Every key, every setting and every row of the / palette are listed on their own in Keyboard shortcuts, Every setting and The / catalogue. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/understanding-the-architecture/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/developers/understanding-the-architecture/ One crate imports the UI framework gpui is pre-1.0 and its API moves. The single most valuable structural decision in this project is that only kve-ui imports it. Everything below is headless and testable without a window, which is what makes the project’s definition of done — functional tests including the non-happy paths — affordable rather than aspirational. Crate kve-core The rope buffer, cursor positions, edits and undo. No UI. kve-config Settings, the command registry, and the translations. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/settings-reference/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/settings-reference/ Editor › Settings file (Ctrl+,) opens ~/.config/kaivalya-editor/settings.toml, which lists every option below with the same comment, so you rarely need this page. A setting not written in the file keeps the value shown here. A project can change any of them for itself in .kaivalya/settings.toml, writing only what differs — see A project’s own settings. This page is generated from the editor’s own defaults and comments each time the site is built. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/shortcuts/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/shortcuts/ Every command the editor has, in the order of its menus. A command with no keys is in its menu only. The keys that move around the text — Home, End, Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+←, Page Up — are the text’s own and listed in First steps. This page is generated from the editor’s command table each time the site is built. File Command Keys Menu New file Ctrl+N File › New New whiteboard (. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/slash-catalogue/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/slash-catalogue/ Type / at the start of a word in a markdown file to open the palette, keep typing to narrow it, Enter to take a row; The / palette explains how it behaves. Below is everything in it, group by group. Your own templates and the characters are added to it at run time and are not listed here. This page is generated from the editor’s catalogue each time the site is built. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/understanding/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/docs/understanding/ Why the editor works the way it does. To use a feature, see the User guide; for a task, the How-to guides. How the editor behaves, and why The pages of this guide each describe one part of the editor. A handful of rules run through all of them, and knowing them makes most of the editor’s choices predictable. Your files are the truth The task board is todo.md; a whiteboard is its . https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/blog/v1-0-0/ Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/blog/v1-0-0/ Kaivalya Editor started as a markdown editor for one person’s notes. Version 0.1 opened a file and showed it rendered. 1.0.0 is the editor that person now works in all day: notes, the tasks in them, the code beside them, the whiteboards that connect them, and the logs of whatever is running. It is still small, it is still fast on a 2017 laptop, and it still installs nothing behind your back. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/contact/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/contact/ Bug reports and suggestions go through the repository: kaivalya-editor. https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/credits/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kaivalya.eu/projects/editor/en/credits/ License Kaivalya Editor is free software, distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0-or-later). The full text is in LICENSE.md. Icon The application icon is “Burning meteor”, drawn by Lorc and published on game-icons.net under CC BY 3.0. It has been recoloured; the shape is unchanged. Emoji Emoji and flags are drawn with Noto Color Emoji by Google, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. The editor carries its own copy, changed in one way so the window system will load it: the letter m points to its space character.