Micro is The Terminal-based Text Editor You’ll Love

By Jake Rocheleau. in Toolkit. Updated on June 18, 2018.

Web development has changed a lot over the years. Just a decade ago the terminal wasn’t needed to build websites. Nowadays it’s practically a staple with Gulp/Grunt, npm, and version control like Git all running via command line.

If you’re a fan of terminal being a powerful and pristine environment for working with code, then you’ll love Micro IDE.

It is a new editor that runs directly inside the terminal. You can set this up however you want and run it for practically any language.

Micro’s current release supports syntax highlighting for over 90 languages and counting.

Everyone can learn to use Micro whether you’re doing frontend coding, backend programming, or more complex software development.

Not to mention everything you do in the terminal you can do in Micro. This means it doubles as a full IDE along with a full terminal window.

Here are some of its biggest features:

100% free and open sourced.
Multiple cursor support.
Split screen and tab features.
Automatic linting.
Built-in code snippet library.
Runs on all operating systems.

Micro is a single downloadable so just get it installed and you’re good to go.

Plus this IDE even has its own plugin system built on the Lua language. Developers can use that open source plugin setup as a framework for building extensions onto Micro.

That said, if you loathe the terminal then you’ll find Micro horrifying. This is definitely an IDE for coders who love their terminal and want a more cohesive workflow.

But it’s never too late to learn the command line. It’ll take practice and it’ll be tough, but in the end you’ll find a much faster workflow that helps you avoid common pitfalls that you’d face working outside the terminal.

Have a look at the Micro homepage for more info. You can also find the download link with documentation on the GitHub repo along with more details in the Gitter chat group.