explaingit

microsoft/edit

★ 14,188RustAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

A simple terminal text editor from Microsoft, inspired by MS-DOS Editor, with modern VS Code-like keyboard shortcuts. Designed for people who need a usable editor in a terminal without learning complex modes.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((microsoft/edit))
    What it does
      Terminal text editor
      VS Code-like shortcuts
      Search and replace
    Tech Stack
      Rust
      ICU library
      C compiler
    Installation
      WinGet on Windows
      Homebrew on macOS
      Build from source Linux
      Pre-built binaries
    Audience
      Terminal beginners
      Linux packagers
      Server admins
Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Edit config files or scripts on a headless Linux server without learning Vim or Emacs

USE CASE 2

Run a familiar text editor in any terminal on Windows, macOS, or Linux using a single small binary

USE CASE 3

Package the editor for a Linux distribution using the distro-specific build flags described in the project

Tech stack

RustCICU

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Building from source on Linux requires Rust, a C compiler, and the ICU library, pre-built binaries skip all of this.

Open source, exact license terms not specified in the explanation.

In plain English

Edit is a simple terminal text editor made by Microsoft. It runs inside a command-line window and is designed to be approachable for people who are not used to working in terminals. The project is inspired by the old MS-DOS Editor from the early days of personal computing, but it uses modern keyboard shortcuts similar to those in VS Code. The editor is intentionally basic. The README describes it as built for simple needs, not as a replacement for full-featured editors. It does support search and replace, which relies on an optional system library called ICU for handling text in different languages and scripts. You can install it on Windows using a package manager called WinGet with a single command. On macOS it is available through Homebrew. On Linux you can run a shell script that downloads and builds it from source, which requires Rust, a C compiler, and the ICU library to be installed first. Pre-built binaries are also available on the GitHub releases page. The project is written in Rust and open source. The README includes notes aimed at people who package software for Linux distributions, covering how to name the executable and how to configure the build to match different versions of the ICU library on different systems. This is a straightforward tool with a narrow purpose: give people a usable editor that opens in a terminal without requiring them to learn complex keyboard modes or commands.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I install Microsoft's Edit terminal editor on Ubuntu without a package manager, walk me through building from source with Rust and ICU
Prompt 2
Write a shell alias that opens a file in Microsoft's Edit editor if installed, otherwise falls back to nano
Prompt 3
What keyboard shortcuts does Microsoft's Edit terminal editor support for navigation, search, and saving files
Prompt 4
Help me troubleshoot a build error when compiling Microsoft Edit because the ICU library version on my system doesn't match
Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

← microsoft on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.

Verify against the repo before relying on details.