Vano

Fast, dependency-free modal terminal text editor written in modern C++17.

Vano is built for speed, simplicity, and a clean terminal editing workflow. It combines the minimal feel of classic terminal editors with practical features like visual selection, regex search and replace, crash recovery, mouse support, smart indentation, and smooth horizontal scrolling.

Features

• Modal editing workflow
• Visual mode with copy, cut, and paste
• Regular expression search and replace
• Smart bracket, brace, and parenthesis matching
• Crash recovery with automatic backup snapshots
• Command bar for quick editor actions
• Horizontal scrolling for long lines
• Smart backspace handling for tab indentation
• Flicker-free double buffered rendering
• Live cursor position tracking
• Configuration support through ~/.vanorc
• Mouse support for cursor positioning and selection

Installation

Using the installer script

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

The installer will:

• detect a supported compiler
• install required dependencies
• build the project
• place the binary in your PATH

Using CMake

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .

Usage

Open a file:

vano file.txt

Start with a new buffer:

vano

Configuration

Vano reads configuration from:

~/.vanorc

Example:

tab_size 4
auto_indent 1
show_gutter 1

Supported Options

• tab_size — tab width in spaces
• auto_indent — enable automatic indentation
• show_gutter — show line numbers in the gutter

Command Bar

Open the command bar with:

Ctrl + T

Available commands:

w
q
wq
open <file>
goto <line>
set tab <size>

Example:

open src/main.cpp
goto 120
set tab 4
wq

Recovery

Vano automatically writes recovery snapshots to:

.vano_bak

If the editor exits unexpectedly, Vano will prompt you to restore the previous session on the next startup.

Keybindings

Shortcut	Mode	Description
Ctrl + Q	Global	Quit editor
Ctrl + S	Global	Save file
Ctrl + T	Normal	Open command bar
Ctrl + F	Global	Regex search
Ctrl + \	Global	Regex replace
Ctrl + /	Global	Toggle comment
Ctrl + Z	Global	Undo
Ctrl + R	Global	Redo
Ctrl + V	Normal	Toggle visual mode
Ctrl + C	Visual	Copy selection
Ctrl + X	Visual	Cut selection
Ctrl + P	Normal	Paste clipboard
Home	Global	Move to start of line
End	Global	Move to end of line

Architecture

Vano is split into focused components:

Component	Description
Buffer	Text storage, editing operations, undo/redo management
Screen	Rendering, scrolling, gutters, and status UI
Editor	Event loop, input processing, modes, and commands
FileManager	File I/O, configuration loading, and recovery handling

Requirements

• C++17 compatible compiler
• POSIX-compatible terminal
• CMake 3.10+ (optional)

Contributing

Pull requests and issues are welcome.

For significant changes, please open an issue first to discuss the proposed implementation.

Troubleshooting

If something is not working as expected, verify:

• your terminal supports ANSI escape sequences
• your compiler supports C++17
• your .vanorc configuration is valid
• the recovery file .vano_bak is not corrupted

License

Released under the MIT License.

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Made with ❤️ by the Vano team.