kg is a small, fast terminal text editor with pure Emacs keybindings. Suitable for editing system files or quick fixes on remote systems where a full GUI editor is not available.

With syntax highlighting for many languages, multiple buffers, split windows, incremental search, and multi-level undo, kg punches above its weight while staying dependency-free — no curses, just standard VT100 escape sequences.

• Pure Emacs-style keybindings
• Syntax highlighting for many programming languages
• Multiple buffers with shared kill ring
• Split-window support
• Incremental search
• Auto-indent and bracket autocomplete
• Built-in help screen (C-h)
• No dependencies (not even curses)
• Uses standard VT100 escape sequences
• Graceful terminal resize handling

kg [-RVh] [file ...]

Multiple files can be opened at once, each in its own buffer. See the man page for more in-depth information as well as the full key binding reference.

make
sudo make install          # installs to /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/share/man/man1

Override the prefix or use DESTDIR for staged installs:

make install prefix=/usr
make install DESTDIR=/tmp/pkg

To uninstall:

sudo make uninstall

kg is based on kilo by Salvatore Sanfilippo (antirez), the original minimal text editor that demonstrates how to build a functional editor without dependencies in about 1000 lines of C code.

The name "kg" is a nod to "mg" (Micro Emacs), suggesting "kilo-gram" - a minimal implementation with Emacs keybindings.