A fast, lightweight text editor for Markdown, JSON, YAML, and TOML files. Built with Rust and egui for a native, responsive experience.

⚠️ Platform Note: Ferrite has been primarily developed and tested on Windows. While it should work on Linux and macOS, these platforms have not been extensively tested. If you encounter issues, please report them.

🤖 AI Disclosure: This project is 100% AI-generated code. All Rust code, documentation, and configuration was written by Claude (Anthropic) via Cursor with MCP tools. My role is product direction, testing, and learning to orchestrate AI-assisted development effectively. The code is reviewed and tested, not blindly accepted — but I want to be transparent about the development process. This project is partly a learning exercise in exploring how far AI-assisted development can go.

Raw Editor	Rendered View

Split View	Zen Mode

• WYSIWYG Markdown Editing - Edit markdown with live preview, click-to-edit formatting, and syntax highlighting
• Multi-Format Support - Native support for Markdown, JSON, YAML, and TOML files
• Tree Viewer - Hierarchical view for JSON/YAML/TOML with inline editing, expand/collapse, and path copying
• Find & Replace - Search with regex support and match highlighting
• Go to Line (Ctrl+G) - Quick navigation to specific line number
• Undo/Redo - Full undo/redo support per tab

• Split View - Side-by-side raw editor and rendered preview with resizable divider
• Zen Mode - Distraction-free writing with centered text column
• Sync Scrolling - Bidirectional scroll sync between raw and rendered views

• Syntax Highlighting - Full-file syntax highlighting for 40+ languages (Rust, Python, JavaScript, Go, etc.)
• Code Folding - Fold detection with gutter indicators (▶/▼) for headings, code blocks, and lists (text hiding deferred to v0.3.0)
• Minimap - VS Code-style navigation panel with click-to-jump and search highlights
• Bracket Matching - Highlight matching brackets ()[]{}<> and emphasis pairs ** __
• Auto-close Brackets & Quotes - Type (, [, {, ", or ' to get matching pair; selection wrapping supported
• Duplicate Line (Ctrl+Shift+D) - Duplicate current line or selection
• Move Line Up/Down (Alt+↑/↓) - Rearrange lines without cut/paste
• Smart Paste for Links - Select text then paste URL to create [text](url) markdown link
• Auto-Save - Configurable auto-save with temp-file safety
• Line Numbers - Optional line number gutter
• Configurable Line Width - Limit text width for readability (80/100/120 or custom)

Native rendering of 11 diagram types directly in the preview:

• Flowchart, Sequence, Pie, State, Mindmap
• Class, ER, Git Graph, Gantt, Timeline, User Journey

✨ v0.2.3 Released: Editor productivity features! Go to Line (Ctrl+G), Duplicate Line (Ctrl+Shift+D), Move Line (Alt+↑/↓), Auto-close brackets/quotes, Smart Paste for links, and configurable line width. See CHANGELOG.md for full details.

• Workspace Mode - Open folders with file tree, quick switcher (Ctrl+P), and search-in-files (Ctrl+Shift+F)
• Git Integration - Visual status indicators showing modified, added, untracked, and ignored files
• Session Persistence - Restore open tabs, cursor positions, and scroll offsets on restart

• Light & Dark Themes - Beautiful themes with runtime switching
• Document Outline - Navigate large documents with the outline panel
• Export Options - Export to HTML with themed styling, or copy as HTML
• Formatting Toolbar - Quick access to bold, italic, headings, lists, links, and more
• Live Pipeline - Pipe JSON/YAML content through shell commands (for developers)
• Custom Window - Borderless window with custom title bar and resize handles
• Recent Files - Click the filename in the bottom-left status bar to quickly access recently opened files

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Using .deb package (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint - Recommended):

# Download the .deb file, then install with:
sudo apt install ./ferrite-editor_amd64.deb

# Or using dpkg:
sudo dpkg -i ferrite-editor_amd64.deb

This will:

• Install Ferrite to /usr/bin/ferrite
• Add desktop entry (appears in your app menu)
• Register file associations for .md, .json, .yaml, .toml files
• Install icons for the system

Arch Linux package

Ferrite is available on the AUR:

• Ferrite (release package)
• Ferrite-bin (binary package)

You can install it using your AUR helper of choice.

Example:

# Release package
yay -Sy ferrite

# Binary package
yay -Sy ferrite-bin

Using tar.gz (any Linux distro):

tar -xzf ferrite-linux-x64.tar.gz
./ferrite

• Rust 1.70+ - Install from rustup.rs
• Platform-specific dependencies:

Windows:

• Visual Studio Build Tools 2019+ with C++ workload

Linux:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libgtk-3-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc pkg-config gtk3-devel libxcb-devel

# Arch
sudo pacman -S base-devel pkg-config gtk3 libxcb

macOS:

xcode-select --install

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite.git
cd Ferrite

# Build release version (optimized)
cargo build --release

# The binary will be at:
# Windows: target/release/ferrite.exe
# Linux/macOS: target/release/ferrite

# Run from source
cargo run --release

# Or run the binary directly
./target/release/ferrite

# Open a specific file
./target/release/ferrite path/to/file.md

# Open multiple files as tabs
./target/release/ferrite file1.md file2.md

# Open a folder as workspace
./target/release/ferrite path/to/folder/

# Show version
./target/release/ferrite --version

# Show help
./target/release/ferrite --help

See docs/cli.md for full CLI documentation.

Ferrite supports three view modes for Markdown files:

• Raw - Plain text editing with syntax highlighting
• Rendered - WYSIWYG editing with rendered markdown
• Split - Side-by-side raw editor and live preview

Toggle between modes using the toolbar buttons or keyboard shortcuts.

Settings are stored in platform-specific locations:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\ferrite\
• Linux: ~/.config/ferrite/
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ferrite/

Workspace settings are stored in .ferrite/ within the workspace folder.

Access settings via Ctrl+, or the gear icon. Configure:

• Appearance: Theme, font family, font size, default view mode
• Editor: Word wrap, line numbers, minimap, bracket matching, code folding, syntax highlighting, auto-close brackets, line width
• Files: Auto-save, recent files history

See ROADMAP.md for planned features and known issues.

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

# Fork and clone
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/Ferrite.git
cd Ferrite

# Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/your-feature

# Make changes, then verify
cargo fmt
cargo clippy
cargo test
cargo build

# Commit and push
git commit -m "feat: your feature description"
git push origin feature/your-feature

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

• egui - Immediate mode GUI library for Rust
• comrak - CommonMark + GFM compatible Markdown parser
• syntect - Syntax highlighting library
• git2 - libgit2 bindings for Rust
• Inter and JetBrains Mono fonts

• Claude (Anthropic) - AI assistant that wrote the code
• Cursor - AI-powered code editor
• Task Master - AI task management for development workflows