vorto 0.10.1

A terminal text editor with tree-sitter syntax highlighting and LSP support
vorto-0.10.1 is not a library.

vorto

A modal terminal text editor written in Rust. Tree-sitter syntax highlighting, Language Server Protocol support, fuzzy pickers, and optional GitHub Copilot — all in a single, dependency-light binary.

Highlights

  • Vim-style modal editing with operators, motions, tree-sitter text objects, multi-cursor, jump labels, and .-repeat.
  • Tree-sitter highlighting with on-demand grammar install — no tree-sitter-cli, no external repos to clone, no Node toolchain.
  • First-class LSP: diagnostics, hover, completion, signature help, code actions, goto definition / declaration / implementation, references, rename, format-on-save.
  • Optional Copilot via copilot-language-server — ghost-text inline completions when present, silent when not.
  • Async architecture keeps the UI responsive while language servers index and grammars parse in the background.
  • Git-aware out of the box: diff gutter, picker respects .gitignore, dirty-state indicator.
  • Single static binary, pure Rust, no runtime dependencies beyond a C compiler for building grammars on demand.

Features

Editing

  • Normal / Insert / Visual (char, line, block) / Command modes
  • Operators: d y c > <
  • Motions: h j k l, w b e W B E ge gE, f F t T ; ,, gg G H M L, { }, %, <C-f> <C-b> <C-d> <C-u>
  • Search: / ?, n N, * #, gn gN
  • Text objects: iw aw, i" a", i( a(, i{ a{, i[ a[, ip ap, plus tree-sitter-aware if af (function), ic ac (class), i, a, (parameter)
  • Multi-cursor: + add next match, Shift-Down add below, - pop, <space>, clear
  • Jump labels: gw (easymotion-style 2-char word jumps)
  • Auto-pair brackets and quotes, language-aware comment toggle (<space>c), case toggle, line join, repeat with .
  • Undo / redo (u / <C-r>), system clipboard yank/paste via arboard

Language Server Protocol

Feature Binding / Trigger
Diagnostics inline, navigate with ]d / [d
Hover K (scrollable markdown popup)
Completion <C-n> / <C-p> + trigger chars
Signature help auto on ( / ,
Code actions <space>a
Goto definition gd
Goto declaration gD
Goto implementation gi
References gr (preview picker)
Rename <space>r
Format on save :w runs configured formatter

Each language's server and formatter are configured per-language in config.toml.

Tree-sitter

  • Built-in grammar recipes for 20 languages: rust, python, go, javascript, typescript, tsx, toml, kotlin, c, cpp, java, bash, json, yaml, markdown, html, css, lua, ruby, zig.
  • Install on demand — only the grammars you use are built and cached: 
    vorto grammar list
vorto grammar install rust python
vorto grammar install --all
vorto grammar install-queries rust
vorto grammar remove rust
  • Uses highlights.scm for coloring, indents.scm for auto-indent, and textobjects.scm for tree-sitter text objects.
  • Falls back to plain text when a grammar is unavailable.

UI

  • Fuzzy pickers with live syntax-highlighted preview:
    • Files — :e (git-aware)
    • Buffers — :ls / :buffers
    • Document symbols — <space><space> (LSP)
  • File explorer tree on <space>e
  • Splits: :split / :vsplit, <space>w h / <space>w v, cycle with <C-w w>
  • Status bar with mode badge, filename, cursor position, dirty flag
  • Configurable indentation guides (line / dot, skip levels)
  • Mode-specific cursor shapes (block / bar / underline)
  • Mouse support: click to move cursor, scroll to scroll
  • Non-blocking toast notifications

AI (optional)

If copilot-language-server is on your PATH, vorto enables inline ghost-text completions: accept with <Tab>, dismiss with <Esc>. Missing the binary is a no-op — no errors, no prompts.

Git

  • Diff gutter: + added, ~ modified, ⋮ deleted marker
  • File picker honors .gitignore and your global excludes file
  • Status bar surfaces buffer dirty state

Install

From crates.io:

cargo install vorto

From source:

git clone https://github.com/shka-k/vorto.git
cd vorto
make install            # installs to ~/.local/bin
# or
cargo build --release   # binary at target/release/vorto

Requires a Rust toolchain (edition 2024). A C compiler is needed when building tree-sitter grammars.

Usage

vorto [FILE]
vorto -h | --help
vorto -V | --version

Configuration

Configuration lives under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vorto/ (typically ~/.config/vorto/):

  • config.toml — editor settings, keymap, theme, per-language LSP / formatter / indent overrides
  • grammars/ — installed tree-sitter .so libraries
  • queries/<lang>/ — installed highlights.scm, indents.scm, textobjects.scm

See the documentation site for the full configuration reference.

License

Licensed under either of

at your option.