kiss-editor 0.3.0

KISS — keep it simple, stupid.

A small terminal editor built with Textual. It opens files and folders, with syntax highlighting, a file tree and undo/redo. Just an editor — no LSP, no plugins, no ambitions to become an IDE.

About & status

KISS is early-stage software. It's not a replacement for nano or vim — just a small editor that tries to stay simple and useful. It's for learning, and for the moments where a tiny no-nonsense editor is enough. Some things are still missing (see TODO).

Install

for unix systems:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/levk-m/kiss/main/install.sh | bash

via package managers:

[uv tool / pipx] install kiss-editor

or from source (requires Python 3.12+ and uv):

git clone https://github.com/levk-m/kiss.git
cd kiss
uv sync
uv run kiss

Or run directly without cloning:

uvx kiss-editor

Usage

kiss <file>         Edit a file
kiss <dir>          Browse a directory
kiss .              Open current directory

Features

The usual editor essentials are here — undo/redo, clipboard, line numbers, word wrap, cursor line highlight. On top of that KISS adds:

• File tree — browse and open files with custom icons per file type
• Syntax highlighting — auto-detected from the file
• Command palette (Ctrl+P) — fuzzy-find files, switch themes
• Image viewer — open images directly in the terminal (requires Kitty, Sixel or iTerm support)
• Config — ~/.kiss_conf.json, open with Ctrl+O
• Help dialog — Ctrl+H
• Splash screen — ASCII logo on startup
• Update check — notifies when a newer version is available on exit

Keybindings

Navigation

Selection

Editing

Interface

Configuration

JSON config file at ~/.kiss_conf.json. Open it with Ctrl+O — changes take effect after restart. A copyable example lives at examples/kiss_conf.json.

{
    "kiss": {
        "theme": "tokyo-night",
        "editor-theme": "dracula",
        "show_line_numbers": true,
        "soft_wrap": true,
        "highlight_cursor_line": false,
        "start-screen": false
    }
}

Application themes

textual-dark, textual-light, nord, gruvbox, catppuccin-mocha, catppuccin-latte, catppuccin-frappe, catppuccin-macchiato, dracula, tokyo-night, monokai, flexoki, solarized-light, solarized-dark, rose-pine, rose-pine-moon, rose-pine-dawn, atom-one-dark, atom-one-light, ansi-dark, ansi-light

Editor themes

css, monokai, dracula, vscode_dark, github_light

css is the default editor theme. It has no fixed background — it adapts to the current application theme's palette, so the editor blends with the app UI.

TODO

• Enter handling — auto-indent to match the current line on newline
• Custom command palette — replace the default Textual palette with a bespoke one
• Search within file — Ctrl+F (maybe)
• Markdown viewer — two modes: render and edit

License

MIT License.

Repo: github.com/levk-m/kiss