rich-editor 1.1.0

A Rich library powered editor that implements VS Code keybindings in TUI

Rich Editor

A rich library powered editor that implements VS Code keybindings in TUI

[!NOTE] Rich Editor is designed to work with ghostty in macOS only

Python buffer: tests/test_file_io.py	Markdown preview: README.md
Command palette: F1	Search and replace: README.md

Key Features

• vscode text editing key bindings
• macOS style key bindings work in ssh session to linux host also
• project file tree with create, rename, quick refresh, and move-to-trash support
• quick file open with fuzzy search
• in-terminal Markdown preview with table of contents toggle
• document formatting through external formatter CLIs
• multiple built-in theme(atom, drcula, nordic ...etc)
• syntax highlighting for major file formats with manual file type override

Usage

uv tool install rich-editor
rich .
rich --version

Dev

uv sync
uv run rich .
uv run python -m tests.runner

Key Bindings

Key bindings are generated from the YAML in src/rich_editor/bindings.yaml.

App shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
⌘S	Save
⌘⇧P / F1	Command palette
⌘B	Toggle file tree
⌘P	Quick open
⌃H	Replace
⌥N	Create file
⌘⇧V	Toggle Markdown preview
⌥⇧F	Format document
⌘R	Refresh

Editor shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
⌥↑	Move line up
⌥↓	Move line down
⌥⇧↑	Copy line up
⌥⇧↓	Copy line down
⌘Enter	Insert line below
⌘⇧Enter	Insert line above
⌘]	Indent line
⌘[	Outdent line
⌥⌫	Delete word left
⌘⌫	Delete to line start
⌘Z / ⌃Z	Undo
⌘⇧Z / ⌃Y	Redo
⌘X	Cut
⌘/	Toggle line comment
⌥Z	Toggle word wrap
⌥⇧←	Select word left
⌥⇧→	Select word right
⌘L	Select line
⌘⇧K	Delete line
⌘⇧←	Select to line start
⌘⇧→	Select to line end

File tree shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
←	Collapse folder
→	Expand folder
Enter	Rename selected file or folder
Space	Open file or toggle folder
⌘⌫ / ⌃U	Remove selected file or folder
Esc	Quit

Settings

Rich Editor persists the selected Textual theme in settings.yaml under the user config directory: ~/Library/Application Support/rich-editor/settings.yaml

Markdown Preview

Use ⌘⇧V to toggle an in-terminal rendered preview for Markdown files. The preview uses the current editor buffer, so unsaved edits are shown without writing them to disk.

When Markdown preview is open, the header shows a ☰ button on the right. Click it to show or hide the Markdown table of contents. The button is hidden while editing the text buffer.

Syntax And File Types

Rich Editor detects syntax highlighting from the file extension and shows the active file type in the lower-right footer. Unknown extensions are treated as plain text.

Click the file type label to choose another language for the current buffer. Manual selection updates highlighting and language-aware commands such as toggle comment, but reopening or refreshing the file resets the type from the file extension.

Detected extensions include Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, TSX, Bash, HTML, CSS, JSON, Markdown, YAML, TOML, XML, SQL, Java, Go, and Rust.

Formatting

The ⌥⇧F shortcut formats the current buffer with external formatter CLIs:

• Python files use ruff.
• TOML files use taplo.
• XML files use prettier with @prettier/plugin-xml.
• Other supported source/config formats use prettier.

Install the required tools before using the shortcut:

bun add --global prettier @prettier/plugin-xml
brew install ruff taplo

Files unsupported by these tools are left unchanged and Rich Editor shows a warning.

Refresh

Use the ↻ title-bar button or ⌘R to refresh the workspace. Refresh reloads the file tree and reloads the current buffer from disk. If the buffer has unsaved edits, Rich Editor prompts to save, discard, or cancel before reloading.

Creating Files

Use ⌥N to create a file. Rich Editor prompts for the file name and supports nested relative paths such as notes/today.md.

When a folder is highlighted in the file tree, the new file is created inside that folder. Otherwise, the new file is created beside the currently open file. If no file is open, the new file is created in the project root.

If the requested file already exists, Rich Editor opens it without overwriting its contents.

Renaming Files And Folders

When the file tree is focused, Enter opens a rename prompt for the selected file or folder. Renaming keeps the open buffer connected to the renamed path when the current file, or a folder containing it, is renamed.

The project root cannot be renamed. Empty names, path separators, and duplicate target names are rejected in the prompt.

Moving Files To Trash

When the file tree is focused, ⌘⌫ removes the selected file or folder by moving it to Trash. The command palette also shows Move "<name>" to Trash for the selected file-tree item. Both paths ask for confirmation before moving the item.

On stock Ghostty, ⌘⌫ is delivered to terminal apps as ⌃U, so Rich Editor binds both forms for the file tree.

Limitations

• Textual textarea limitation:
  • no multi-cursor editing
  • no chord hotkey sequence such as ⌘K ⌘S

Ghostty hotkey conflicts

• some hotkeys are bound by Ghostty by default. eg. ⌘Z, ⌘⇧Z, ⌘Enter, ⌘⇧Enter, ⌘⇧V, ⌘[, ⌘], ⌘⇧P, ⌘W, ⌘Q...etc
• Rich Editor detects conflicted shortcuts at startup.
• Conflicted shortcuts are hidden from the footer until they are unbound in Ghostty config, unless the command has another available alternative.
• The key bindings popup marks conflicted shortcuts with ⚠️ and shows a Ghostty config reminder.
• ⌘⇧P and F1 are alternative hotkeys for the command palette.

Unbind Ghostty default keybindings

Ghostty keybindings can be unbound in the Ghostty config file. On macOS, use one of:

• ~/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config.ghostty
• ~/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config
• ~/.config/ghostty/config.ghostty
• ~/.config/ghostty/config

Add one keybind = <trigger>=unbind line per conflicted shortcut you want to use in Rich Editor:

keybind = super+shift+v=unbind
keybind = super+[=unbind
keybind = super+]=unbind
keybind = super+enter=unbind
keybind = super+shift+enter=unbind
keybind = super+z=unbind
keybind = super+shift+z=unbind

The command palette can still be opened with F1. To use ⌘⇧P directly, also add:

keybind = super+shift+p=unbind

Then reload Ghostty config with ⌘⇧, or restart Ghostty. To inspect Ghostty's defaults before changing them:

ghostty +list-keybinds --default

Disable Ghostty font ligatures

Textual does not expose an app-side font ligature switch. To disable programming ligatures while using Rich Editor, add this to the same Ghostty config file:

font-feature = -calt