Micro icon
Micro icon

Micro

 76 likes

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals.

Micro screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Application types

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • BSD
  • FreeBSD
  • OpenBSD
4.4 / 5 Avg rating (8)
76likes
8comments
0news articles

Features

Suggest and vote on features

Properties

  1.  User friendly
  2.  Intuitive Interface
  3.  Lightweight
  4.  Distraction-free
  5.  Support for Themes
  6.  Customizable

Features

  1.  Terminal-based
  2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
  3.  Zero configuration
  4.  Syntax Highlighting
  5.  Works Offline
  6.  Plugin system
  7.  No registration required
  8.  Command line interface
  9.  Lua scripting
  10.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
  11.  Multiple Cursors
  12.  Color Palette

 Tags

  • terminal-editor
  • lua
  • go-lang

Micro News & Activities

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Recent activities

  • Eighty-nine, bobbyhiltz, K0RR and nosborm liked Micro
    26 days ago
  • juse-less and alternativeto-deviant liked Micro
    2 months ago
  • App icon
    POX added Micro as alternative to Zasper
    4 months ago
  • POX added Micro as alternative to ad
    4 months ago
  • App icon
    K0RR added Micro as alternative to Liri Text
    5 months ago
  • App icon
    POX added Micro as alternative to Aide IDE
    5 months ago
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Micro information

  • Developed by

    Zachary Yedidia
  • Licensing

    Open Source (MIT) and Free product.
  • Written in

  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.4
  • Alternatives

    38 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English

AlternativeTo Categories

OS & UtilitiesDevelopmentOffice & ProductivityPhotos & Graphics

GitHub repository

  •  25,934 Stars
  •  1,202 Forks
  •  948 Open Issues
  •   Updated Apr 11, 2025 
View on GitHub

Our users have written 8 comments and reviews about Micro, and it has gotten 76 likes

Micro was added to AlternativeTo by Benjamin Lupton on May 1, 2016 and this page was last updated Nov 7, 2023.

Comments and Reviews

   
 Post comment/review
Top Positive Comment
Tired Rabbit
Oct 24, 2022
3

Just works, pretty much like a GUI text editors out of box (mouse support is really good), but lightweight, configurable and extensible like terminal ones You can use it with keyboard+mouse, just keyboard or touch+virtual keyboard setups

EDIT: Clipboard issue on Linux seems to be caused by having xsel, xclip and wl-clipboard installed at the same time and micro picking not the one DE is using. If you use Wayland (default on GNOME and SWAY, also default on some distributions with KDE) - leave only wl-clipboard as it's the one that system will use. If you are on X11 - leave xclip, if it doesn't work - remove xclip and try reinstalling xsel Also check that micro doesn't have "clipboard": "internal" in settings file, because "clipboard": "external" is default but you could have changed something

Top Negative Comment
ab1
Jan 3, 2021
-4

Terrible editor.

Leandro Pocai
Sep 20, 2024
0

Its fast, its simple, it has mouse support! love it

Centaro
Dec 5, 2023
0

It would get 5 stars if it were compatible with doas.

Paul
Nov 7, 2023
0

A very good text and code editor. It's fast, lightweight, and very easy to use. It doesn't have an insert mode like vim, and it supports the mouse. It can be customized with a color theme and some plugins, and it's pretty powerful once you learn the commands and keybindings (that mostly use default shortcuts, so you won't be lost).

ahmed52
Feb 21, 2022
2

light ,fast and easy to use looks good out of the box

joaoandreferro
Feb 17, 2022
0

Very nice (at least on Ubuntu 20.04), the only thing I'm disliking is that it seems I can only do copy-paste within Micro, i.e. when I try to copy-paste from/to other editor, apparently it deals with a different, separate clipboard.

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7 of 8 comments

What is Micro?

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the full capabilities of modern terminals. It comes as one single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies, and you can download and use it right now.

As the name indicates, micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use in a pinch, but micro also aims to be enjoyable to use full time, whether you work in the terminal because you prefer it (like me), or because you need to (over ssh).

Features

  • Easy to Use: Micro's number one feature is being easy to install (it's just a static binary with no dependencies) and easy to use.
  • Highly Customizable: Use a simple JSON format to configure your options and rebind keys to your liking. If you need more power, you can use Lua to configure the editor further.
  • Colors and Highlighting: Micro supports over 75 languages and has 7 default colorschemes to choose from. Micro supports 16, 256, and truecolor themes. Syntax files and colorschemes are also very simple to make.
  • Multiple Cursors: Micro has support for Sublime-style multiple cursors, giving you lots of editing power directly in your terminal.
  • Plugin System: Micro supports a full-blown plugin system. Plugins are written in Lua and there is a plugin manager to automatically download and install your plugins for you.
  • Common Keybindings: Micro's keybindings are what you would expect from a simple-to-use editor. You can also rebind any of the bindings without problem in the bindings.json file.
  • Mouse Support: Micro has full support for the mouse. This means you can click and drag to select text, double click select by word, and triple click to select by line.
  • Terminal Emulator: Run a real interactive shell from within micro. You could open up a split with code on one side and bash on the other – all from within micro.

Official Links