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https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite

A fast, lightweight text editor for Markdown, JSON, YAML, and TOML files. Built with Rust and egui for a native, responsive experience.
https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite

cross-platform editor egui json markdown native-app productivity rust text-editor wysiwyg yaml

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

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README 

          
# Ferrite






[![Latest Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/OlaProeis/Ferrite?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/releases)

[![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/OlaProeis/Ferrite?style=flat-square)](LICENSE)

[![GitHub Stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/OlaProeis/Ferrite?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/stargazers)

[![GitHub Issues](https://img.shields.io/github/issues/OlaProeis/Ferrite?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/issues)

[![Build Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/OlaProeis/Ferrite/release.yml?branch=master&style=flat-square)](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/actions)

[![Translation Status](https://hosted.weblate.org/widget/ferrite/ferrite-ui/svg-badge.svg)](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/ferrite/)






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](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/issues).



🛡️ Antivirus False Positives



Some antivirus software (particularly Windows Defender) may flag Ferrite as suspicious. **This is a false positive.** Here's why it happens and what we've done about it:



### Why This Happens

- **Live Pipeline feature**: Ferrite's pipeline feature lets you pipe document content through shell commands (like `jq` or `grep`). This uses `cmd.exe /C` on Windows, which ML-based antivirus detection can mistake for trojan behavior.

- **Rust compilation patterns**: Rust binaries can trigger heuristic detections due to their unique compilation characteristics.



### What We've Done

- **Reported to Microsoft**: We've submitted Ferrite to Microsoft's Security Intelligence portal as a false positive (January 2026).

- **Adjusted build settings**: We've modified our release profile to avoid patterns that trigger ML detection (disabled symbol stripping, switched from size to speed optimization).

- **Open source transparency**: All code is publicly auditable at [github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite).



### If You're Affected

If Windows Defender quarantines Ferrite:

1. **Verify the source**: Only download from [official GitHub releases](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/releases)

2. **Add an exclusion**: Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Exclusions → Add the Ferrite executable

3. **Check VirusTotal**: Upload the file to [VirusTotal](https://www.virustotal.com) - legitimate Ferrite builds should show clean or near-clean results from most scanners



Ferrite does **NOT** access passwords, browser data, or make network connections. The application is fully offline and only accesses files you explicitly open.



## 🤖 AI-Assisted Development



This project is 100% AI-generated code. All Rust code, documentation, and configuration was written by Claude (Anthropic) via [Cursor](https://cursor.com) with MCP tools.



About the AI workflow



### My Role

- **Product direction** — Deciding what to build and why

- **Testing** — Running the app, finding bugs, verifying features

- **Review** — Reading generated code, understanding what it does

- **Orchestration** — Managing the AI workflow effectively



### The Workflow

1. **Idea refinement** — Discuss concepts with multiple AIs (Claude, Perplexity, Gemini Pro)

2. **PRD creation** — Generate requirements using [Task Master](https://github.com/task-master-ai/task-master)

3. **Task execution** — Claude Opus handles implementation (preferring larger tasks over many subtasks)

4. **Session handover** — Structured prompts maintain context between sessions

5. **Human review** — Every handover is reviewed; direction adjustments made as needed



📖 **Full details:** [AI Development Workflow](docs/ai-workflow/ai-development-workflow.md)



### Open Process

The actual prompts and documents used to build Ferrite are public:



| Document | Purpose |

|----------|---------|

| [`current-handover-prompt.md`](docs/current-handover-prompt.md) | Active session context |

| [`ai-workflow/`](docs/ai-workflow/) | Full workflow docs, PRDs, historical handovers |

| [`handover/`](docs/handover/) | Reusable handover templates |



This transparency is intentional — I want others to learn from (and improve upon) this approach.



## Screenshots



![Ferrite Demo](assets/screenshots/demo.gif)



| Raw Editor | Split View | Zen Mode |

|------------|------------|----------|

| ![Raw Editor](assets/screenshots/raw-dark.png) | ![Split View](assets/screenshots/split-dark.png) | ![Zen Mode](assets/screenshots/zen-dark.png) |



> ✨ **v0.2.5.1 Released:** Multi-encoding file support, **major memory optimization** (250MB → 60-80MB idle), **CPU optimization** (10% → <1% idle), improved cursor positioning, and more. See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for full details.



> 📦 **v0.2.5 Highlights:** Native CSV/TSV viewer with rainbow columns, Mermaid diagram improvements (YAML frontmatter, classDef styling, subgraphs), semantic minimap, i18n with Weblate, split view dual editing, drag & drop images, TOC generation, snippets, and custom fonts.



## Features



### Core Editing

- **WYSIWYG Markdown Editing** - Edit markdown with live preview, click-to-edit formatting, and syntax highlighting

- **Multi-Format Support** - Native support for Markdown, JSON, CSV, YAML, and TOML files

- **Multi-Encoding Support** - Auto-detect and preserve file encodings (UTF-8, Latin-1, Shift-JIS, Windows-1252, GBK, and more)

- **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



### View Modes

- **Split View** - Side-by-side raw editor and rendered preview with resizable divider; both panes are fully editable

- **Zen Mode** - Distraction-free writing with centered text column



### Editor Features

- **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)

- **Semantic Minimap** - Navigation panel with clickable header labels, content type indicators, and text density bars (switchable to VS Code-style pixel view)

- **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

- **Drag & Drop Images** - Drop images into editor to auto-save to `./assets/` and insert markdown link

- **Table of Contents** - Generate/update TOC from headings with `` block (Ctrl+Shift+U)

- **Snippets** - Text expansions like `;date` → current date, `;time` → current time, plus custom snippets

- **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)

- **Custom Font Selection** - Choose preferred fonts for editor and UI; important for CJK regional glyph preferences

- **Keyboard Shortcut Customization** - Rebind shortcuts via settings panel



### MermaidJS Diagrams

Native rendering of 11 diagram types directly in the preview:

- Flowchart, Sequence, Pie, State, Mindmap

- Class, ER, Git Graph, Gantt, Timeline, User Journey



> **v0.2.5 Mermaid Update:** Native Mermaid rendering now supports YAML frontmatter, parallel edges (`A --> B & C`), `classDef`/`linkStyle` styling, improved subgraphs, and more. Complex diagrams may still have rendering differences from mermaid.js. See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for planned improvements.



### CSV/TSV Viewer

- **Native Table View** - View CSV and TSV files in a formatted table with fixed-width column alignment

- **Rainbow Column Coloring** - Alternating column colors for improved readability

- **Delimiter Detection** - Auto-detect comma, tab, semicolon, and pipe separators

- **Header Row Detection** - Intelligent detection and highlighting of header rows



### Workspace Features

- **Workspace Mode** - Open folders with file tree, quick switcher (Ctrl+P), and search-in-files (Ctrl+Shift+F)

- **Git Integration** - Visual status indicators (modified, added, untracked, ignored) with auto-refresh on save, focus, and file changes

- **Session Persistence** - Restore open tabs, cursor positions, and scroll offsets on restart



### Additional Features

- **Light & Dark Themes** - Beautiful themes with runtime switching

- **Document Outline & Statistics** - Navigate with outline panel; tabbed statistics showing word count, reading time, heading/link/image counts

- **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 & Folders** - Click filename in status bar to access recently opened files and workspace folders

- **CJK Paragraph Indentation** - First-line indentation options for Chinese (2 chars) and Japanese (1 char) writing conventions



## Installation



### Pre-built Binaries



Download the latest release for your platform from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/releases).



| Platform | Download |

|----------|----------|

| Windows  | `ferrite-windows-x64.zip` |

| Linux | `ferrite-editor_amd64.deb` (recommended) or `ferrite-linux-x64.tar.gz` |

| macOS (Apple Silicon) | `ferrite-macos-arm64.tar.gz` |

| macOS (Intel) | `ferrite-macos-x64.tar.gz` |



Linux Installation Instructions



#### Debian/Ubuntu/Mint (.deb)



```bash

# 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 (AUR)



[![Ferrite on AUR](https://img.shields.io/aur/version/ferrite?label=ferrite)](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ferrite/)

[![Ferrite-bin on AUR](https://img.shields.io/aur/version/ferrite-bin?label=ferrite-bin)](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ferrite-bin/)



Ferrite is available on the [AUR](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_User_Repository):

- [Ferrite](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ferrite/) (release package)

- [Ferrite-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ferrite-bin/) (binary package)



```console

# Release package

yay -Sy ferrite



# Binary package

yay -Sy ferrite-bin

```



#### Other Linux (tar.gz)



```bash

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

./ferrite

```



Build from Source



#### Prerequisites



- **Rust 1.70+** - Install from [rustup.rs](https://rustup.rs/)

- **Platform-specific dependencies:**



**Windows:**

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



**Linux:**



```bash

# 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:**



```bash

xcode-select --install

```



#### Build



```bash

# 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

```



> **Development Builds:** Building from the `main` branch gives you the latest features before they're officially released. These builds are untested and may contain bugs. For stable versions, download from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/OlaProeis/Ferrite/releases).



## Usage



```bash

# Open a file

ferrite path/to/file.md



# Open a folder as workspace

ferrite path/to/folder/

```



More CLI options



```bash

# Run from source

cargo run --release



# Or run the binary directly

./target/release/ferrite



# Open multiple files as tabs

./target/release/ferrite file1.md file2.md



# Show version

./target/release/ferrite --version



# Show help

./target/release/ferrite --help

```



See [docs/cli.md](docs/cli.md) for full CLI documentation.



### View Modes



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.



## Keyboard Shortcuts



| Shortcut | Action |

|----------|--------|

| `Ctrl+N` | New file |

| `Ctrl+O` | Open file |

| `Ctrl+S` | Save file |

| `Ctrl+W` | Close tab |

| `Ctrl+P` | Quick file switcher |

| `Ctrl+F` | Find |

| `Ctrl+G` | Go to line |

| `Ctrl+,` | Open settings |



All Keyboard Shortcuts



### File Operations



| Shortcut | Action |

|----------|--------|

| `Ctrl+N` | New file |

| `Ctrl+O` | Open file |

| `Ctrl+S` | Save file |

| `Ctrl+Shift+S` | Save as |

| `Ctrl+W` | Close tab |



### Navigation



| Shortcut | Action |

|----------|--------|

| `Ctrl+Tab` | Next tab |

| `Ctrl+Shift+Tab` | Previous tab |

| `Ctrl+P` | Quick file switcher (workspace) |

| `Ctrl+Shift+F` | Search in files (workspace) |



### Editing



| Shortcut | Action |

|----------|--------|

| `Ctrl+Z` | Undo |

| `Ctrl+Y` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z` | Redo |

| `Ctrl+F` | Find |

| `Ctrl+H` | Find and replace |

| `Ctrl+G` | Go to line |

| `Ctrl+Shift+D` | Duplicate line |

| `Alt+↑` | Move line up |

| `Alt+↓` | Move line down |

| `Ctrl+B` | Bold |

| `Ctrl+I` | Italic |

| `Ctrl+K` | Insert link |



### View



| Shortcut | Action |

|----------|--------|

| `F11` | Toggle fullscreen |

| `Ctrl+,` | Open settings |

| `Ctrl+Shift+[` | Fold all |

| `Ctrl+Shift+]` | Unfold all |



## Configuration



Access settings via `Ctrl+,` or the gear icon. Configure appearance, editor behavior, and file handling.



Configuration details



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.



### Settings Panel



- **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



## Roadmap



See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for planned features and known issues.



## Contributing



Contributions are welcome! Please see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for guidelines.



### Help Translate



Ferrite is being translated into multiple languages with help from the community.



[![Translation Status](https://hosted.weblate.org/widget/ferrite/ferrite-ui/multi-auto.svg)](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/ferrite/)



**[Help translate Ferrite on Weblate](https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/ferrite/)** - no coding required!



Quick Start for Contributors



```bash

# 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

```



## Tech Stack



Built with Rust 1.70+, egui/eframe for GUI, comrak for Markdown parsing, and syntect for syntax highlighting.



Full tech stack



| Component | Technology |

|-----------|------------|

| Language | Rust 1.70+ |

| GUI Framework | egui 0.28 + eframe 0.28 |

| Markdown Parser | comrak 0.22 |

| Syntax Highlighting | syntect 5.1 |

| Git Integration | git2 0.19 |

| CLI Parsing | clap 4 |

| File Dialogs | rfd 0.14 |

| Clipboard | arboard 3 |

| File Watching | notify 6 |

| Fuzzy Matching | fuzzy-matcher 0.3 |



## License



This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.



## Acknowledgments



Libraries & Tools



### Libraries

- [egui](https://github.com/emilk/egui) - Immediate mode GUI library for Rust

- [comrak](https://github.com/kivikakk/comrak) - CommonMark + GFM compatible Markdown parser

- [syntect](https://github.com/trishume/syntect) - Syntax highlighting library

- [git2](https://github.com/rust-lang/git2-rs) - libgit2 bindings for Rust

- [Inter](https://rsms.me/inter/) and [JetBrains Mono](https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/mono/) fonts



### Development Tools

- [Claude](https://anthropic.com) (Anthropic) - AI assistant that wrote the code

- [Cursor](https://cursor.com) - AI-powered code editor

- [Task Master](https://github.com/eyaltoledano/claude-task-master) - AI task management for development workflows



---



If you find Ferrite useful, consider [supporting its development](https://github.com/sponsors/OlaProeis).