vro

A small micro-inspired terminal text editor written in V.

<0.5MB binary • compiles in ~0.4s

Features

• Open multiple files from argv
• Split files into left/right/top/bottom panes
• Insert and delete text
• Arrow/home/end/page navigation
• Save with Ctrl-S
• Incremental search with Ctrl-F
• Command bar with Ctrl-E
• Line numbers in the left gutter
• Dirty-file quit protection with Ctrl-Q
• Gutter mark rendering is present; live git detection is deferred
• Micro-style YAML syntax highlighting (V regex engine; see syntax/)

Run

v -gc none run . [file ...]

Build

v -gc none -prod -o vro .
./vro [file ...]

Test

v -gc none test .

Plain v test . can fail with a missing <gc.h> when Boehm GC development headers are not installed. This repo is checked in CI with -gc none, so prefer that for local runs too.

CLI (no TTY)

For scripts, CI, and quick checks, vro exits before touching the terminal when you pass:

• -version or --version — print version and exit
• -h, -help, or --help — print usage and exit

Example: ./vro -version

Benchmark (optional, needs hyperfine—install with wax install hyperfine, your OS package manager, or the upstream instructions): bash scripts/bench-cli.sh compares vro -version vs micro -version.

Syntax highlighting

Syntax rules load dynamically from YAML files named <name>.yaml, where <name> follows micro bundle names (v, go, rust, cpp, …) inferred from the file extension, or the extension without the dot if unknown (e.g. nim.yaml for .nim). Lookup order is VRO_SYNTAX_DIR, local ./syntax, installed syntax dirs, ~/.local/share/vro/syntax, then ~/.config/vro/syntax. Same schema as below. Rules are a subset of micro YAML: filetype, detect.filename, and ordered rules of - group: "regex" patterns plus simple - group: / start: / end: / skip: regions. Region rules continue across newlines (e.g. /* … */). Patterns use V’s regex module (not PCRE); \\b word boundaries are emulated for identifier-aware rules and color only the word core of mixed matches like name(. Disable with NO_COLOR or VRO_NO_HL=1; VRO_FORCE_COLOR=1 overrides NO_COLOR. Run :syntax in the command bar to see which syntax file loaded.

Install

One-liner (release tarball, needs checksum on asset)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/undivisible/vro/main/install.sh | bash

Clone install (builds with v in PATH): run ./install.sh from the repo root.
VRO_USE_RELEASE=1, VRO_VERSION=v1.0.0, VRO_INSTALL_DIR=…, VRO_NO_VERIFY=1 supported (see install.sh).

Shell completions (optional): copy contrib/completions/vro.{bash,zsh,fish} into your shell’s completion path.

Prebuilt (GitHub Releases)

Tarballs and *.sha256 files are attached to each v* tag (see .github/workflows/release.yml). Verify with shasum -a 256 -c vro-<platform>.sha256, unpack, put vro on your PATH.

Wax (recommended)

wax tap undivisible/tap
wax install vro

Homebrew (alternative)

The homebrew-tap formula tracks the same release tarballs and sha256 values as Wax; use it if you standardize on brew instead of wax.

brew tap undivisible/tap https://github.com/undivisible/homebrew-tap
brew install vro

After you publish a release tag (e.g. v1.0.0), refresh the tap: ./scripts/print-release-shas.sh v1.0.0, then paste the sha256 values into ../homebrew-tap/Formula/vro.rb. Do not point the formula at a tag until the release assets exist, or installs will 404.

Keybindings

• Ctrl-S: save file
• Ctrl-Q: quit (if unsaved: three presses to force quit; wheel/mouse no longer resets the counter)
• Ctrl-F: search
• Ctrl-E: command bar
• Ctrl-N: cycle buffer word completions (longer words sharing prefix)
• Ctrl-C / Ctrl-X / Ctrl-V: copy, cut, and paste with the system clipboard, falling back to vro's internal clipboard
• Ctrl-Z / Ctrl-Y: undo and redo
• Tab: indent with spaces; on .html/.htm buffers, expands a lone tag at end-of-line (emmet-lite)
• Backspace / Delete: delete character, or delete selected text
• Ctrl-Delete: delete next word
• Ctrl-W / Option-Delete: delete previous word
• Ctrl-U: delete to the start of the line
• Shift-Arrows: extend selection when the terminal sends shifted arrow keys
• Enter: new line
• Mouse: terminals with SGR mode (most modern terminals): left click moves cursor; drag selects text; double-click selects word; triple-click selects sentence; wheel scrolls (VRO_NO_MOUSE=1 disables)

Command Bar

Press Ctrl-E, then type a command:

• open <path> or o <path> (open! / o! discards unsaved changes)
• right <path> / left <path> / top <path> / bottom <path> opens a file in a split
• buffer <n|path> or b <n|path> switches the active pane to an open buffer
• bnext / bn and bprev / bp cycle buffers in the active pane
• close closes the active split pane
• git refresh reports that live git gutter refresh is disabled
• write / w / save (or pass a path: write <path>)
• saveas <path>
• find <text> (or just find for interactive search)
• goto <line> or g <line>
• quit / q / exit / x (or quit! / exit! / x! to discard)
• wq — save and quit
• help

Terminal panes are not implemented yet; commands such as top zsh report that limitation instead of starting a shell.

License

MPL 2.0. Optional user syntax YAML may mirror micro’s MIT-licensed definition layout; vro ships its own highlighter, not micro’s Go engine.