Atom Docs

Introduction

Welcome to the official documentation for Atom, a lightning-fast, modal terminal editor written in Rust.

Atom is designed for developers who crave the speed and efficiency of Vim but want the modern features of a contemporary IDE, such as LSP support, Tree-sitter highlighting, and a built-in package manager.

Core Features

Modal Editing & Vim Emulation

Atom provides a robust modal editing experience inspired by Vim.

  • Modes: Support for Normal, Insert, Visual, and Command modes.
  • Motions: Navigate efficiently with w, b, e, ge, 0, $, and more.
  • Operators: Use standard d (delete), y (yank), c (change), and p (paste) commands.
  • History: Full undo/redo stack for every buffer.

Native LSP Integration

Built from the ground up with asynchronous LSP support for a lag-free experience.

  • IntelliSense: Smart auto-completion with snippet support.
  • Navigation: Jump to Definition, Implementation, and References instantly.
  • Diagnostics: Real-time error and warning highlighting in the gutter and status line.
  • Trouble: A dedicated “Trouble” view to aggregate project-wide diagnostics and TODO markers.

Mason Package Manager

Manage your development environment directly within the editor.

  • Installation: One-click installation for LSPs, DAPs, linters, and formatters.
  • Filtering: Easily filter tools by language or type.
  • Updates: Keep your toolchain up-to-date with an intuitive interface.

Telescope Fuzzy Finder

The ultimate navigation tool for your project.

  • File Finder: Find and open files in milliseconds with live previews.
  • Live Grep: Search for text across your entire project.
  • Buffer & Theme Picker: Quickly switch between open files or change your editor’s look.

Tree-sitter Syntax Engine

High-performance syntax highlighting that understands your code.

  • Semantic Highlighting: Language-aware coloring that goes beyond regex.
  • Code Folding: Fold functions, classes, and blocks based on the AST.
  • Smart Indent: Intelligent indentation that follows the language’s structure.

Git Integration

Stay in flow with integrated version control information.

  • Gutter Signs: Visual indicators for added (+), modified (~), and deleted (-) lines.
  • Line Blame: View commit author and message for any line at a glance.
  • Status Line: Real-time branch info and change counts (Added/Modified/Deleted).

Integrated File Explorer

Navigate your project structure with a modern tree view.

  • File Operations: Create, rename, and delete files or directories without leaving Atom.
  • Nerd Font Icons: Beautiful icons for file types and git status.

Beautiful & Customizable

Atom is built to look good out of the box.

  • Themes: Support for Catppuccin, OneDark, Ayu Dark, and Gruvbox.
  • UI Components: Rounded borders, glassmorphism-inspired headers, and a clean status line.
  • Configurable: Simple config.toml for customizing your keybindings and preferences.