A beautiful TUI text editor & IDE — the best of NeoVim and Nano, with modern IDE features.
Note: Not to be confused with Aether, the theming tool for Omarchy.

Features • Installation • Usage • Themes • Keybindings • Plugins • Configuration

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Features

• Four editing modes: Vim, Nano, Emacs, and Aether (a smart hybrid)
• Beautiful TUI with Textual-quality visuals
• 10 built-in themes — Aether Dark, Aether Light, Ember, Frost, Midnight, Sakura, Void, Oceanic, Solarized, Dracula
• Custom themes via TOML files
• Syntax highlighting for 30+ languages (Rust, Python, JS, Go, C/C++, and more)
• File tree sidebar with icons and expand/collapse
• Tab support for multiple open files
• Command palette (Ctrl+P) with fuzzy search
• Built-in file picker with directory browsing and filtering
• Search & replace (Ctrl+F / /)
• First-run setup wizard with onboarding
• Local AI support (Ollama integration, no internet needed)
• Cross-platform — Linux, macOS, Windows
• Native binary — zero runtime dependencies, instant startup
• Auto-pairs (brackets, quotes) in Aether mode
• Smart auto-indent in Aether mode
• Recent files tracking
• Persistent configuration saved to ~/.config/aether/

Installation

NOTICE: This will require a Nerd Font, installed on the system for proper icons. it will work, but it will look weird.

Linux & macOS

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wyind/aether.git
cd aether

# Build and install to ~/.local/bin
make install

Windows

1. Install Rust: Download and run the installer from rustup.rs.

2. Clone & Build:

   git clone https://github.com/wyind/aether.git
   cd aether
   cargo build --release

   This will build the binary, in the target/release folder, auto adding as a windows start menu shortcut is planned.

Requirements

• Rust 1.70 or later

Usage

# Open Aether (shows welcome screen)
aether

# Open a file
aether main.rs

# Open multiple files
aether src/*.rs

# Re-run setup wizard
aether --setup (or, go into the settings because my code is ass)

# Show help
aether --help

Themes

Aether ships with 10 beautiful built-in themes:

Theme	Style	Accent Color
Aether Dark	Deep dark with teal glow	#00FFD2
Aether Light	Clean, bright, professional	#00AFA0
Ember	Warm Catppuccin-inspired	#f38ba8
Frost	Cool Nord blues	#88c0d0
Midnight	GitHub Dark-inspired	#f0883e
Sakura	Soft Japanese pink/purple	#ff91af
Void	Ultra-dark with electric purple	#9b64ff
Oceanic	Deep sea blues and greens	#50c8dc
Solarized	Classic Solarized Dark	#268bd2
Dracula	The beloved dark theme	#bd93f9

Custom Themes

Aether support full theme customization via TOML. See the Theming Guide for a complete list of fields and examples.

Create a .toml file in ~/.config/aether/themes/:

name = "My Theme"
bg = "#1a1b26"
fg = "#c0caf5"
accent = "#7aa2f7"

# Optional overrides (auto-generated if omitted)
keyword = "#bb9af7"
string = "#9ece6a"
comment = "#565f89"
function = "#7dcfff"

Keybindings

Global (all modes)

Key	Action
Ctrl+P	Command palette
Ctrl+S	Save file
Ctrl+O	Open file (file picker)
Ctrl+N	New file
Ctrl+W	Close tab
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Ctrl+T	Toggle file tree
Ctrl+F	Find / Search
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
F5	Cycle theme

Vim Mode

Key	Action
i/a/o	Enter insert mode
Esc	Return to normal mode
h/j/k/l	Movement
w/b	Word forward/backward
dd	Delete line
u	Undo
/	Search
:w	Save
:q	Quit
:wq	Save and quit
:e <file>	Open file

Nano Mode

Direct typing — just start writing! All shortcuts use Ctrl+.

Aether Mode (recommended)

Direct typing with smart shortcuts:

Key	Action
Alt+h/j/k/l	Fast navigation (vim-style without modes)
Alt+w/b	Word jump forward/backward
Alt+d	Delete line
Alt+u	Undo
Auto-indent	New lines match previous indentation

Plugins

Aether features a powerful Lua plugin system for extending the editor.

• Location: ~/.config/aether/plugins/
• Hooks: on_keypress, on_save, on_open
• API: Access the editor state via the global aether table.

Check out the Plugin Guide for the full API reference and examples.

Configuration

Configuration is stored at ~/.config/aether/config.toml and persists between sessions:

username = "your_name"
theme_index = 0
edit_mode = "aether"
ai_enabled = false
show_line_numbers = true
tab_size = 4

All settings — theme, mode, username, AI preference — are saved automatically when changed via the setup wizard, command palette, or keybindings.

Desktop Integration

Aether automatically integrates with your desktop environment when installed via make install:

• Linux: Creates a .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications and installs a 256x256 icon.
• macOS: Creates a .app bundle in ~/Applications with the Aether icon.
• Windows: Adds a shortcut to your Start Menu pointing to the installed binary.

You can find these assets in the assets/ directory:

• aether.desktop (Linux)
• Info.plist (macOS)
• aether.ico (Windows)

Customizing Icons

If you want to use a different icon (e.g., the light theme version), replace the icon in the respective platform's resource folder or update the assets/ files before running make install.

Local AI Support

Aether supports local AI models via Ollama:

# Install Ollama
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh

# Pull a model
ollama pull codellama

# Enable AI in Aether setup
aether --setup

AI runs entirely on your machine. No data leaves your computer.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request.

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Made with Rust & <3 by wyind