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.

Screenshots

Raw Editor	Rendered View

Split View	Zen Mode

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, YAML, and TOML files
• 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
• Undo/Redo - Full undo/redo support per tab

View Modes

• Split View - Side-by-side raw editor and rendered preview with resizable divider
• Zen Mode - Distraction-free writing with centered text column
• Sync Scrolling - Bidirectional scroll sync between raw and rendered views

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)
• Minimap - VS Code-style navigation panel with click-to-jump and search highlights
• Bracket Matching - Highlight matching brackets ()[]{}<> and emphasis pairs ** __
• Auto-Save - Configurable auto-save with temp-file safety
• Line Numbers - Optional line number gutter

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

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 showing modified, added, untracked, and ignored files
• Session Persistence - Restore open tabs, cursor positions, and scroll offsets on restart

Additional Features

• Light & Dark Themes - Beautiful themes with runtime switching
• Document Outline - Navigate large documents with the outline panel
• 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

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Platform	Download
Windows	ferrite-windows-x64.zip
Linux	ferrite-editor_amd64.deb (recommended) or ferrite-linux-x64.tar.gz
macOS	ferrite-macos-x64.tar.gz

Linux Installation

Using .deb package (Debian/Ubuntu/Mint - Recommended):

# 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

Using tar.gz (any Linux distro):

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

Build from Source

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70+ - Install from rustup.rs
• Platform-specific dependencies:

Windows:

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

Linux:

# 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:

xcode-select --install

Build

# 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

Usage

Launch

# Run from source
cargo run --release

# Or run the binary directly
./target/release/ferrite

# Open a specific file
./target/release/ferrite path/to/file.md

# Open a folder as workspace
./target/release/ferrite path/to/folder/

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

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+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

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

Access settings via Ctrl+, or the gear icon. Configure:

• Appearance: Theme, font family, font size
• Editor: Word wrap, line numbers, minimap, bracket matching, code folding, syntax highlighting
• Files: Auto-save, recent files history

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md for planned features and known issues.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Quick Start for Contributors

# 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

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
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 file for details.

Acknowledgments

• egui - Immediate mode GUI library for Rust
• comrak - CommonMark + GFM compatible Markdown parser
• syntect - Syntax highlighting library
• git2 - libgit2 bindings for Rust
• Inter and JetBrains Mono fonts