xi Editor (often styled “Xi”) is a project to build a modern, high-performance text editor designed for large files, extensibility, and native UI integration. Its architecture splits a thin UI layer from a high-performance core engine (written in Rust) that handles buffer editing, syntax highlighting, undo/redo, searching, and background processing asynchronously. This separation lets the core focus on speed and concurrency, while multiple frontends (macOS, GTK, web) handle rendering, input, and platform bridging. Xi is designed to scale to huge files (gigabyte scale) without lag, thanks to a rope data structure and efficient diffing algorithms. Plugins communicate with the core via JSON-RPC, enabling asynchronous extensions without blocking editing responsiveness. The overall aim is to reimagine text editing for modern machines and workflows, delivering scalability, modularity, and an editor architecture built for the next decade.
Features
- Core-backend / front-end separation: Core handles buffer, editing operations; front-ends render UI etc
- Persistent rope data structure for efficient editing even with large files
- Asynchronous operations (e.g. autosave snapshots, non-blocking operations) so user isn’t blocked by heavy operations
- Support for plugins via pipes / plugin protocol; front-end / core communicate via JSON messages
- Native UI front-ends: macOS front-end (Cocoa), GTK front-end, Windows experimental, Term UI front-end etc
- Emphasis on speed and responsive UX: operations, rendering under 16ms, minimize latency etc