Documentation

Welcome to the official documentation for Klein — a professional terminal-hosted IDE (TIDE) designed to combine the power of modern editors with the speed of terminal-native tools.

Overview

Klein is a lightweight, terminal-based text editor built in Rust. It provides an IDE-like interface using ratatui for the user interface and portable-pty for terminal integration, giving developers a keyboard-centric coding environment directly in the command line.

Whether you're editing multiple files, browsing a project directory, or compiling code from the embedded shell, Klein brings essential workflow tools into one efficient console application.

Key Features

Klein doesn't compromise on functionality or looks. Here is what you get out of the box:

Installation

Via mise (Recommended)

If you have mise installed, a single command downloads and activates the latest pre-built binary:

mise use -g github:Adarsh-codesOP/Klein

Automatic Setup Script

A pair of installer scripts configure your workspace, download the binary, and set your preferred shell.

irm https://klein.adarshas.me/install.ps1 | iex

curl -sSL https://klein.adarshas.me/install.sh | bash

Via Cargo (crates.io)

Install Klein directly from crates.io using Cargo:

cargo install klein-ide

Manual Build

Clone the repository and build from source using Cargo:

git clone https://github.com/adarsh-codesOP/Klein.git
cd Klein
cargo install --path .

CLI Usage

Klein supports standard command-line options for quick control:

# Show help information
klein --help

# Show version information
klein --version

# Start the editor in current directory
klein

Tree-sitter Integration

Klein uses Tree-sitter for full structural parsing, replacing traditional regex-based approaches. This enables accurate syntax highlighting, structural editing, and lays the foundation for advanced code intelligence.

Supported Languages

What Tree-sitter Enables

With Tree-sitter, Klein can understand the structure of your code, not just its text:

• Accurate syntax highlighting — Colors reflect actual syntax nodes, not regex heuristics
• Structural editing — Select, navigate, and manipulate code by syntax tree nodes
• Real-time updates — The syntax tree incrementally updates as you type

Language Server Protocol

Klein features a robust, actor-based LSP subsystem that brings full IDE intelligence to the terminal. Connect any LSP-compatible language server for rich editing support.

LSP Capabilities

Search

Klein provides powerful project-wide search capabilities to help you find anything across your codebase.

File Search

Use Ctrl + P to open the fuzzy file finder. Start typing a filename and Klein will instantly show matching results with an interactive picker UI.

Project Grep

Use Ctrl + Shift + F for project-wide text search. Results are displayed in an interactive preview panel where you can navigate directly to matches.

Keybindings

Klein is designed to be fully navigable via keyboard, keeping your hands on the home row.

Navigation & Focus

Editor & Tabs

Configuration

Make Klein truly yours. Core configurations, including default shell paths, UI colors, and text banners, can be modified in the source.

Navigate to src/config.rs to adjust the TIDE's environment:

// Example: Altering default focus colors in src/config.rs
pub mod colors {
    use ratatui::style::Color;
    pub const EXPLORER_FOCUS: Color = Color::Green;
    pub const EDITOR_FOCUS: Color = Color::Yellow;
    pub const TERMINAL_FOCUS: Color = Color::Cyan;
}

Contributing

We welcome contributions of all shapes and sizes! Whether you are squashing a bug, adding a new feature, or simply fixing a typo, your help is greatly appreciated.

Please read our Contributing Guidelines to understand the workflow for submitting pull requests and reporting issues.