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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

micro

A friendly text editor for the terminal that works the way you expect.

Visit micro4.6

  • Rating

    4.6 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

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What is micro?

micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive. It is a single static binary with no dependencies, uses familiar shortcuts like Ctrl-S, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-Z, and has multiple cursors, splits, tabs, and strong mouse support. It is meant as a successor to nano, handy for editing files over SSH.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what micro does well

  • Familiar shortcuts, little to learn
  • Single file with no dependencies
  • Mouse support in the terminal

Cons: where it falls short

  • Not as feature-rich as large editors
  • Terminal only

Who micro is for

People who edit files over SSH and find other terminal editors hard.

Who can skip it

Anyone who prefers a graphical editor.

micro alternatives

Not sold on micro? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Writing resources

Lapce

Focus: code editor, rust and plugins. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Rated 4.4 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.4Visit

tmux

Focus: sessions and multiplexer. Shares terminal and ssh with micro. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

Tabby

Focus: serial and command line. Shares terminal and ssh with micro. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

VSCodium

Focus: code editor, vs code and privacy. Shares open source and github with micro. Adds Offline. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Atuin

Focus: shell history, command line and sync. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

btop

Focus: system monitor and processes. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

Free alternatives to micro

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

htop

Focus: process viewer, system monitor and command line. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

Starship

Focus: shell prompt and developer tool. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Adds Offline. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

zoxide

Focus: navigation, command line and shell. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Rated 4.7 (micro: 4.6).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.7Visit

delta

Focus: git, diff and code review. Shares terminal and open source with micro. Same 4.6 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit
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