yame #

Yet Another Markdown Editor — a lightweight terminal editor for Markdown files.

The goal is something meaningfully lighter than VS Code for editing READMEs, notes, and CLAUDE.mds, while being more capable than nano for Markdown specifically.

It can also be used as a distraction-free text editor!

v0.2.1. Core editing, decoration, and theming are solid. Keybindings and config keys are stable. Active development - check in for new features!

What it does #

• Opens and saves Markdown files with live inline decoration: headings, bold, italic, inline code, fenced blocks, blockquotes, links, lists, todo checkboxes, tables, strikethrough, horizontal rules, ==highlights==, YAML/TOML frontmatter
• Syntax highlighting in fenced code blocks for over 150 languages
• Centered editing column with soft word wrap (wide/CJK character aware)
• Catppuccin Mocha theme by default, fully configurable via ~/.config/yame/config.toml
• System clipboard (Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V)
• Smart pair wrapping: select text, press (, [, ", `, *, etc. to wrap it
• Decoupled viewport scrolling — scroll to read without moving the cursor
• Undo/redo via Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y
• Live config reload with Ctrl+R
• Search and find/replace (Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H) with regex support
• Optional line numbers, focus mode, and typewriter mode

What it doesn't do yet #

• No tab completion, file browser, or split panes

Install #

cargo install yame

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/cyrusae/yame
cd yame
cargo install --path .

Platform support #

Tested on macOS. Should work on Linux and Windows; untested. Issues and pull requests welcome.

Usage #

yame <file>           Open <file> for editing (created if it doesn't exist)
yame -r <file>        Open <file> in read-only mode (no edits, no save)
yame init             Print shell integration function for your shell
yame write-config     Write a commented default config to ~/.config/yame/config.toml
yame --help           Show help

Shell integration (optional) #

yame init prints a shell function that adds fuzzy file discovery. Add this line to your .bashrc or .zshrc:

eval "$(yame init)"

This checks your login shell; to specify a shell, use yame init bash or yame init zsh.

Once active, yame with no argument fuzzy-finds Markdown files in the current directory; yame <term> fuzzy-searches by name; yame path/to/file.md passes through directly.

Requires fd and fzf.

yame() {
  local target
  if [[ -z "$1" ]]; then
    target=$(fd --type f --extension md | fzf --select-1 --exit-0 --preview 'head -20 {}')
  elif [[ "$1" == */* || "$1" == *.* ]]; then
    target="$1"
  else
    target=$(fd --type f "$1" | fzf --select-1 --exit-0 --preview 'head -20 {}')
  fi
  [[ -n "$target" ]] && command yame "$target"
}

Keybindings #

Configuration #

Config file: ~/.config/yame/config.toml (Respects $XDG_CONFIG_HOME if set.)

The file is optional. Run yame write-config to write a fully-commented template to the default path. All values below are the defaults (Catppuccin Mocha). You can set any subset — missing keys fall back to the default.

Base palette #

[palette]
text    = "#cdd6f4"   # body text
accent  = "#cba6f7"   # headings, links, bullets
muted   = "#585b70"   # blockquotes, URLs, completed todos
code    = "#a6e3a1"   # inline code and fenced blocks
bg      = "#1e1e2e"   # editor background
warning = "#f38ba8"   # dirty flag, warnings

Setting these six colors gives you a coherent theme. All other colors derive from them automatically.

Theme overrides #

Optional per-element overrides. These take precedence over the derived defaults.

[theme]
# bold_color          = "#cdd6f4"
# italic_color        = "#f5c2e7"   # e.g. Catppuccin pink for tonal distinction
# strikethrough_color = "#585b70"   # ~~struck~~ text (default: muted)
# blockquote_color    = "#6c7086"
# link_text_color     = "#cba6f7"
# link_url_color      = "#6c7086"
# todo_done           = "#585b70"   # completed todo items
# rule_color          = "#585b70"   # horizontal rule ─────
# code_bg             = "#262637"
# fenced_bg           = "#222233"
# heading_bg          = "#302d45"
# selection_bg        = "#413d5c"
# selection_fg        = "#1e1e2e"
# ui_bg               = "#1e1e2e"
# ui_bar              = "#313244"
# ui_text             = "#cdd6f4"
# delimiter_blend     = 0.4         # 0.0 = full muted, 1.0 = full span color
# highlight_bg        = "#524568"   # ==text== background (accent at 35% — try "#816a9f" for bolder)
# highlight_fg        = "#cdd6f4"   # ==text== foreground
# frontmatter_key     = "#a6e3a1"   # YAML/TOML frontmatter key color (default: code green)
# frontmatter_bg      = "#1e2620"   # YAML/TOML frontmatter block background (default: code at 15%)

Per-level heading colors #

[headings]
# h1 = "#cba6f7"
# h2 = "#89b4fa"
# h3 = "#94e2d5"
# h4 = "#a6e3a1"
# h5 = "#f5c2e7"
# h6 = "#fab387"

Layout #

[layout]
# min_cols         = 60     # minimum editing column width in characters
# max_cols         = 88     # maximum editing column width — caps the prose wrap margin on wide terminals
# tab_width        = 4      # spaces per tab character (tabs are expanded on load)
# line_numbers     = false  # set true to show line numbers in the left gutter
# powerline_glyphs = true   # set false to use the universal │ separator instead

Note: Nerd Font arrow separators are on by default. If your terminal font doesn't include glyph U+E0B0 and the status bar shows a box character, add powerline_glyphs = false to your config.

A Nerd Fonts patched font (or a font with built-in Powerline support such as Cascadia Code or JetBrains Mono) will render them correctly.

Error handling #

If the config file has invalid TOML, yame falls back to defaults and prints a warning to stderr. If an individual color value is malformed, that field falls back to its default and a dismissible warning banner appears at the top of the editor.

License #

MIT