Getting Started#

toe is a modal terminal editor built for Go development. toe edits Go projects, not the universe.

Requirements#

Go 1.26 or later
A terminal with ANSI color support

Installing#

git clone https://github.com/kode4food/toe
cd toe
make install   # installs to $GOPATH/bin

Or build without installing:

make build   # writes to dist/toe

Opening Files#

toe                        # open in current directory
toe path/to/file.go        # open a single file
toe file1.go file2.go      # open multiple files

Modes#

toe is a modal editor. Every key press means something different depending on the current mode.

Mode	How to enter	Purpose
Normal	`Escape` (or start here)	Navigation, commands, editing operations
Insert	`i`, `a`, `o`, `A`, `I`, `O`	Type text
Select	`v`	Extend and manipulate selections

The mode is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

First Steps#

After opening a file:

h j k l       move left / down / up / right
i             enter Insert mode before cursor
Escape        return to Normal mode
u             undo
U             redo

Saving and Quitting#

:w            save (write)
:q            quit
:wq           save and quit
:q!           quit without saving
:wq!          force save and quit

Finding Files#

Space+f       open file picker
Space+b       open buffer picker
Space+/       global search

Start typing to filter. Enter opens the selection.

Splits#

Ctrl+w s      horizontal split
Ctrl+w v      vertical split
Ctrl+w q      close current split
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l  navigate between splits

Command Mode#

Press : in Normal mode to type a command. Commands support aliases and tab completion via the command palette (Space+?).

→ See Key Bindings for the complete reference.