Open source · macOS 13+

Quick edits, instantly

Open a repo, browse code, make edits, and move on — in seconds. A native macOS editor under 1 MB built with Swift and AppKit. No Electron, no bloat.

GitHub Stars Featured in awesome-mac Downloads MIT License
$ brew install arietan/lite-edit/lite-edit
LiteEdit — native macOS code editor with Monokai theme, sidebar, tabs, and syntax highlighting

Install in seconds

Homebrew

One command

Install and update via Homebrew Cask.

$ brew install arietan/lite-edit/lite-edit
Direct download

DMG installer

Download, open, drag to Applications.

Download DMG
Build from source

Clone & build

Requires Xcode CLI Tools and macOS 13+.

$ git clone https://github.com/arietan/lite-edit && cd lite-edit && bash build.sh

Hundreds of times smaller than VS Code

LiteEdit
< 1 MB
Sublime Text
~40 MB
VS Code
~400 MB

The editor you reach for when speed matters

Browse a repo

Clone a project, open the folder, and start reading code — no plugins to install, no indexing to wait for.

Quick config edits

Change a YAML value, fix a JSON key, update an env file. Open, edit, save, done.

Review & read code

Syntax highlighting for 20+ languages, find & replace, and quick open — without loading a full IDE.

Side-by-side companion

Keep LiteEdit open alongside your main IDE for scratch files, notes, or quick references.

Everything you need, nothing you don't

Syntax Highlighting

20+ languages out of the box — even on huge files. Viewport-based lazy highlighting keeps scrolling smooth in files with 100k+ lines.

Multi-Cursor Editing

Select a word, hit Cmd+Shift+L to select all occurrences, then type to replace them all at once.

Tabbed Editor

Open multiple files in tabs. Cmd+W to close, Cmd+click to open in a new tab from the sidebar.

Quick Open

Cmd+P to fuzzy-search and jump to any file in the project. Find & Replace with regex support.

File Explorer

Sidebar with full folder-tree navigation. Right-click any file or folder to reveal it in Finder.

Session Persistence

Remembers your folder, open tabs, cursor positions, scroll viewport, and window state across restarts. Pick up exactly where you left off.

Familiar and fast

ShortcutAction
Cmd + NNew file
Cmd + OOpen file
Cmd + Shift + OOpen folder
Cmd + SSave
Cmd + WClose tab
Cmd + FFind & Replace
Cmd + PQuick Open
Cmd + GGo to line
Cmd + BToggle sidebar
Option + Up/DownMove line up/down
Cmd + Shift + KDelete current line
Cmd + Shift + LSelect all occurrences (multi-cursor edit)
Tab (multi-line)Indent selected lines
Shift + TabUnindent line(s)

Open, edit, move on

Download the DMG, drag to Applications, and you're editing in under a second. No account, no setup, no telemetry.