What is Helix used for?

Helix is a terminal-based modal text editor written in Rust, inspired by Kakoune and Neovim, with multiple selections and built-in language server support. It is a good fit for terminal code editing with built-in language tooling and modal editing with multiple cursors.

Is Helix open source?

Yes. Helix is open source under the MPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at helix-editor/helix and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. Helix is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is Helix an alternative to?

Helix is an open-source alternative to Sublime Text, RustRover, BBEdit and Nova. Other open-source alternatives to Sublime Text include Neovim, Zed and Visual Studio Code.

Is Helix actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Helix was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is 25.07.1, published on 18 July 2025. The project has 46k stars on GitHub.

Helix: open-source alternative to Sublime Text, RustRover

About Helix

Helix is a modal text editor written in Rust and inspired by Kakoune and Neovim. Its editing model is heavily based on Kakoune, whose design decisions the author largely agreed with while building it. It is released under the MPL-2.0 license and is primarily a terminal-based editor.

It offers modal editing in the Vim style, several simultaneous selections, language server support out of the box, and incremental syntax highlighting and code editing built on tree-sitter. The author has said they may explore a custom wgpu-based renderer, along the lines of Emacs. Shortcuts and keymaps are documented on the project website.

The README notes that only certain languages currently have indentation definitions. Installation instructions, a FAQ and a community Matrix space are linked for help. Helix suits developers who like modal editing and want language tooling that works out of the box without assembling many plugins.

Key features

Vim-like modal editing
Multiple selections and cursors
Built-in language server support
Tree-sitter syntax highlighting and editing
Terminal-based editor written in Rust

Good fit for

→Terminal code editing with built-in language tooling
→Modal editing with multiple cursors

Built with: Rust
Tags: text-editor; modal-editor; rust; terminal; tree-sitter; lsp; vim; kakoune

Helix: questions and answers

What is Helix used for?: Helix is a terminal-based modal text editor written in Rust, inspired by Kakoune and Neovim, with multiple selections and built-in language server support. It is a good fit for terminal code editing with built-in language tooling and modal editing with multiple cursors.
Is Helix open source?: Yes. Helix is open source under the MPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at helix-editor/helix and is written mainly in Rust.
Is Helix free?: Yes. Helix is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is Helix an alternative to?: Helix is an open-source alternative to Sublime Text, RustRover, BBEdit and Nova. Other open-source alternatives to Sublime Text include Neovim, Zed and Visual Studio Code.
Is Helix actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Helix was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is 25.07.1, published on 18 July 2025. The project has 46k stars on GitHub.