Fast Notepad

A compact, cross-platform text editor built with C++ and Dear ImGui. It focuses on quick startup, a minimal UI, and practical editing tools.

Getting started

Unix:

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
echo "run the app with ./build/FastNotepad"

If an error shows up talnking about X11, you are missing the X11 + OpenGL dev packages, install them:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  xorg-dev \
  libx11-dev \
  libxrandr-dev \
  libxinerama-dev \
  libxcursor-dev \
  libxi-dev \
  libgl1-mesa-dev

Windows:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
Debug\FastNotepad.exe

Other useful command to build the release version: CMake: Select Variant

You can also run ./scripts/build-release.sh

Testing

To run the automated tests locally using Catch2, you need to configure CMake with testing enabled and then use ctest:

mkdir build-tests
cd build-tests
cmake .. -DBUILD_TESTING=ON
cmake --build . --target fast_notepad_tests
ctest --output-on-failure

You can also run ./scripts/run-tests.sh

Releases

Releases are completely automated via GitHub Actions. To trigger a new release:

1. Create and push a new Git tag starting with v (e.g., v1.0.0):

   git tag v1.0.0
   git push origin v1.0.0

2. The GitHub Action will automatically build binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and create a GitHub Release with the attached files.
3. You can also manually trigger a build from the Actions tab on GitHub by selecting the Release workflow and clicking Run workflow.

Features

• Multi-Tab Support: Open, edit, and manage multiple files concurrently.
• Syntax Highlighting: Automatically detects and highlights C++, JSON, GLSL, Lua, and Markdown files.
• Find & Replace: Search for text and replace it iteratively or all at once.
• Unsaved Changes Protection: Prevents accidental data loss by prompting you before closing dirty tabs or exiting.
• Session Persistence: Remembers your open tabs and settings (theme, window size) across restarts.
• Light/Dark Themes: Beautiful, high-contrast themes optimized for readability.
• Quick Zooming: Scale editor font size easily using mouse wheel or keyboard shortcuts.
• Native File Dialogs: Seamless OS integration using portable-file-dialogs.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Ctrl+N: New Tab
• Ctrl+O: Open File
• Ctrl+S: Save
• Ctrl+Shift+S: Save As
• Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y: Undo / Redo
• Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V: Cut / Copy / Paste
• Ctrl+F: Find
• Ctrl+H: Find & Replace
• Esc: Close Find & Replace panel
• Ctrl+Mouse Wheel: Zoom In / Out
• Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0: Zoom In / Zoom Out / Reset Zoom

Technology stack

• C++
• CMake
• GLFW
• OpenGL 3.3 Core
• Dear ImGui
• ImGuiColorTextEdit (TextEditor)
• portable-file-dialogs
• stb_image (window icon on Linux)