kte/AGENTS.md

kte

kte (Kyle's Text Editor) is a C++20 text editor with a terminal-first design (ncurses) and optional GUI frontends (ImGui via SDL2/OpenGL/Freetype, or Qt6); it uses a WordStar/VDE-style command model. Standards: none. The Metacircular service standards do not apply here.

Bootstrap (run once per checkout, idempotent)

nix develop (default shell; also provides terminal and qt devshells) or system SDL2/Freetype/ncurses if not using nix.

Gate (run before saying "done"; must exit 0)

make gate # what it runs: configure (cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DBUILD_GUI=ON -DBUILD_TESTS=ON) -> build (cmake --build build) -> test (./build/kte_tests) Fast check while editing: cmake --build build --target kte_tests && ./build/kte_tests Also run clang-tidy on changed files via build/compile_commands.json (not part of make gate; clang-tidy is not on this Mac's PATH).

Run

Terminal editor: ./build/kte <file> (always built). GUI editor: ./build/kge <file> (built when -DBUILD_GUI=ON; requires SDL2/OpenGL/Freetype, or Qt6 with -DKTE_USE_QT=ON). Docker (cross-platform Linux testing): docker build -t kte-linux . && docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/kte" kte-linux.

Sensors the harness watches

• make gate exit status and last 40 lines; kte_tests runs via ctest too (ctest --test-dir build)
• clang-tidy warning count on the diff (when clang-tidy is available)
• for GUI bugs: launch ./build/kge and report what was seen; a green test suite is not proof

Rules (do not re-litigate)

• Release: bump CMakeLists version, checkpoint, ./make-release.sh, report the SHA256 it prints; a GitHub push failure at the same commit is fine; then update /opt/homebrew/Library/Taps/kisom/homebrew-tap.
• All text mutations must go through the PieceTable API (insert_text, delete_text) so undo and swap recording work.
• Prefer GetLineView() (zero-copy) or GetLineString() over Rows() (legacy, materializes all lines); GetLineView() is valid only until the next buffer modification.
• C++20, compiled with -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic; Clang uses -stdlib=libc++.
• Naming: PascalCase for classes/methods, snake_case for variables, trailing underscore for private members (e.g. pieces_); indentation is tabs.
• Fallible ops use bool func(args..., std::string &err): clear err at start, capture errno immediately after syscall failure, use EINTR-safe wrappers from SyscallWrappers.h instead of raw syscalls.
• After editing ops, call ensure_cursor_visible() to update the viewport.

Docs that govern

• docs/ke.md — canonical keybinding/spec reference, inherited from the predecessor editor ke
• REWRITE.md, ROADMAP.md, CONFIG.md — design rationale, roadmap, and config reference
• README.md — project overview

Remote target

None: kte builds and runs locally (or in the Docker/CI Linux image); it has no remote deployment target.

Architecture

Three-layer design with strict frontend independence:

Frontend Layer (Terminal / ImGui / Qt / Test)
  InputHandler.h, Renderer.h, Frontend.h interfaces
        ↓
Command Layer
  CommandId enum → CommandRegistry → handler functions in Command.cc
        ↓
Core Model Layer
  Editor → Buffer → PieceTable
  UndoSystem (tree-based, records at PieceTable level)
  SwapManager (crash recovery journal per buffer)

Core Components

• PieceTable (PieceTable.h/.cc) - Text storage. Lazy materialization; most ops work on the piece list directly. Line index and materialization caches must be invalidated on content changes.
• Buffer (Buffer.h/.cc) - Wraps PieceTable.
• Editor (Editor.h/.cc) - Top-level state container. Primarily getters/setters; editing logic lives in commands.
• Command (Command.h/.cc) - 120+ editing commands. This is the main place to add new editing operations. Register via CommandRegistry::Register() in InstallDefaultCommands().
• UndoSystem/UndoTree/UndoNode - Tree-based undo with branching. Group related ops with buf.Undo()->BeginGroup() / EndGroup().
• Swap (Swap.h/.cc) - Append-only crash recovery journal. Uses circuit breaker pattern for resilience. Files in ~/.local/state/kte/.
• Syntax highlighting (syntax/) - Pluggable per-language highlighters registered in HighlighterRegistry. Per-line caching with buffer version tracking.

Frontend Implementations

Each frontend implements three interfaces (Frontend.h, InputHandler.h, Renderer.h):

• Terminal: ncurses-based (always built)
• ImGui: SDL2+OpenGL+Freetype (built with -DBUILD_GUI=ON)
• Qt: Qt6 (built with -DBUILD_GUI=ON -DKTE_USE_QT=ON)
• Test: Programmatic frontend for testing (always built, no UI deps)

Key CMake Options

Flag	Default	Purpose
BUILD_GUI	ON	Build kge (ImGui GUI)
KTE_USE_QT	OFF	Use Qt6 instead of ImGui for GUI
BUILD_TESTS	ON	Build test suite
ENABLE_ASAN	OFF	AddressSanitizer
KTE_STATIC_LINK	OFF	Static linking (Linux only)
KTE_ENABLE_TREESITTER	OFF	Tree-sitter syntax highlighting

Testing

Tests live in tests/test_*.cc, run by the single kte_tests binary (also registered with ctest as add_test(NAME kte_tests COMMAND kte_tests)); there is no single-test runner. Tests use a minimal custom framework in tests/Test.h with TEST(), ASSERT_EQ(), ASSERT_TRUE(), EXPECT_TRUE() macros. Use TestFrontend/TestInputHandler/TestRenderer for integration tests that exercise the full Editor+Buffer+Command stack without UI dependencies.

Key test files by area:

• PieceTable: test_piece_table.cc
• Buffer I/O: test_buffer_io.cc
• Commands: test_command_semantics.cc
• Search/replace: test_search.cc, test_search_replace_flow.cc
• Undo: test_undo.cc
• Swap (crash recovery): test_swap_*.cc (7 files)
• Reflow: test_reflow_paragraph.cc, test_reflow_indented_bullets.cc
• Integration: test_daily_workflows.cc

Important Caveats

• Buffer::Rows() is legacy; use GetLineView() / GetLineString() in new code.
• GetLineView() returns a string_view valid only until the next buffer modification.
• All source files are in the project root (no src/ directory); tests are in tests/; syntax highlighters in syntax/; themes in themes/; embedded fonts in fonts/.
• External deps: ext/imgui/ (Dear ImGui), ext/tomlplusplus/ (TOML parser).
• GUI config: ~/.config/kte/kge.toml (TOML preferred over legacy INI).
• ErrorHandler: centralized logging to ~/.local/state/kte/error.log with severity levels (Info/Warning/Error/Critical).