How is FeatherCode different from VS Code?

FeatherCode is a native macOS app built on AppKit's own text engine, so it launches instantly and the whole download is 1.3 MB. VS Code and other Electron editors bundle a full copy of Chromium — hundreds of megabytes and a slow cold start. FeatherCode is not a full IDE with debuggers and a plugin marketplace; it is a fast, sharp editor for opening, reading, and editing code, with the niceties you actually reach for: multi-cursor, real Vim, and syntax highlighting for 18 languages.

Does FeatherCode have a Vim mode?

Yes, and it is real Vim, not an imitation. FeatherCode embeds Neovim and drives it over its MessagePack-RPC protocol, so your motions, operators, and normal-mode muscle memory behave exactly as in your terminal. It requires Neovim to be installed — a one-line brew install neovim — and stays off until you turn it on.

What languages does it highlight?

Eighteen: Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, C, C++, Objective-C, Ruby, Shell, JSON, YAML, TOML, CSS, HTML, Markdown, and plain text. Highlighting runs through a hand-rolled incremental lexer that only re-scans the lines you change, so it stays instant in large files.

Is it a one-time purchase?

Yes. 12.99 US dollars, one time, no subscription and no account. It is signed and notarized by Apple.

macOS code editor

A code editor
that weighs
almost nothing.

Name: FeatherCode
Price: 12.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Kevin Tang

FeatherCode opens a source file without spinning up an IDE — native, instant, 2.6 MB — with the niceties you actually reach for: multi-cursor, real Vim, and highlighting for 18 languages.

Buy & download $12.99 See it in Finder

✓ Signed & notarized ✓ Universal binary ✓ Zero dependencies

A tiny, sharp Mac app from Kevin Tang — maker of Featherdown, PathPal & KnurlPad.

Note.swift Swift

12345678910111213

import SwiftUI // a featherweight little modelstruct Note: Identifiable { let id = UUID() var title: String var pinned = false} func load(_ path: URL) throws -> [Note] { let data = try Data(contentsOf: path) return try JSONDecoder().decode([Note].self, from: data)}

two carets · ⌘D to add the next match

The party trick

Press Space.
Your code, highlighted.

FeatherCode installs a Quick Look extension, so any source file previews syntax-highlighted right inside Finder — no app to open, no window to manage. Skim a script, check a config, read a file someone sent you, all from the Finder selection.

→ Real highlighting in the preview, not a grey wall of monospace.
→ The same 18-language lexer the editor uses, rendered to static HTML.
→ An Open with FeatherCode button is right there when you want to edit.
→ Works on .swift, .py, .ts, .go, .rs, .json, .yaml and more.

deploy.sh Open with FeatherCode

1234567

#!/usr/bin/env bashset -euo pipefail for f in dist/*.zip; do echo "shipping $f" gh release upload "v1.0" "$f"done

SPACE ▸ QUICK LOOK

The muscle memory, kept

Native speed. Modern editing.

Going native usually means giving up the editing tricks you got used to. FeatherCode keeps them — the handful you'd genuinely miss — and leaves the 500 MB behind.

Multi-cursor · ⌘D / ⌥-click

Edit in a dozen places at once

Select a word and ⌘D to add the next match, or ⌥-click to drop carets anywhere. Rename a variable, realign a block, top-and-tail a list — every caret types together, exactly like VS Code.

Vim mode · real Neovim

Actual Vim, not an impression

Turn it on and FeatherCode drives an embedded Neovim over MessagePack-RPC — so your motions, operators, and .-repeat behave exactly as they do in your terminal. Bring your own config; brew install neovim and it's live.

// LINE OPS

Move, duplicate, delete lines

⌥↑ / ⌥↓ to move a line, ⇧⌥↓ to duplicate, ⌘⌫ to kill — the whole-line choreography your fingers already know.

// NATIVE TEXT

AppKit's own text engine

Built on NSTextView and TextKit, so selection, IME, accessibility, and the caret all feel like the rest of the Mac — because they are the rest of the Mac.

// INSTANT

Opens before you blink

No splash, no window that paints in three passes. It's a 2.6 MB native app, so cold launch is a bounce of the Dock icon and you're typing.

Fluent, and fast about it

18 languages, one tiny lexer.

Highlighting runs through a hand-rolled incremental lexer — it re-scans only the lines you touch, keeping color instant even in a ten-thousand-line file. No tree-sitter grammars to download, no language servers to boot.

SwiftPythonJavaScript TypeScriptGoRust CC++Objective-C RubyShellJSON YAMLTOMLCSS HTMLMarkdownplain text

Language is detected from the file extension, or sniffed from a shebang for extensionless scripts. Fenced code inside Markdown is highlighted per-language too.

The featherweight part

1.3 MB. Not 500.

Most code editors you didn't write in a terminal are Electron — a whole copy of Chrome shipped to draw text. FeatherCode is native AppKit, so the entire download is smaller than a phone photo.

	FeatherCode	Typical Electron editor
Download size	1.3 MB	90–300 MB
Rendering	Native AppKit text	Bundled Chromium
Cold launch	Instant	Multi-second
Quick Look in Finder	Yes	No
Multi-cursor	Yes	Yes
Real Vim (Neovim)	Yes	Extension / emulation
Price	$12.99 once	Free, or subscription

Electron sizes are typical ranges. FeatherCode isn't trying to replace your IDE for a big project — it's the fast native editor for everything else. The 1.3 MB is the exact signed, notarized disk image you download.

No strings

It edits files. That's all.

[net]No network access. FeatherCode has no analytics, no telemetry, no account, no update-phone-home. Your code never leaves the machine.
[sig]Signed & notarized by Apple. The download is the exact build that passed Apple's notarization — it opens with a normal double-click, no Gatekeeper warning.
[dep]Zero dependencies. No embedded browser, no bundled frameworks. Just AppKit and a lexer I wrote — which is why it's 2.6 MB installed.
[keep]Yours to keep. One-time purchase, no subscription. Updates come as a new download when there's something worth shipping.

Questions

Good to know.

How is this different from VS Code?

FeatherCode is a native Mac app on AppKit's own text engine, so it launches instantly and the download is 1.3 MB — versus the hundreds of megabytes of Chromium an Electron editor ships. It's not a full IDE: no debugger, no extension marketplace, no language servers. It's the fast, sharp editor for opening, reading, and editing code — with the niceties you actually reach for.

Can I preview code files in Finder?

Yes. Select any source file and press Space — FeatherCode's Quick Look extension renders it syntax-highlighted in the preview panel, with an Open with FeatherCode button in the corner.

Is the Vim mode real?

Real. FeatherCode embeds Neovim and drives it over MessagePack-RPC, so motions, operators, registers, and .-repeat all behave exactly as in your terminal, honoring your own config. It requires Neovim installed — brew install neovim — and stays off until you enable it. Don't use Vim? Ignore it entirely; the editor is fully modern out of the box.

Which languages does it highlight?

Eighteen: Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, C, C++, Objective-C, Ruby, Shell, JSON, YAML, TOML, CSS, HTML, Markdown, and plain text. A hand-rolled incremental lexer re-scans only the lines you change, so it stays instant in large files.

How big is it, really?

The download is a 1.3 MB disk image; the installed app is about 2.6 MB, with zero third-party dependencies. Universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel.

Why isn't it on the Mac App Store?

FeatherCode ships a Quick Look extension and can launch an external Neovim process — both outside what App Store sandboxing allows. Selling it directly on Gumroad is what lets it work that way.

One-time purchase or subscription?

One-time. $12.99, yours to keep, no subscription and no account.

What are the system requirements?

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. Universal binary — native on both Apple Silicon and Intel. Vim mode additionally needs Neovim (brew install neovim).

I need help or found a bug.

Email martini-doubler7g@icloud.com and I'll get back to you.

A code editorthat weighsalmost nothing.

Press Space.Your code, highlighted.