Awesome Emacs

A community driven list of useful Emacs packages, libraries and others.

Most of the following packages are available in MELPA. We recommend installing packages via it.

Table of Contents

• Awesome Emacs
  • Interface Enhancement
  • File Manager
  • Navigation
  • Project management
  • Programming
    • Completion
    • Code Folding
    • Error Checking
  • Programming Language
    • Python
    • Ruby
    • Lisp Family
      • Common Lisp
      • Scheme
      • Clojure
    • Web / JavaScript / CSS
    • SML
    • OCaml
    • Erlang
    • Haskell
  • Visual
    • Keys Cheat Sheet
  • Editing
    • Kill-ring
  • Note
  • Version control
  • Integration
    • Console
    • Search
      • Ack
      • Ag
      • Pt
    • Pastebin
    • Google
  • LaTeX
  • Internet
    • Mail
    • IRC
    • Social Network
    • RSS
  • Package Manager
  • Library
  • Appearance
  • Theme
  • Fun
  • Starter Kit
• Contributing
  • Generate “Table of Contents”
  • Emacs Built-In Packages
• Other Awesome Lists

Interface Enhancement

• IDO - [built-in] Interactively do things with buffers and files.
• Helm - A powerful completion and selection narrowing framework. ( External Guides 1 )
• smex - A smart M-x enhancement for Emacs.
• tabbar - Display a tab bar in the header line.
• Evil - An e xtensible vi l ayer: manipulate Emacs with Vi key binding.
• sublimity - smooth-scrolling, minimap inspired by the sublime editor.
• winner - [built-in] “Undo”(and “redo”) changes in the window configuration with the key commands.
• ElScreen - Utility for multiple screens.

File Manager

• Dired - [built-in] Dir ectory Ed itor. A customizable great file manager.
• Dired+ - Functional & interface extensions for dired.
• NeoTree - A emacs tree plugin like NERD tree for Vim.
• Sr Speedbar - Same frame speedbar.
• Direx - directory tree explorer

Navigation

• windmove - [built-in] Tired with C-x o? Now you can use shift+arrows to jump between windows.
• Ace jump - A quick cursor jump mode.
• goto-last-change - Move point through buffer-undo-list positions.
• Helm-swoop - Efficiently jump between matched string/lines.
• anzu - displays current match and total matches.
• imenu - [built-in] Menus for accessing locations in documents.
• imenu-anywhere - IDO/Helm imenu tag selection across all buffers with the same mode.
• Minimap - A SublimeText-style minimap sidebar.
• switch-window - A visual replacement for C-x o.

Project management

• Projectile - Project Interaction Library for Emacs.
• Prodigy - Manage external services from within Emacs.
• Fiplr - An Emacs Fuzzy Find in Project Package.
• Project-Explorer - a tree project explorer (integrates with projectile)

Programming

• CEDET - [built-in] an advanced development environment in Emacs.
• Xrefactory - A refactoring browser for Emacs.
• YASnippets - Template system.
• Helm-dash - Browse Dash docsets via Helm interface.
• evil-nerd-commenter - Comment/uncomment lines efficiently. Like Nerd Commenter in Vim. This program can be used independently without evil-mode.
• SmartParens - Deals with parens pairs and tries to be smart about it
• indent-guide - Show vertical lines to guide indentation

Completion

• Auto-Completion - An intelligent auto-completion extension with great interface.
• Company - A text completion framework.
• flx - Fuzzy matching for Emacs à la Sublime Text.
• abbrev - [built-in] Abbreviation expander

Code Folding

• hideshow - [built-in] Folding regions by balanced-expression code.
  • hideshowvis - Based on hideshow, just display its nodes on fringe.

Error Checking

• FlyMake - [built-in] on-the-fly syntax checks on files using external tools.
• Flycheck - modern on-the-fly syntax checking meant to be a replacement to FlyMake

Programming Language

Python

• Jedi - A Python auto-completion package.
• Elpy - An Emacs Python development environment.
• anaconda-mode - Code navigation, documentation lookup and completion for Python.
• virtualenvwrapper.el - Manage virtualenv from inside Emacs.

Ruby

• enh-ruby-mode - Major mode for editing Ruby files.
• robe - Code navigation, documentation lookup and completion for Ruby.
• rinari - Rinari Is Not A Rails IDE (it is an Emacs minor mode for Rails).
• rvm.el - Use rvm to manage ruby versions within emacs.

Lisp Family

• Paredit - Minor mode for editing parentheses. Strict parenthesis auto-pairing and easy depth adjustment. Compatible with Lisp/Scheme/Clojure.

Common Lisp

• SLIME - A fully-functional IDE for Common Lisp development, with debugger, REPL.
  • SLY - A fork of SLIME.

Scheme

• Quack - Enhanced Emacs Support for Editing and Running Scheme Code.
• Geiser - Intergrated development with Guile and Racket.

Clojure

• Clojure mode - A major mode for clojure.
• Cider - Clojure IDE and REPL.
• Clojure snippets - Clojure snippets with yasnippet.

Web / JavaScript / CSS

• js2-mode - Improved JavaScript editing mode.
• skewer-mode - live interact with JavaScript, CSS, and HTML in a web-browser.
• js-comint.el - Run an inferior javascript REPL process in Emacs.
• web-mode - major mode for editing various html templates (PHP, JSP, ASP, ERB…etc).
• emmet - Emmet support for Emacs.
• impatient-mode - See your changes in the browser as you type.
• php-mode - Major mode for PHP programming.

SML

• SML mode - a major Emacs mode for editing Standard ML source code.

OCaml

• tuareg - a Caml mode for Emacs.
• TypeRex - a set of tools for developing in OCaml.

Erlang

• erlang - the official Erlang mode for Emacs.
• distel - Distel is a library for Emacs<->Erlang communication, plus a suite of tools built on top of it, such as a debugger front-end.
• EDTS - EDTS is meant to be a able to replace Distel but only provides part of the most commonly used of Distel’s features.
• Wrangler - Wrangler is a mode that supports interactive refactoring of Erlang programs

Haskell

• haskell-mode - major mode for Haskell
• structured-haskell-mode - minor mode for structured editing of Haskell
• HaRe - Haskell refactoring tool with emacs integration
• ghc-mod - backend to provide e.g. type information with an emacs frontend

External Guides:

• Using Emacs for Haskell development

Visual

• undo-tree - Visualize the whole undo history in buffer as a tree, and you can access anywhere in it.
• highlight-symbol - Auto/manually highlight the same symbols in code, navigate in them, or replace string.
• rainbow-delimiters - Highlights parentheses, brackets, and braces according to their depth.
• rainbow-mode - Display color on color-code string (hex/rgb) directly.
• visual-regexp - Replace via RegExp, with real-time visual feedback directly in the buffer.
• visual-regexp-steroids - The same as visual-regexp, but use modern regular expressions instead of Emacs-style.
• whitespace - [built-in] Visualize blanks (tab/space/newline).
• linum-relative - display relative line number in the left margin in emacs.

Keys Cheat Sheet

• discover.el - Discover more of emacs with well-categorized context menus.
• guide-key - Displays the available key bindings automatically and dynamically.
• guide-key-tip - Tooltip version of guide-key.

Editing

• Multiple cursors - Mark, edit multiple lines at once.
• pangu-spacing - Minor-mode to automatically add space between CJK and Latin characters.
• hungry-delete - Delete an entire block of whitespace at point.
• Drag Stuff - Drag Stuff is a minor mode for Emacs that makes it possible to drag stuff (words, region, lines) around in Emacs.
• expand-region.el - Increase selected region by semantic units.
• multifiles.el - View and edit parts of multiple files in one buffer.

Kill-ring

• Popup-killring - Browse kill-ring with popup menu.
• Browse-kill-ring - Visually navigate kill-ring.

Note

• Org - [built-in] Write notes, GTD, authoring, publish and wash dishes.
• Emacs Muse - a publishing environment for Emacs.

Version control

• Magit - Interacting with git.
• github-clone.el - Fork and clone Github projects from Emacs.
• git-rebase-mode - Major mode for editing git rebase files
• git-timemachine - Step through historic versions of git controlled files.
• git-gutter - Indicator the modified lines via git diff.
• git-messenger - popup commit message at current line to know why this line was changed.

Integration

Console

• EShell - [built-in] A shell-like command interpreter implemented in Emacs Lisp.
• Term - [built-in] A terminal emulator in Emacs.
• exec-path-from-shell - Get environment variables such as $PATH from the shell for Mac user.
• multi-term - Managing multiple terminal buffers in Emacs.

Search

Ack

• ack-and-a-half - Yet another emacs front-end to ack.
• full-ack - An Emacs front-end for ack.
• helm-ack - Use Ack with Helm interface.

Ag

• ag.el - An Emacs frontend to Ag (“the silver searcher” ack replacment)
• helm-ag - Ag with helm interface

Pt

• pt.el - An emacs front-end for Pt, the Platinum Searcher.

Pastebin

• gist.el - Paste Gist in Emacs.
• yagist.el - Yet another Gist integration.
• dpaste.el - Emacs mode to post to dpaste.com.

Google

• google-this - A set of functions and bindings to google under point.
• google-translate - Interface to Google Translate.
• g-client - Google client for Emacs.

LaTeX

• AUCTeX - an extensible package for writing and formatting TeX files.
• latex-preview-pane is a minor mode for Emacs that enables you to preview your LaTeX files directly in Emacs.

Internet

Mail

• Gnus - [built-in] Reading e-mail and Usenet news.
• Messages - [built-in] Composing and sending messages inside Emacs.
• mu4e - an e-mail client for emacs
• notmuch - A mail indexer which can serve as a complete client with its emacs integration

IRC

• ERC - [built-in] A powerful, modular, and extensible IRC client.
• Riece - an IRC client for Emacs.
• Rcirc - [built-in] Next generation IRC client.

Social Network

• Twittering mode - Major mode for Twitter.

RSS

• Elfeed - RSS Reader for Emacs.

Package Manager

• package.el - [built-in] Install and manage Emacs packages easily.
  • paradox - Modernizing Emacs’ Package Menu with package ratings, usage statistics, customizability & more.
• el-get - apt-get style Emacs packages manager.
• cask - Manage dependencies for your local Emacs configuration and automate the package development cycle.
  • pallet - A package management tool for Emacs, built on Cask.
• quelpa - Build and install your Emacs Lisp packages on-the-fly directly from source.

Library

• dash.el - A modern list library.
• s.el - String manipulation library.
• f.el - Modern API for working with files and directories in Emacs.
• Grizzl - A small utility library to be used in other Elisp code needing fuzzy search behaviour.
• ov.el - Overlay library for Emacs Lisp.

Appearance

• powerline - Emacs version of the Vim powerline.
• powerline-evil - Utilities for better Evil support for Powerline.
• smart-mode-line - A sexy mode-line for Emacs.

Theme

• Zenburn - (dark) Vim’s “Zenburn theme” ported to Emacs.
• Solarized - (light/dark) Solarized color theme.
• Sanityinc-tomorrow - (light/dark) An Emacs version of “Tomorrow-themes”.
• Monokai - (dark) A port of the popular TextMate theme Monokai
• Cyberpunk-theme - (dark) [256color] Mostly a direct port of the “Cyberpunk Overtone theme”.
• Ample-theme - (light/dark) [256color] A low-contrast theme for Emacs.
• Moe-theme- (light/dark) [256color] A customizable colorful eye-candy theme. Moe, moe, kyun!
• Leuven-theme - [built-in] (light) Awesome Emacs color theme for white backgrounds
• Grandshell-theme - (dark) [256color] Theme with intensive colors.

Above list is some of the most popular/installed themes. If still unsatisfied, you also can take a look of GNU Emacs Themes Gallery for screenshots of almost all available Emacs themes.

Fun

• Nyan-mode - Let Nyan Cat show you your buffer position in mode line.
• Zone Mode - [built-in] A buffer obfuscator, or a screensaver.
• swimmers.el - An emacs screensaver.

Starter Kit

• Prelude - Prelude is an enhanced Emacs 24 distribution that should make your experience with Emacs both more pleasant and more powerful.
• Emacs-live - M-x start-hacking http://overtone.github.com/emacs-live/ .
• Purcell’s .emacs.d - An Emacs configuration bundle with batteries included.
• Emacs24 Starter Kit - A cleaner version of the literate starter kit based on Emacs24 http://eschulte.github.com/emacs24-starter-kit/ .
• Oh-My-Emacs - Provide an awesome, out-of-box, literate dotemacs for both newbies and nerds. http://xiaohanyu.github.io/oh-my-emacs .
• Cabbage - Get the maximum out of emacs http://senny.github.com/cabbage/ .
• Spacemacs - A slick Evil focused starter kit: do not fear RSI anymore.
• Graphene - A set of defaults for Emacs, for refugees from GUI text editors.

Contributing

Your contributions are always welcome! Please submit a pull request or create an issue to add a new package, library or software to the list.

Generate “Table of Contents”

After editing and going to commit & push this list, you can use `/gen-toc.el` to update the table of contents with M-x awesome-emacs-gen-toc in README.org buffer.

Emacs Built-In Packages

If a package is available in latest Emacs, please remember to add a [built-in] tag in the front of description.

Other Awesome Lists

Other amazingly awesome lists can be found in the awesome-awesomeness list.