# Kakoune (open-source developer tool)

> Kakoune is a free, open-source developer tool for macOS and Linux. Mawww's experiment for a better code editor. It has 11,091 GitHub stars and is released under the Unlicense license. Its source code is on GitHub at mawww/kakoune.

= image:{logo}[K,32,32,link="{website}",title="Kakoune logo by p0nce"] Kakoune image:{cirrus-img}[link="{cirrus-url}"] image:{srht-img}[link="{srht-url}"] image:{irc-img}[link="{irc-url}"] ifdef::env-github,env-browser[.asciidoc] font right ++

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/mawww/kakoune |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, BSD |
| Interface | desktop GUI |
| GitHub stars | 11,091 |
| License | Unlicense (open source) |
| Replaces | n/a |
| Language | C++ |
| Website | none listed |
| Official | no |
| Category | Code editors & developer tools |
| Latest release | v2026.05.21 (May 21, 2026) |
| Last commit | Oct 3, 2026 |

## Install

### Homebrew (macOS)

```sh
brew install kakoune
```

Package page: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kakoune

## Similar desktop apps

- [Visual Studio Code](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/visual-studio-code): This repository ("Code - OSS") is where we (Microsoft) develop the Visual Studio Code product together with the community. (193,639 stars, MIT, official)
- [Scrcpy](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/scrcpy): Display and control your Android device. (151,620 stars, Apache-2.0)
- [Terminal](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/terminal): The new Windows Terminal and the original Windows console host, all in the same place! (105,099 stars, MIT, official)
- [Neovim](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/neovim): Vim-fork focused on extensibility and usability. (102,908 stars, Apache-2.0 / Vim, official)
- [Zed](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/zed): Code at the speed of thought – Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter. (91,427 stars, GPL-3.0-or-later, official)
- [Orca](https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/orca): Orca is the ADE for working with a fleet of parallel agents. (87,258 stars, MIT, official)

---

Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/desktop-apps/kakoune
Source: appsgit (https://appsgit.com), the app store for github. Data from the GitHub API, refreshed nightly.
Machine access: JSON API https://appsgit.com/api/v1/apps (OpenAPI: https://appsgit.com/openapi.json), MCP server https://mcp.appsgit.com/mcp, full index https://appsgit.com/llms-full.txt.
