BigEdit

🖥️ A streaming TUI editor for very large files. Edit multi-gigabyte files without loading them into memory!

Features

• Edit files larger than RAM - Only loads what's visible on screen
• Nano-like keybindings - Familiar interface for terminal users
• Vi mode - Toggle with F2 for vi-style editing (h/j/k/l, i/a/o, :w/:q)
• Undo/Redo - Full undo support (Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Y in Nano, u/Ctrl+R in Vi)
• FUSE virtual filesystem - Other programs can see your changes before you compact
• Journal-based saves - Instant writes without rewriting the entire file
• Systemd service - Auto-mount patched file views on boot

Installation

Ubuntu/Debian (APT)

# Add the repository
echo "deb [trusted=yes arch=amd64] https://jopdorp.github.io/bigedit stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bigedit.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install bigedit

The bigedit-watcher service is enabled by default. To start it immediately:

systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user start bigedit-watcher.service

Arch Linux (AUR)

# Using yay (install yay first if needed: https://github.com/Jguer/yay)
yay -S bigedit

# Or manually with makepkg
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/bigedit.git
cd bigedit
makepkg -si

The bigedit-watcher service is enabled by default. To start it immediately:

systemctl --user daemon-reload && systemctl --user start bigedit-watcher.service

macOS / Linux (Homebrew)

brew tap jopdorp/bigedit
brew install bigedit

Note: On macOS, bigedit works without FUSE for basic editing. For FUSE features (virtual file view for other programs), install macFUSE first:

brew install --cask macfuse

After installation:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
2. Allow the system extension from developer Benjamin Fleischer
3. Reboot your Mac
4. Reinstall bigedit with FUSE support:

brew reinstall bigedit

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jopdorp/bigedit.git
cd bigedit

# Install with systemd service (default)
./install.sh

# Or install without systemd service
./install.sh --no-systemd

# Build without FUSE (if libfuse/macFUSE not available)
cargo install --path . --no-default-features

# To uninstall
./install.sh --uninstall

Build Dependencies

• Rust 1.70+
• libfuse3-dev (Linux) or macFUSE (macOS) - optional for FUSE features
• pkg-config

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libfuse3-dev pkg-config fuse3 inotify-tools

# Fedora
sudo dnf install fuse3-devel pkg-config fuse3 inotify-tools

# Arch
sudo pacman -S fuse3 pkg-config inotify-tools

# macOS (optional, for FUSE features)
brew install --cask macfuse

Usage

bigedit <filename>

Keybindings (Nano Mode - Default)

Key	Action
Navigation
Arrow Keys	Move cursor
Home/End	Start/end of line
PgUp/PgDn	Page up/down
Ctrl+Home	Go to start of file
Ctrl+End	Go to end of file
Editing
Ctrl+K	Cut current line
Ctrl+U	Paste (uncut)
Backspace	Delete char before cursor
Delete	Delete char at cursor
File Operations
Ctrl+O	Save (journal mode - instant)
Ctrl+S	Save (alternative)
Ctrl+J	Compact (full file rewrite)
Ctrl+T	Toggle FUSE mode
Ctrl+X	Exit
Search
Ctrl+W	Search forward
F3	Find next
Help
Ctrl+G	Show help
F1	Show help
Mode Toggle
Ctrl+V	Switch to Vi mode

Vi Mode

Press Ctrl+V to switch to Vi mode. The bottom bar will show the current mode (-- NORMAL --, -- INSERT --, etc.).

Normal Mode

Key	Action
h/j/k/l	Move cursor left/down/up/right
w/b	Next/previous word
0/$	Start/end of line
gg/G	Start/end of file
x	Delete character
dd	Delete line
yy	Yank (copy) line
p	Paste
i	Insert before cursor
a	Insert after cursor
o/O	Open line below/above
:	Enter command mode
/	Search
n	Find next

Insert Mode

Key	Action
Esc	Return to normal mode
Arrow keys	Navigate
All text input	Insert characters

Command Mode (after pressing :)

Command	Action
:w	Save (journal mode)
:q	Quit
:q!	Quit without saving
:wq	Save and quit
:help	Show help

How It Works

Journal-Based Saving

When you save with Ctrl+O, BigEdit doesn't rewrite the entire file. Instead, it saves your changes to a journal file (.filename.bigedit-journal). This makes saves instant, even for huge files.

When you're ready to finalize your changes, use Ctrl+J to "compact" - this rewrites the original file with all patches applied.

FUSE Virtual Filesystem

When FUSE mode is enabled (Ctrl+T), BigEdit creates a virtual file at .filename.view/filename that shows your patched content. Other programs can read this file to see your changes:

# In one terminal: edit a file
bigedit huge_file.sql

# In another terminal: view the patched content
cat .huge_file.sql.view/huge_file.sql
grep "SELECT" .huge_file.sql.view/huge_file.sql

Auto-Mount Service

If you enable the systemd service, BigEdit will automatically mount FUSE views for any files with active journal files when your system starts:

# Enable auto-mount
systemctl --user enable --now bigedit-watcher.service

# Check status
systemctl --user status bigedit-watcher.service

# View logs
journalctl --user -u bigedit-watcher.service

Configuration

Watcher Directories

The watcher service monitors $HOME by default. To customize:

# Edit the watch directories file
mkdir -p ~/.config/bigedit
echo "/home/user" > ~/.config/bigedit/watch-dirs
echo "/data/projects" >> ~/.config/bigedit/watch-dirs

# Restart the service
systemctl --user restart bigedit-watcher.service

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   bigedit       │────▶│  journal file    │────▶│  bigedit-fuse   │
│  (TUI editor)   │     │  (.bigedit-      │     │  (FUSE daemon)  │
│                 │     │   journal)       │     │                 │
└─────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        │                       │                        │
        │                       │                        │
        ▼                       ▼                        ▼
┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  original file  │     │  patches stored  │     │  .file.view/    │
│  (unchanged)    │     │  as binary data  │     │  (FUSE mount)   │
└─────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └────────┬────────┘
                                                          │
                                                          ▼
                                                 ┌─────────────────┐
                                                 │ file.edited     │
                                                 │ (symlink)       │
                                                 └─────────────────┘

File layout when editing data.sql:

data.sql                    # Original file (unchanged until compact)
.data.sql.bigedit-journal   # Patches stored here (instant save)
.data.sql.view/             # FUSE mount directory
  └── data.sql              # Virtual file with patches applied
data.sql.edited             # Symlink → .data.sql.view/data.sql

Other programs can read data.sql.edited to see your changes in real-time, before you write them to the original file with Ctrl+J.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.