Nimble Newt
Latest release on GitHub

A fast, modern text editor.

Nimble Newt brings Notepad++ simplicity to Windows and macOS, with a clean, Apple-inspired design. A small native app, built with Rust and Tauri.

Free and open source. Installers from about 3 MB.

Download View on GitHub

MIT licensedBuilt in RustLight and dark

Nimble Newt editing demo.rs, a small Rust word counter, with tabs for notes.md and package.json, syntax highlighting, line numbers, and a status bar reading Ln 1, Col 1, Spaces: 4, Rust, UTF-8 and LF.
Shown from a Linux development build, hence the menu bar above the tabs.

Everything you open a text editor for.

Open a file, fix it, close it. Nimble Newt keeps the familiar Notepad++ workflow and takes care of the parts that usually go wrong: lost tabs, broken encodings, careless saves.

Quit any time. Your tabs come back.

Unsaved tabs survive quitting and restarting, including the ones you never named. Their content lives in the app’s data folder, never next to your files, and the cursor and scroll position come back with them.

Open as many tabs as you like, drag them into order, close others or everything to the right, and bring a closed one back with Ctrl Shift T. Prefer a clean slate? Switch session restore off in Settings.

Every byte where you left it.

Nimble Newt detects UTF-8 with or without a BOM, UTF-16 LE and BE, and Windows-1252, and shows it in the status bar. Click it to convert the file, or to reopen it with another encoding. LF, CRLF and CR work the same way.

Characters the target encoding can’t represent are reported, never silently lost.

And the rest of a proper editor.

Every action is also in the command palette. On a Mac, read Ctrl as ⌘.

  • Syntax highlighting

    23 languages, picked from the file name or shebang and switchable from the status bar. Colours meet WCAG AA contrast.

  • Multiple cursors and columns

    Ctrl+click, Ctrl D for the next occurrence, Alt+drag for a column. Duplicate, move and comment lines, fold code, wrap words.

  • Command palette and quick open

    Ctrl Shift P runs any action by name. Ctrl P jumps to a recent file.

  • A status bar you can click

    Line and column, selection, indentation, language, encoding and line endings. Click any of them to change it.

  • Saves you can trust

    Atomic saves, so a crash never truncates a file. If another program changed it, you’re asked before anything is overwritten.

  • Updates that check themselves

    A small pill in the status bar when a new version is out. Every download is verified against a key built into the app, and your tabs come back after the restart.

  • Opens the way you do

    From the menu, by drag and drop, with “Open with…”, or as the default app for text, Markdown, data and source files.

  • Settings, in English or Norwegian

    System, light or dark theme, font size, tabs or spaces, default encoding and line ending, word wrap and whitespace. The interface speaks English and Norwegian Bokmål.

  • Accessible by default

    Keyboard navigation everywhere, visible focus, and respect for reduced motion, higher contrast and reduced transparency.

23 languages, highlighted.

Each grammar loads only when a file needs it, so opening a file stays quick.

  • Plain text
  • Markdown
  • JSON
  • YAML
  • TOML
  • XML
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • TypeScript
  • Python
  • Rust
  • Go
  • C
  • C++
  • C#
  • Java
  • SQL
  • Shell
  • PowerShell
  • INI
  • Log
  • Diff

Small enough to just install.

A Rust core and the system’s own web view instead of a bundled browser, so the download stays small and the app feels at home on your desktop.

  • Windows installer ~3MB The .exe; the .msi is about 4 MB
  • macOS disk image ~8MB Universal: Apple Silicon and Intel
  • Highlighted languages 23 Each loaded only when needed
  • Trackers and accounts 0 The only call home is the update check

Nimble Newt and Notepad++.

Notepad++ is a superb, mature editor with twenty years of features and a big plugin community, and Nimble Newt borrows its spirit. Here’s an honest comparison.

Feature comparison between Nimble Newt and Notepad++
Feature Nimble Newt Notepad++
The basics
PlatformsWindows 10/11 and macOS 11+, native installersWindows (elsewhere only through Wine)
Look and feelModern, Apple-inspired; follows the system’s light or dark themeClassic Windows interface, with a dark mode
Built withRust and Tauri, CodeMirror 6C++ and Win32, Scintilla
LicenseMITGPL
Editing
Unsaved tabs survive a restartYesYes
Multiple cursors, column selectionYesYes
Find in files with regexYes, with a Replace All preview and per-file opt-outYes
Command paletteYesNot built in
Syntax highlighting96 languages, loaded on demand, plus your own language definitionsMany more, plus your own language definitions
EncodingsAbout 40: UTF-8 (± BOM), UTF-16 LE/BE and legacy code pages, detected automaticallyMany more, including legacy code pages
MacrosYes, record, play, repeat to the end of the file and saveYes
Beyond editing
PluginsSandboxed extensions: commands and text tools, with explicit permissionsHundreds, through Plugins Admin
Compare two filesBuilt in, side by side, apply changes in either directionWith the Compare plugin
Very large filesMulti-gigabyte files open instantly in a read-only viewer with search and follow; up to 256 MB are editableHandles much larger files
Automatic updatesYes, signature-verifiedYes
Interface languages26 (English, Norwegian Bokmål and 24 more, including right-to-left languages)Dozens

When Notepad++ is the better fit If you rely on plugins or macros, open files of several hundred megabytes, or need an encoding or language beyond the ones above, Notepad++ is the better choice today. If you want the same quick editing on a Mac, or a calmer, modern interface on Windows, give Nimble Newt a try. Nimble Newt is not affiliated with Notepad++.

Download Nimble Newt.

Free, for Windows and macOS. The latest version is always on the GitHub releases page.

  • Windows

    Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit (x64). Uses Microsoft Edge WebView2, which comes with Windows 11; on Windows 10 the installer fetches it if it’s missing.

    Download .exe Download .msi

    The .exe installer suits most people; the .msi is for managed deployments.

    Windows will warn you the first time The Windows build isn’t code-signed yet, so SmartScreen shows “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway. Updates are still verified with the app’s own signing key.

  • macOS

    macOS 11 Big Sur or later. One universal app for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

    Download .dmg

    Open the disk image and drag Nimble Newt to Applications.

    Signed and notarized The Mac app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without the unidentified-developer warning.

Already installed? Nimble Newt updates itself. It checks GitHub at start and every six hours, and you can turn that off in Settings.

Release notes Build from source

Questions.

  • Is it really free?

    Yes. Nimble Newt is open source under the MIT license, with no account, ads or paid tier. The code is on GitHub.

  • Why does Windows say “Windows protected your PC”?

    The Windows installer isn’t signed with a code-signing certificate yet, and SmartScreen warns about unsigned apps it hasn’t seen often. Click More info, then Run anyway. The Mac build is signed and notarized.

    Updates are a separate matter: every update is checked against a public key built into the app, and one with a wrong or missing signature is never installed.

  • Does it collect any data?

    No. There’s no telemetry or analytics. The only network request is the update check, which downloads a small file from GitHub at start and every six hours. You can turn it off in Settings → Updates and use Check for Updates… by hand.

  • Where are my unsaved tabs kept?

    In the app’s own data folder on your computer, never next to your files. If you’d rather be asked about unsaved changes when you quit, switch off Restore session in Settings.

  • Can it open very large files?

    Files up to 256 MB open in the editor. Bigger ones are refused with a clear message for now; viewing files of 500 MB and more, streamed in chunks, is on the roadmap.

  • Is there a Linux version?

    Not as a download. Releases are made for Windows and macOS, but the app builds and runs on Linux from source (the screenshot on this page comes from a Linux build). See Build from source.

  • What’s coming next?

    On the roadmap: large-file viewing, comparing two files, formatting JSON, XML and SQL, a tools panel (Base64, URL encoding, hashes), and extensions.

  • Can I translate it into my language?

    Please do. The interface text lives in one JSON file per language; copy the English one and translate the values. The translation guide has the details.