DEEIX-AI/Winc

Overview

Winc is a desktop code editor written in Rust with its own CPU rasterizer, aimed at developers who want quick startup, low memory use, and smooth editing of very large files. Its README reports a 119 ms median cold start to first frame, 52 MB resident memory with 100,000 lines open, and a 1 GB file editable and highlighted in 220 ms, measured on macOS with results varying by hardware and load README lines 26–39.

Beyond basic editing with multiple cursors, find and replace, and native input methods, it includes syntax highlighting, go-to-definition and usage lookup without a language server, whole-file formatting through external tools, Markdown/image/SVG/spreadsheet previews, Git diffs and staging, a file tree with .gitignore-aware search, an integrated terminal, and an English/Simplified Chinese interface README lines 40–53.

Quick start

Prebuilt packages are available for all three platforms from the download page or GitHub Releases:

Platform	Requirement	Package
macOS	macOS 11+, Apple silicon or Intel	Disk image
Linux	x86_64, X11 or Wayland	AppImage, deb
Windows	Windows 10 1809+, x86_64	NSIS, MSI, portable ZIP

To build from source, use Rust 1.99.1; rust-toolchain.toml selects the toolchain automatically README lines 66–76. From the repository root:

cargo run --release                 # build and run
cargo run --release -- <path>       # open a file or folder

Development and constraints

The workspace is organized into crates by responsibility, including winc-core for text, editing, undo and diffing, winc-syntax for lexers, winc-editor for documents/search/Git/formatting, winc-render for glyphs and rasterization, winc-preview, winc-pty, winc-config, winc-i18n, and winc-app README lines 77–104. Formatting relies on external tools such as rustfmt, Prettier, Black, Ruff, and gofmt, so those must be installed separately for the corresponding languages.

The editor is developed and tested mainly on macOS, so Linux and Windows behavior may receive less testing README lines 54–65. Signed in-app updates are supported on all three platforms. The project is Apache-2.0 licensed README lines 125–127, and contributors must sign the CLA and open pull requests against the dev branch README lines 105–111.

HotRepo's take

On 2026-11-05 Winc appeared on HotRepo's new-project board for Rust, gaining 5 stars and 2 forks within a roughly two-hour window and reaching 110 stars in total snapshot. There is no recorded best rank on the all-language GitHub daily board, so the available data does not tell us how Winc compares against the broader GitHub daily rankings. What stands out in the repository itself is the unusual choice to write the interface and a custom rasterizer in Rust, plus public performance budgets run through cargo xtask bench, which gives reviewers a concrete way to check the speed claims over time.