Pinel Documentation

Learn how to install, configure, and use Pinel.

1. Introduction

1.1 What is Pinel?

Pinel is a code-editor written using the Rust programming language as well as the popular Iced Library for GUI rendering. Pinel aims to bridge some gaps between Visual Studio Code as well as editors like Neovim and Helix by being really fast and extremely customizable.

1.2 Why use it / key concepts

If you've ever found:

  • VSCode (Visual Studio Code) too slow or too much of a gimmick
  • Neovim/Vim a bit too complicated (too high of a learning curve)

And if you wanted an editor that just gets things done without throwing everything at you, Pinel might be a good choice. It is in no means a fully fledged editor that I recommend you switch over to, but it is in a decently okay state that you could use for testing and such.

Here are some of the features that are currently working in Pinel:

  • Integrated terminal support
    • If you use MacOS, your zsh terminal works perfectly fine in Pinel using the iced-term package for Rust
    • Not tested for Windows but will be tested and fixed in the next @stable release for Pinel. (keep an eye out on Crates and Github Releases)
  • LSP (Language Server Protocol) support
    • Out-of-the-box LSP support for Rust (rust-analzyer), Python (), Go, C/C++, and more!
    • Supports Autocomplete, and Hover Documentation
    • De-loads LSP for inactive files (especially useful for rust-analyzer due to memory intensity)
  • Custom theming
    • By using Lua you are able to theme your code-editor to your liking
    • Soon to have internal API that can be called using Lua for scripting
  • Wakatime support
    • Enjoy tracking time? Or part of Hack Club?
    • Set your own Wakatime URL and API key to send heartbeats to any server of your choice
    • Uses wakatime-cli

1.3 Architecture

Pinel uses Iced for the GUI rendering due to its support for ligatures (allows uses to use nerd fonts), iced-code-editor for core features such as LSP support and line numbers, iced-term for integrated terminal support as well as many other packages and their functions mentioned under the CREDITS.md file for Pinel. Go check them out!

2. Getting Started

Pinel currently has active support for the following:

There is planned support in the future for the following:

  • Other Linux distros
  • Homebrew (MacOS)
  • Winget/Chocolatey

2.1 macOS

Lucky for you, I develop on MacOS therefore every version (Stable, Dev, Alpha, etc) is guaranteed to have every feature on MacOS. There have been plans to have the ability to use a .DMG file for users to easily install however that requires Gatekeeper access for Mac meaning I would need a developer account.

That aside, here is how you can install of MacOS.

You can use the following command and paste it in your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://pinel.netlify.app/install.sh | sh

And the script will install the editor for usage!

You can also install via the pinel-macos-x86_64 under the latest release which can be found here

Due to the extra security that MacOS has for unverified apps, you will need to grant the app some permissions (that Gatekeeper would otherwise give by default). Here are the steps to follow:

  • Copy the path of your installation
  • Go to your terminal of choice and type in chmod +x <the path to the install>
  • Then run ./pinel-macos-x86_64

Optional: You can also add this new binary to your $PATH if you would like to just refer to the app as Pinel

For users looking for a Homebrew installation, hang tight it will be available soon

2.2 Windows

Due to the simplicity that Windows (10/11) provides with installing external apps, you're in luck! All you need to do is:

Go to the Github Releases page found here

Download the rode-editor-windows-x86_64.exe file as this is for Windows systems.

From here you can just double-click the install file to open up the app!

Optional: You can also add this new binary to your $PATH if you would like to just refer to the app as Pinel

There is no active option for Winget or Chocolatey however they are in the works.

2.3 Linux

Describe how to install and run Pinel on Linux distributions.

You might include:

  • Generic tarball/ AppImage instructions.
  • Distro‑specific notes (Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc.).
# Example (replace with real commands)
curl -L https://example.com/pinel.tar.gz -o pinel.tar.gz
tar xzf pinel.tar.gz
./pinel

2.4 Package managers

Pinel currently has support through the following package managers:

cargo install pinel

yay -S pinel

or with paru:

paru -S pinel

3. Internal API

3.1 Supported Clients

The only supported client as of now would be using lua to invoke the API functions. Support for other languages such as python or javascript are plans for the future.

Note: All configurations must be done through pinel/init.lua and the pinel folder being located in the dotfiles of your device

pinel.theme.use_builtin(name)

This function allows you to use one of the builtin themes supported by pinel. They are:

  • Nord
  • TokyoNight
  • ...

Example:

pinel.theme.use_builtin("Nord")

Having this line of code in the init.lua file will make sure that the theme is Nord by default

pinel.theme.set_color(name, hex)

Allows you to override a named UI or editor colour slot with hex colour.

Params:

  • name: Name of the ui component
  • hex: Hex value for the override

Example:

pinel.theme.set_color("bg_status_bar", "#101722")
pinel.theme.set_color("editor.current_line_highlight", "#7aa2f733")

All of the options for name are listed here

pinel.ui.show_sidebar(visible)

Boolean that enables or disables the sidebar on startup

Example:

pinel.ui.show_sidebar(false)

It can also be set to true

pinel.ui.set_sidebar_width(width)

Sets the sidebar width in pixels on startup. Width is clamped to the editors allowed range.

Allowed range is 20px - 120px

Example

pinel.ui.set_sidebar_width(100.0)

TODO: Not allow the user to exceed these bounds/have a reminder that they cannot

Extra Resources

A full example file is located here that you may refer to.

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