turbo-js

A Turbo C-style editor for JavaScript on Node.js, written in Go.

Built on turbo-core, the library every Turbo editor shares. What is in this repository is the command, the profile that says this editor is for JavaScript, a JavaScript scanner and a JSON one — about twelve hundred lines. Everything else lives in the library.

A full-screen terminal IDE with the Borland furniture — a menu bar with hot keys, movable windows that cast shadows, modal dialogs, a clickable status bar — and the things a Node editor needs today: syntax colouring that knows regular expressions, template literals, private fields and Node's globals, loadable colour themes, completion and diagnostics from typescript-language-server, shell windows, per-project settings, a project tree, snippets, windows onto coding agents, and the Node toolchain a menu away.

 File  Edit  Search  Run  Code  Options  Window  Snippets  Agent  JavaScript  Help
╔═[x]═══════════════════════════════════════ main.js ═══════════════════════════1═[■]╗
║ 1 #!/usr/bin/env node                                                          ▲║
║ 2 // Greets whoever is named on the command line, or JavaScript.               ▓║
║ 3 import { argv } from "node:process";                                         ░║
║ 4 import { Greeter } from "./greeter.js";                                      ░║
║ 5                                                                              ░║
║ 6 const who = argv[2] ?? "JavaScript";                                         ░║
║ 7 new Greeter(who).greet(3);                                                   ▼║
║◄▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░►║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
 F1 Describe  F2 Save  F3 Open  F6 Window  F7 Next  F10 Menu  Alt-X Exit  1:1  LSP: ready

Getting started

make install

That builds the editor, puts it where your shell looks for commands, and reports what it found — the Go version it built with, where the binary went, whether that directory is on your PATH, and whether typescript-language-server is installed. Then, from any Node project:

turbo-js main.js

To build without installing, make build leaves the binary in bin/turbo-js. From the module proxy instead of a checkout: go install rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-js@latest.

For completion, install the language server as well — the editor works without it, and says so on the status bar:

npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript@6

The @6 is not optional: TypeScript 7 ships no tsserver.js, and the server refuses to start beside it. make install with --with-server — scripts/install.sh --with-server — runs that line for you.

The tutorial walks through a first session in about ten minutes, and demos/greeter is a small project to open once you have the editor.

Features

• Every build knows what it is — turbo-js -version and Help ▸ About name the version, the commit and the build date, stamped in by the linker from git describe rather than read from a constant somebody forgot to bump
• Turbo Vision interface — menu bar with Alt-letter hot keys, overlapping movable and resizable windows, modal dialogs, mouse support throughout
• Syntax colouring for nine languages — JavaScript by a hand-written scanner that knows regular expressions, template literals across lines, the hashbang line, private #fields, decorators and Node's globals; JSON with keys told from values; plus TOML, YAML, Markdown, HTML, XML, Dockerfiles and shell scripts from turbo-core
• Themes in TOML, eleven embedded — Borland navy, dark grey, paper white, espresso, Catppuccin Frappé and Latte, cobalt, Darcula and IntelliJ Light, and a hueless monochrome in both polarities — and any number of your own, with inheritance between files and between style keys. Every shipped theme is held to its contrast by tests
• Per-project settings in .turbo-js/settings.toml — pin a theme, turn on automatic saving — created from a menu item and never by itself, and re-read every time you save it
• Completion, hover, definitions, references, implementations, symbols and diagnostics from typescript-language-server, all nine questions answered for plain JavaScript, entirely optional
• Terminal windows — F8 opens a real shell in a window, with its own VT/ANSI emulator, scrollback and job control (Linux, macOS and Windows)
• Project tree — F9 shows the project's files in a window; walk it with the arrows and press Enter to open one
• Snippets — a Snippets menu built from .turbo-js/snippets.toml, grouped into submenus and filtered by the file you are in; the chosen text is inserted at the cursor, re-indented to match
• The Node toolchain a menu away — Alt-J runs npm install, npx prettier --write ., npx eslint ., node --test, node <script> and npm start from .turbo-js/tools.toml, each showing its output where the tool asked: a popup that fills in as it goes, a terminal window, or an editing window to search. Files the command rewrote are re-read for you, and a tool naming a menu of its own gets that menu on the bar
• Agent windows — Alt-A opens a conversation with a coding agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol, configured in .turbo-js/acp.toml; the code it sends in a ```js fence is coloured by the same scanner as your files, and copies straight out of the conversation
• Editing with word movement, block indent, a shared clipboard, and undo that merges a run of typing into one step
• Faithful files — line endings and the trailing newline are preserved, and saving is atomic
• Automatic saving, off by default, writing a short while after you stop typing

Commands

Command	What it does
make install	Build and install onto your PATH
make build	Compile into bin/turbo-js
make test	Run the whole test suite
make check	fmt, vet, then the tests — what a commit should pass
make run FILE=main.js	Build and start the editor on a file
make help	List every target

turbo-js [-theme name] [-no-lsp] [file...]
turbo-js -list-themes

Documentation

Full documentation in English and French, organised by the Diátaxis method:

Tutorial	Your first Node program in Turbo JS
How-to	install · install Node.js · run the tests · enable completion · write a theme · move around a file · ask about code · use a terminal · configure a project · browse a project · use snippets · run Node commands · talk to an agent · make a release
Reference	command line · keyboard · menus · theme format · terminal windows · project settings · project tree · languages · snippets · JavaScript tools · agents and ACP · the version number
Explanation	architecture · design decisions · colouring and completion · terminal windows · project settings · project tree · snippets · JavaScript tools · agent windows

The library's packages each carry their own README.md beside the code, in turbo-core.

Where the code is

main.go	flags, the terminal, the wiring
internal/jslang	the profile, the JavaScript and JSON scanners, the four starter files
demos/	a small Node project to open in the editor
everything else	turbo-core

The dependency graph is drawn in docs/diagrams/packages.drawio, checked against go list.

Design in one line

Two dependencies — tcell/v2 and BurntSushi/toml — and everything else from the standard library, including the Language Server Protocol client. Both come through turbo-core; this repository adds none of its own. The design decisions page explains why.

Requirements

Go 1.26 or later to build it — the editor is written in Go even though it is an editor for JavaScript. A terminal with mouse reporting, which is all of them. Node and npm for the JavaScript menu; typescript-language-server with typescript@6 for completion. All three are optional.

Licence

The other editors in the family are MIT-licensed; this repository's licence file is the owner's to add.