txtr devlog - 18/04/26

whats new???

• honesty, a fair bit of this devlog was more trying to figure out how to add a changelog to my docs site and then giving up
• i have started to work on adding custom keybinds because this just makes using the editor way nicer and allows people to actually configure stuff how they want (so if you dont like vim binds, you can still use txtr :D )
• the plan is to set out a list of possible things binds can do (all existing behavior of current binds essentially) and also allow for custom keybinds that trigger a : command.
• i have written a couple helpers for the keybinds and started to work on the keybind dispatch
• also updated the versions for astro / starlight in the docs site to keep everything up to date !!
  2

changelog

• 8f29801 fix: bruh
• 997f415 feat: add new methods for kbinds
• 514c3c8 feat: start to add keybinds dispatch
• e2f0d52 chore: update dependency versions (docs site)

txtr devlog - 18/04/26

whats new???

• help, config, info and build panels/overlays now all close competing panels first instead of stacking realy weirdly
• citation scan now checks if the user has set scan_local_dir to True in their config - this is an overall toggle for the citations loading
• help, config and info panels now resize and recenter better on terminal resize - should look a lot nicer although there is still a couple issues to fix
• added a “known” section to config defaults which is used internally by txtr in order to track disabled plugins that lie in ~/.config/txtr/plugins in order to avoid spamming the user with notifications saying they have got new plugins found in that dir that have not been activated
• also wired up the new clipboard stuff so that the freeze plugin can effectively copy the screenshot to your clipboard :)
• and updated the docs to match some changes ive made that otherwise made them very slightly outdated

changelog

• 6e6b656 docs: update plugins section
• f01a1e2 docs: update config section
• 7bd277f feat: clipboard integration for freeze plugin
• ffc3336 fix: close any active panels on new panel open
• 298d116 feat: implement include dir
• 5198468 fix: infopanel work
• 3cf3db0 feat: update default configs

txtr devlog - 18/04/26

whats new???

• this devlog has a heavy focus on fixing things rather than actually adding new features (albeit a couple new things have been added too)

fixes

• menus dont stack very nicely currently, for example if you open the help menu and then the config menu - the config menu is essentially pushed beneath the help menu - it looks bad and just doesnt work
• so im working on making some changes to how the panels are drawn on the screen so essentially, the most recently opened panel will draw on top - in the middle of the screen and will trigger the closing of all other panels (for ease of implementation)
• i have also done a little bit of work toward an additional config option for the citations manager:
• you will be able to completely disable the scanning of local .bib files if you would like
• also removed plugin descriptions from the help menu - caused way too much bloat.

changelog

• feat: hide plugin desc on help menu (debloat)
• feat: better info panel
• feat: improve panel rendering
• feat: citations - check if enabled and also improve menus
• feat: better plugin info rows - show cofn
• fix: improve menu stacking

txtr devlog - 17/04/26

whats new???

• lots of additions in this devlog :)
• updated the wordcount plugin!!
  it now counts words way more accurately - the wordcount is actually latex aware lo;
  ignores latex commands. braces. environments and makes :wordcount an actually useful command
• polished the freeze plugin:
  added a copy to clipboard option, so the awesome screnshot of ur latex is automatically saved to ur clipboard
  also tightened up the args and output and added some new manifest stuff for plugin config options
• updated main plugin class to add some new helpers - specifically looking at managing plugin config, so once ive done the frontend work for this, you will see plugin config options in the info panel!!
• readme is also a whole load slimmer now as all the docs are available on the website and there was no need to write it all out in the readme too
  tl;dr readme debloat

fixes

• wordcount is accurate now lol and can actually be used to count ur words not ur words and latex commands lol

changelog

• chore: bump version
• feat: add new conf opts + copy to clip opt
• feat: improve accuracy
• feat: config opts processing
• docs: nicer readme
• feat: add cfg option to freeze manifest
• feat: better wordcount plugin (accuracy)

txtr devlog - 17/04/26

whats new??

• docs, docs and more docs!
• i have written up loads of new pages for the docs and also spent some time diagnosing and debugging the editor as im hoping to do my first ship of this soon (development will continue afterwards anyways)
• i have written up the entire pages for the compiler config
• this is detailing things like all the keys available to config the compiler behaviour:

engine chooses the built-in compiler preset
aux_dir controls where aux and log files go when the engine supports it
custom_cmd overrides the preset completely
autocompile supports:

“off” - requires manual compilation
“save” - compiles on file save but must be initiated with :build at least once
“always” - compiles on file save without needing to initiate with :build
build_log_autohide keeps the log closed unless a build fails
build_log_autoclose closes the build log after successful builds
watch_interval controls :buildwatch debounce timing

• also worked on the citations config page - this details loads of awesome stuff about how to correctly configure txtr’s automatic citation/bib scanner:
  bib_files adds extra .bib files or directories to scan
  enabled turns citation loading off completely
  autoscan reloads citation data when .bib files change on disk
• the awesome thing is that in bib_files you can define either a directory to more .bib files or a .bib file itself!

changelog

• fix: duped the files for some reason
• docs: small changes to plugins pg
• docs: citations page on docs
• docs: compiler pg
• docs: start citations pg
• docs: more config docs :D

txtr devlog - 16/04/26

whats new???

• finished up the freeze plugin - fully working now, feel free to start taking beautiful screenshots of your raw latex!!!
• also did a whole load of documentation, focused on the config sections and plugin sections:

Plugin Development

This page is about writing plugins, not just installing them.
Choose a format

Use a single-file plugin when the plugin is small and self-contained.

use a package plugin if its more complex and needs plenty of helper functions/methods

The built-in freeze plugin is a package plugin and is a good reference example.

minimal workflow:

subclass PluginBase
 set metadata like name, description, version, author
register commands in on_load 
unregister your command section in on_unload

recommended metadata

name
description
author
version
commands

commands is worth filling out even for installed-but-not-loaded plugins because txtr can show it in :plugin info.

changelog

• docs: more config docs :D
• docs: plugins docs
• docs: add new pages
• feat: final freeze plugin changes

txtr devlog - 16/04/26

whats new??

• working on a new demo plugin!!
• this plugin is a plugin for freeze which is a cli tool that lets you take awesome screenshots of your code
• i started to write up the main plugin logic i.e what actually happens when you run the plugin and have also done so some stuff toward the helper methods for the plugin
• i have decided that the freeze plugin will open a panel to show success of ss (this is not 100% necessary but makes a good demo to show off almost all of the plugin api)
• the plugin is gonna have a whole load of config options too
• current helper functions ive written include building the full command to send to freeze - so pulling the file dir, lines you selected (if any), any custom params and any further config ie a config file location.
• also wrote the metadata for this plugin :)
  (it does appear in the plugin list if u install it however doesnt do anything rn lol)
• also wrote up a snippets overview page on the docs and did a few other tweaks e.g. adding a sitemap and keywords for search engines :)

changelog

Changelog

• feat: freeze plugin helpers
• fix: random error
• feat: new bits for plugin
• feat: manifest for demo plugin
• docs: keywords for search
• docs: add sitemap
• docs: few more docs changes
• docs: snippets ref page (wip)

txtr devlog - 15/04/26 pt3

whats new???

• added more snippets!!
• i added some more miscellaneous snippets - things like bold text and all that jazz
• also fixed a tiny little issue in the actual snippets logic (tl;dr it seems like i cant spot the difference between square and round brackets)
• also improved the snippets overview page on the documentation
• it is a bit more coherent and will follow on well to the rest of the docs pages when i add those to show all the available snippets
• started working on a freeze plugin - this is the cool bit lol
  –> using all the plugin apis ive strung together including panel drawing, im making a larger scale, package demo plugin that allows users to take fancy screenshots with the freeze cli tool
  –> the plugin will pass freeze any params you config and if you select any text in visual/visual line mode - it will pass just those specific line numbers to freeze!
• this is why i added to the plugin api earlier to added more context - exposing selected_line_range (the lines you have selected :D )

changelog

• feat: freeze plugin - first bit
• fix: docs formatting err
• feat: more snips!
• fix: snips fix
• docs: nicer snips overview

txtr devlog - 15/04/26

whats new???

• added some new config options
  citations.enabled - enable the auto loading of parsing local .bib files to auto complete citations
• citations.autoscan - toggle if txtr should automatically detech .bib file changes
• duplicate citation keys across multiple .bib files are deduped
• plugin api now exposes selected_line_range - the exact lines that the user has selected
• working on creating a freeze plugin now
• additionally, i have fixed the styling on multiline comments
  and improved the zip extraction process for package plugins

changelog

• feat: bib autoscan for updates
• feat: improve zip extraction and handling
• feat: better bib loading
• fix: forgor to test :(
• fix: fix multiline comment styling
• feat: finish off improvements on cite completer

txtr devlog- 15/04/26

whats new??

• fully implemented an improved visual mode and command mode flow - you can now send commands whilst still having text selected (will be useful for later plugins)
• command handlers run before txtr clears visual selection
• after command finishes, txtr still exits back to Normal like before
• directory argument handling - if you pass a dir to txtr to open not a file, the error is handled nicely
• builtin plugin update path fixed - builtin plugins can be updated independent of updating the entire pip package :) (installs to ~/.config/txtr/plugins to avoid having to edit the pip package code wherever its stored in your device)
• updated the bib processing code to remove any duplicate entires and added a config option where you can set autoscan to on or off - if txtr should always check for .bib files in ur local dir :)

changelog

• feat: plugins :D
• feat: update config - bib autoscan
• feat: improve cite completions
• fix: remove files from accidental stage
• feat: imrpove plugin installs
• docs: more stuff
• chore: remove test files

txtr devlog - 14/04/26 pt3

whats new???

• working on fixing the visual mode context
• i realised that in the current state of txtr u cant set keybinds to execute commands so if any plugin wants to access ur lines selected when u run a command for that plugin - it cannot because you need to exit visual mode and enter command mode (clearing your selection)
• i am working on allowing the use of commands when text is selected in visual/visual line mode
• also working on fixing the build log autohide feature - for some reason it isnt opening upon error (i need to diagnose)
• added better error handler when someone tries to run txtr and open a directory as if its a file - txtr will still launch but shows a notification on startup (likewise for running :e <directory>.
• also fixing up builtin plugins and allowing them to be updated just like user installed plugins
• currently, :build actually saves ur file too - its a weird bug that needs fixing

fixes

• build log autohide not opening upon error (mostly fixed)
• compiling a latex file saves it too - came from when i added build watch, which required autosave but i didnt validate mode enough

changelog

• feat: improving the install stuff too
• feat: allowing commands to be exec in visual mode / visual line
• feat: error handling on launch
• fix: ensure that buiolding doesnt autosave
• feat: plugin mode detection improvements
• feat: startup ntoice stuff
• feat: allow for commands in visual modes

txtr devlog - 14/04/26 pt2

whats new???

• plugin system is so much better and it really didnt require much more work lol
• i have finished off the new plugin context, what this means is that plugins can see more about ur txtr session and so can have more impactful behaviours
• plugins can access things like the line ur one, the mode you are in, if you have lines selected (if so what lines), the dir you are in, the line count, if your buffer is modified etc
• there is also a much better configuration system for plugins
• plugins can define their own configuration options in the config file like:

[pluginname]
setting = ""

there is a helper to access config:

• self.config(key, default) - reads from [pluginname] whilst self.config() returns the whole plugin section :)
• plugins can even render their own textual widgets or access txtr’s infopanel helpers to use that instead (much simpler lol)
• also updated the docs with an overview of plugins (not that brief tho lol)
• tells you all about plugins and how to use them and little bits on how to develop them
• i will be making more in-depth docs for plugin development soon, once ive made a few more plugins and ironed out any issues

changelog

• chore: add plugins mention in config docs
• chore: remove wip from plugins bit on docs quickstart
• docs: add plugins overview!
• feat: better plugin context

txtr devlog 14/04/26

whats new???

• working on an even better plugin api - giving plugins access to more things inside txtr:
  new plugin context added (wip):
• file path
• cursor_row, cursor_col
• mode
• modified
• current line
• line count
• selection bounds
• selected lines
• selected text

Added some more real authoring helpers - self.config reads from [pluginname] in config - so plugins can set their own config options !

• self.context(app) -returns a structured editor context
• self.notify() - pretty explanatory
• self.config() returns whole plugin section
• self.mount_overlay / unmount - for direct textual widget usage
• self.open_panel(), self.set_panel_rows(), self.append_panel_text() etc

plugins no longer need to poke private panel wiring directly, now working on full support for plugins to render plugins and also textual widgets

• also added a plugins section in the docs page (very early stages)

changelog

• refactor: update wordcount plugin to match slight changes in api
• feat: improve plugin apis
• feat: more plugin apis
• chore: no robots
• chore: add new section for plugins to astro config
• docs: plugins pg

txtr devlog - 13/04/26 pt2

whats new???

• finally finished up this big chunk of work i was doing and all the features are fully implemented
  :plugin install logs:
• running the install command will open the info panel and stream all install progress there for you
  git installs show clone/pull output, file downloads/extracts also log their steps
• startup auto install:
  on launch, if a plugin listed in [plugins] is enabled but missing from disk, txtr now fetches it from the registry automatically
• this runs before normal plugin loading, so enabled plugins can bootstrap themselves on first launch
• plugin auto-update
  –> if plugins.auto_update set to true in config, txtr checks the registry on startup and updates installed user plugins whose version differs from the registry
• also added a :plugin update command for manual updates (no arg will update all, arg will update only the passed plugin)
• :plugin uninstall - clue is in the name, it unloads the plugin and removes it completely from disk
• offline plugin commands - this means plugins not loaded show the available commands they have anyway

changelog

• feat: finish off cmds update
• feat: plugin installs + version updates

txtr devlog - 13/04/26

whats new???

• explanded the :plugin command
• added the main ground work for:
  :plugin update
:plugin uninstall
  (update is partially implemented)
• plugin info now shows commands even if they arent registered yet
• fixed some jank with enable/disable
  –> now uses canonical plugin names properly
  –> avoids duplicate entries in config
  –> added helpers to manage all this
• plugin install and update flow nearly done
• when you install, an info panel opens and streams all the progress to you e.g. git clone output etc
• update - checks installed plugins vs registry versions, builds list o outdated plugins and starts updating them (wip)

other things

• added a detection for new plugins on startup (not fully finished yet)
  –> notifies user if something in plugin dir but isnt in config

changes to docs

• added a config overview to the docs page - giving an outline of each config option
• added a themes page to the config section which details how to create custom themes and the 4 preinstalled themes :)

changelog

• feat: update plugin cmds
• fix: fix alignment
• docs: better docs
• docs: add config overview
• fix: oopsies

txtr devlog - 12/04/26 pt3

whats new???

• did some more work on the info panel
• i am working on making long strings ie plugin descriptions wrap to new lines
• sounds simple but for some reason it isn’t
• i have also worked on detecting when a new plugin is present when you launch txtr and sending an alert to the user to let them know (if a fresh plugin placed in plugin dir but not enabled in config)
• added new rows to help menu plugin section for the commands i will be adding later - :plugin update and :plugin uninstall

changelog

• feat: infopanel wrapping tex
• feat: plugin notify on new
• feat: better infopanel - wrappping
• feat: new cmd rows - cmds not added yet

txtr devlog - 12/04/26

whats new??

• made a few small edits and also one or two slightly bigger changes in the last hour or so
• the main aim of this devlog was to allow plugins to show the commands they have available even when they are not loaded
• this means that if you run :plugin info <plugin> you will actually see all the commands that plugin has without it actually having to be enabled
• in hindsight, i couldve avoided this by implementing the plugin command system slightly differently but its nothing i cant manage lol
• this requires an additional command attribute in plugin metadata which details all the commands :)
• also sped up the typing speed on the animation on the splash page because it seemed a little slow
• updated default config ready for when i add auto-updates for plugins
• finished off the help menu stuff for plugins - now each plugin gets its own separate section for its own commands
• added the command unregister function so plugins can unregister their commands when disabled

changelog

• feat: show wordcount cmd when not loaded
• feat: parse command list method
• feat: better plugin cmds - show cmds when not loaded
• feat: update config.py to match better plugin config
• feat: update def config
• feat: improve help menu - plugins section
• feat(plugins): final plugins bit
• feat: unregister function
• feat: faster typing logo on splash pg

txtr devlog - 12/04/26

whats new??

• finally finished off the info panel - from now on, whenever you run :plugin info or plugin list you see a much nicer panel with all the plugin details
• as a bonus, when you run :plugin list - you can select a plugin with arrow keys, hitting enter on a selected plugin will then open the :plugin info panel for that plugin!!
• updated the wordcount plugin so it now unregisters its commands when disabled/unloaded by the user
• started to work on improving plugin metadata stuff - i.e. improving how txtr pulls plugin data
• worked on the docs and have started writing up a section all about snippets - how to use them, a general overview, the snippets available, configuration etc

changelog

• docs: snippets overview
• docs: start snippets docs page
• fix: typo in docs
• feat: plugins work - better metadatat
• feat: info panel stuff
• fix: quick fix
• feat: implement info pnale into main pkg
• feat: info pane all done :)
• chore: update wordcount plugin to match new format + unload

txtr devlog - 11/04/26 pt3

whats new???

• finally finished up the new plugin commands stuff, lots of changes that make everything much better - mostly surrounding the use of the InfoPanel and better validation
• info panel is very nearly done but when it is, you will see actual plugin menus not just a panel stolen from the build code
• enable/disable commands improved:
  :plugin enable now warns for already-enabled / not-installed cases.
  :plugin disable now warns for already-disabled cases and removes the plugin from config cleanly.
• plugin install and enable now persists the plugins’ canonical name instead of blindly using the registry key or folder name
• plugin discovery and metadata listing now resolve names from plugin metadata properly - important to package plugins which have folder names diff to the name defined in the manifest

fixes

• fixed a couple of tiny syntax errors i missed in testing cos that particular function wasnt being called :)

changelog

• feat(ui): nearly finished info panel
• feat: yipee better plugin cmds
• feat: commands work for plugins
• feat: more info panel stuff :(
• fix: oopsies

txtr devlog - 11/04/26 pt2

whats new??

• because i was so eager to get the plugin system pushed and working, i repurposed the build panel to also show plugin info and the plugin list when :plugin list or :plugin info is ran - the only issue with this is that the headers from the build panel are still there (i.e. “compiler”, “success/fail” etc)
• so ive decided to start making a more generic popup overlay for any other panels (might also make this available to plugins so they can render panels)
• i am working on this rn and have made decent progress toward it
• the new plugin list panel will allow you to scroll through the available plugins - hitting enter on a selected one will take you straight to the :plugin info panel for that specific plugin!
• i will be moving all plugin commands away from BuildPanel and onto this InfoPanel
• additionally, i have worked on a better help menu for the plugins tab - each plugin gets its own section to show the available commands
• i am also working on improving the commands for plugins in general, giving plugins more access to the editor to render more things and access more data i.e what line you are at and all of those sort of things.

bug fixes

• fixed a couple logic errors in the demo wordcount plugin
• wip - improving plugin api and plugin validation + a command unregister sytem so plugins can remove commands when unloaded/disabled

changelog

• feat: more infopanel methods
• feat: better plugin cmd management
• feat: better plugin apis
• chore: bump version
• fix: fix wordcount plugin

txtr devlog - 11/04/26

whats new??

• the plugin system has been fully implemented and is (i hope) stable
• theres a lot to talk about around this plugin system but i’ll try to keep it to what you actually need to know lol
• this devlog involves the integration of plugins into the main txtr package - so they actually work now and will be executed if you enable them
• txtr loads plugins on startup from two places:
  texitor/core/builtins - builtin plugins (shipped with package)
  ~/.config/txtr/plugins - user installed plugins
• plugins enabled in your config are auto-loaded at startup. you can also enable/disable/install them at runtime without restarting
• two plugin formats:
• single file - just a single python file with a plugin class - set class attributes to define metatdata for the plugin:

 class MyPlugin(PluginBase):
     name = "myplugin
     description = "does something cool"
     version = "1.0.0"
     author = "you"

• you can also package multi file packages - so they have an entry point, and a seperate manifest.toml which contains all the metadata for the plugin
• there are plenty of available hooks - will be adding more soon - this includesL
  on_load - call when enabled
  on_unload - call on disable or exit
  on_save - when file saved
  on_cursor_move - after cursor moves
  on_mode_change - normal/visual/insert change
  statusbar_segment - returns (text, color) or None
  there are a few more but ill write it all up in the docs
• i have also created a demo plugin which measures the wordcount in your active file - it is very minimal and very inaccurate rn, will make it more suited to latex when i get a chance!

changelog

• chore: add wordcount plugin to registry
• chore: bump version - v2.0.0
• feat(plugins): add demo wordcount plugin - very basic
• chore: very nice
• feat: integrate plugins into main pkg
• feat: improve mode transitions for plugin api
• chore: update default config for plugins

txtr devlog - 10/04/26 pt2

whats new???

• finally finished off all the plugin commands!!
  :plugin list - opens a panel with all the available plugins (currently is using the build panel but with diff content - will update this to a standalone panel when i get a chance)
  :plugin info <plugin> - opens a panel with the information on a requested plugin - this is things like author, description, version etc
  :plugin enable - enable a plugin that is currently stored in ~/.config/txtr or a built-in one
  :plugin install - fetch a plugin from the registry and install it
  :plugin disable - unload from current session and remove from config!!
• also added a new section to the help menu for plugin commands

changelog

• feat: finish off plugin commands
• feat(ui): help menu section for plugin commands

txtr devlog - 10/04/26

whats new???

• i have managed to finish off the plugin loader logic which is the main plugin class that manages plugins and interprets plugin metadata - took a while but it should be all working now
• i have also started to work on the plugin commands that will be available, this includes things like:
  :plugin list, :plugin enable/disable, :plugin info, plugin install/uninstall
• so far, i have implemented the :plugin list command which essentially renders a panel on the screen that shows all available plugins (installed ones and ones that are enabled / disabled)
• i have done a little bit of work toward the :plugin info command too which will essentially pull plugin metadata (version, author etc) - and draw a panel on the screen showing this
• also did some statusbar stuff so that plugins can add sections onto the statusbar easily without touching txtr’s source

changelog

• feat: statusbar stuff for plugin api
• feat: start adding plugin commands + a few small change
• feat(core): main plugin loader
• chore: update config for new pages
• docs: more docs!!

txtr devlog - 09/04/26 pt2

whats new??

• big docs update :)
• ive written an entirely new section of the docs - “usage”.
• essentially, i’ve updated the documentation @ txtr.benji.mom to detail the following things:
• modes - insert mode, normal mode etc
• keybinds - all the available keybinds in txtr
• commands - all the available commands (accessible via the command mode)

on top of this, i have written the quickstart guide which details how to get familiar with using txtr to write LaTeX (briefly) - covering things like snippets, the help menu and the very basic keybinds you need to use txtr as an editor.

go read the documentation !!
txtr.benji.mom

changelog

• docs: keybinds guide (wip)
• docs: update config
• docs: modes stuff
• docs: add quickstart guide

txtr devlog - 09/04/26

whats new???

• nothing you’ll notice yet if you are using txtr lol

• i have started to implement the plugin system

• this is a pretty big feature so will definitely take me a while

• i have started off by planning out exactly how its gonna work and how the main plugin loading + registry system works:

• two plugin formats will be supported, single file and package

• single file plugins will literally just be a single file and when you install, txtr will pull the raw file fron the url provided in the plugin registry for that command

• package plugins will have a format along the following lines:
  mainfest.toml - stores plugin info ie desc, version, author
  __init__.py / main.py / plugin.py - main plugin file
  and any other helper files that might be needed

• there will be a basic plugin registry system - literally just a json file on the repo which is fetched by txtr when you want to install or browse plugins - this will also be checked when you launch the program to see if version numbers still match (if not then update plugin)

• the plugin registry system mainly relies on plugin authors supplying a link to the repo where the plugin is stored - which will be git cloned into ~/.config/txtr/plugin if you choose to install that plugin (will also support a plain zip file)

• will also have plugin enable/disable so you can have plugins installed that arent actually enabled if needed

• this is a lot of work lol and so far all i have done is begin to get my head around all this, made a decent plan (in the comments of the plugin.py file lol) and started to implement a generic plugin loader.

• will be working on the docs a bit now so there isnt loads to put on the site when this is finished

changelog

• chore: add plugin registry
• feat: more plugins work
• feat: command plugin stuff
• feat: start plugin implementation

txtr devlog - 08/04/26 pt2

whats new???

build watch mode!!

• toggle with :bw or :buildwatch

what does it do?

• every edit triggers a 5 second timer (can be configured to extend/shorten) when enabled
• once typing pauses for that duration, the file is automatically saved and compiled to pdf
• statusbar will show “watching..” when this is toggled
• build panel will only open on failure !
  **tl:dr - build watch mode will build your file every N seconds if a change has occurred - giving you a live preview of your work if you have a pdf viewer open at the same time (eg zathura) **

config append command

• i realised that some config options are lists - specifically, the citations.bib_files option - this means if you ran config set ... it would override any additional directories, so i made config append where you can edit config and append additional options to the item in config if it is a list !

im now starting to work on the plugin system - this is quite a big thing so expect a few devlogs before a working system is in place lol

changelog

• fix: update config defaults for interval in config.py
• docs: bump to v1.10.1
• feat: statusbar “watching” if bw mode enabled
• feat: config append stuff + updated default
• feat: additional logic for live build
• feat: :buildwatch cmd - builds whenever you edit tex file
• feat(ui): add config append cmd + start work on live build

txtr devlog - 08/04/26

whats new??

• did some changes to the editor and the docs site :)
• i have removed that random balatro background on the docs splash page (it was cool but not practical lol)
• replaced this bg with a simple grid, much cleaner and suitable
• finished off the citations logic too
• when you type \cite{ in insert mode, the autocomplete popup now shows matching entries from your projects .bib files instead of LaTeX commands. (also works with all cite variants like \citep{
• essentially, the bib parses class scans files for the keys to each citation (using some very weird regex), and returns a list of the brief details of the source
• the cite completer then pairs each key with a respective description which has the year, author and title
• from there, the auto complete popup renders back to you all available sources you can cite (key and a des so you can identify them)
• also added a :bib command which maually rescans .bib files (use if you added something to your bib)
• bib files are auto-scanned on startup and when you open a new file.
• you can configure additional bib paths with citations.bib_files in config :)

fixes

• fixed a few bugs related to the docs site - main one was the splash page bg being rendered on all docs pages which was pretty annoying

changelog

• chore: actually use semantic versioning lol
• chore: bump version - v1.10.8
• chore: misc stuff
• chore: update func param
• feat(ui): add noti if no .bib files
• feat: cite com logic
• feat(ui): citation completions logic + :bib command
• feat: finish off cite completer logic
• feat(docs): add installation to contents pg
• fix: hide grid on docs - only on splash pg
• chore: better bg - balatro is too crazy lol
• chore: peak balatro bg
• chore: transparent svg :)

txtr devlog - 07/04/26

whats new???

• wrote some more regex ( im starting to hate this stuff) for parsing bibliography files
• more specifically, to extract all your source entries in any bibliography file so that auto completion can be offered for citations !
• i have split this logic across two different files:
  bibparser.py - which holds all the regex for extracting citations/source entries from any passed bibliography files (.lib files)
  citecompleter.py - which scans the local directory for all .bib files (also checks the config file if any additional dirs have been passed), and proceeds to parse them using bibparser.py before then providing the completions for these - which will show up inside of the auto complete popup (only when typing \cite{}.)
• updated default configuration ready to work with the new custom bibliography dir stuff
• also updated the docs site to now have installation instructions - plenty more to come, this guide is more detailed than the readme because i didnt want to ovecrowd the readme lol.

see the new installation guide @ https://txtr.benji.mom/installation

changelog

• docs(site): add installation guide to docs
• feat(core): first chunk of cite completer - scanning dir
• feat(core): update def config for bib files
• feat(core): finish of bibliography parsing logic
• feat(core): update default config for citations helper

txtr devlog - 07/04/26

whats new??

• decided to some work on the logo for txtr and it came out pretty nice - also made the favicon for the site !!
• i followed the tutorial on anchor.hackclub.com - its very good, you should defo check it out
• spent a while refining this logo and making it look as good as possible
• also then integrated this logo throughout the docs site - took a while because the config for starlight (astro) is kinda cooked - had to rewrite some css for the splash page and stuff but now the splash page shows the logo instead of “txtr” and likewise with the header that is shown on all pages
• also threw the logo into the readme just so everything looks nice :)
• i am now starting to work on a citation helper for the editor - it parses the .bib files in your current dir (and any passed) and will scan for citation ids so when you type \cite{….} - the autcomplete popup will show the available sources you can cite - i’m only just starting out on this so expect this to come a little later on

check out the timelapse of me doing all this here

fixes

• fixed a few bugs regarding the splash page - mainly just some random tpyos which i hadnt found during testing since that function wasnt being called at the time and also fixed the animations for varying terminal sizes :)

changelog

• docs: add svg to readme
• docs: new favicon
• fix: centre img in docs
• feat: amazing logo (by yours truly)
• feat: update astro conf
• chore: img to docs splash pg
• docs: add docs link and pypi
• docs: better screenshot (splash page)
• fix: anotehr fix smh
• fix(ui): fix glitch

txtr devlog - 0604/26 pt3

whats new??

• finally finished up the splash screen and the respective animations for it
• the splash screen shows up whenever you run txtr without a file argument
• an ascii logo is picked at random (out of 4 available) each time you launch txtr
  animation modes:
• on top of logo rotation, the way the logo is drawn is also randomised into 3 modes:
• static - logo appears instantly, in full
• typewriter - characters are revealed line by line to form the entire logo after a short delay
• glitch - for the first 3 seconds, characters in the logo are randomly swapped with block characters - until this proability decays to 0

also added a cool animation at the bottom of the splash screen (worked on it a couple devlogs back too) - its a latex ticker that is essentially a scrolling strip of latex snippets that runs along the bottom of the splash page.

• recent files list - the splash page shows you the last 10 files you opened and also has a hints bar with the keybinds you can use to navigate
• any key not handled will dismiss splash page and take you straight into editing

there was a lot of code rewriting in this one but got there in the end :)

changelog

• feat(ui): splash page!!
• feat(ui): splash stuff - animation of text too
• feat(ui): implement keybind management on splash
• chore: add img
• chore: add new og img

txtr delovlog - 06/04/26 pt2

whats new??

• pretty short devlog but oh well
• i have done some more work toward the splash page - its getting there lol
• the main css and stuff for it is all done, i just need to finish off some little tweaks and i am working on adding an animation to the bottom of it that shows different LaTeX commands on a carousel thingy
• starting to implement this all into the app function init methods so it opens on startup if you just run txtr without a file
• also locked in all the recently opened file stuff - that is all done.
• the splash page will have txtr written in some funky ascii fonts that rotate every time u launch txtr :)
• the current state of the splash page is pretty basic - missing the animation, version number and hints (keybinds u can use on it e.g. q to quit etc)

changelog

• feat: splash page widget
• feat(ui): splash page work - css
• feat(ui): pull recents from file when launched

txtr devlog - 06/04/26

whats new???

very peak devlog today

• of course, ive done a little bit more work toward making a really nice splash page but i have also done some stuff related to a docs page for this editor
• i realise that theres a lot this editor has in terms of binds and snippets and for it to really be fast for LaTeX, you need to know how to use it
• so i’ve started making the documentation for it (even bought a domain lol)
• the docs rn are incomplete and only have an introduction to what txtr is, more to come soon trust
• now what i have the site setup though, im gonna do some more work on the editor itself - trying to finish off the splash page today or tomorrow :)

check out the docs at https://txtr.benji.mom

changelog

• feat(ui): pull recents from file when launched
• fix: quick fix of workflow
• fix: fix balatro bg opacity
• chore: dependencies
• chore: better favicon
• chore: remove edit link
• chore: add assets
• fix(site): fix slugs
• fix: switch docs workflow
• docs(site): fix build bug with zod
• docs(site): stuff for site
• docs(site): cname stuff
• docs(site): update intro
• docs(site): starlight docs page!!

txtr devlog - 05/03/26 pt2

whats new??

• i’ve started work on something pretty interesting if you ask me :)
• i am working on a splash page for when you launch txtr without a specific file - i.e if you just run txtr instead of txtr <filename.tex>
• the splash page is really just to look nice but it will also serve a purpose by showing you your recently viewed files
• i have finished the recently viewed files logic and started on the actual css and layout of the splash page itself
• the recent file opens are saved to ~/.config/txtr/recents.json and can store a maximum of 10 recently opened files!
• this means it will be much easier to launch previously opened files and you wont have to even worry about typing the path to them out if you’ve opened it before.

there are no actual visible changes yet since ive done backend work for it only and havent integrated into the main loop but heres some other stuff ive worked on and not demoed fully yet :)

changelog

• feat(ui): fix some splash stuff
• feat(core): recently opened file logic
• feat(ui): first chunk of splash

txtr devlog - 05/03/26

whats new??

jump to error
the build panel that appears whenever you compile a latex file now has two different views:

• log view (default) - shows the raw compiler output, completely unchanged, the footer now shows an additional indicator if any errors or warnings have occurred alongside a little hint that pressing e will take you to the new errors view !
• errors view (press e) - a clean list of parsed LogEntry objects (essentially shows all the errors that have occured during compilation (if any) - there is a level bade (E for error, W for warnings), you also get filename:line for each error !
• keybinds for the panel:
• e - switch to errors view
• b - back to log view
• j/k - navigate errors or logs
• enter - jump edit cursor to selected error’s line
• q/esc - close panel
  whilst this panel does show errors to you in a nice format, its main purpose is to provide error jumping - you can hit enter when hovering over an error in errors view and you will jump there in the editor

i’ve also finished up the compiler logic to make this all possible lol

changelog

• docs(pypi): bump version
• feat(ui): keybinds for error panel jump
• feat(ui): error panel w/error jumps
• feat(core): finish compiler error regx
• docs(pypi): bump version - v1.8.8
• feat(ui): build panel w/error logging
• refactor(ui): remove unneeded file

txtr devlog - 04/04/26

whats new??

• regex, regex and a whole load more regex
• ive been working on parsing errors from the outputs of all your favourite latex compilers (thank you latexmk for such a nice format :) )
• essentially, im making the editor read through all the logs output from the compiler and detect errors - this will eventually be used later when i do error jump-to-line and maybe even that cool squiggly red underline you see in other editors lol
• of course there are loads of types of errors and i can’t do infinite regexes for them so ive done the main ones - things like hbox, warnings, unknown control sequences etc
• i am getting there (slowly lol)
• also added new keybinds available in visual mode (visual line too) - all the keybinds like G and stuff work:
• h/j/k/l - character navigation
• w/b/e - word motions
• 0/$ - line start/end
• g g / G - first/last line -
• ctrl+d / ctrl+u - half-page scroll
• Arrow keys
  this means you can do something like VggGy and you will copy the entire file !

changelog

• feat(core): getting there with all this error parsing
• feat(ui): :icantquittxtrpleasehelpme snippet
• feat(core): visual modes - additional binds
• feat(core): worked on compiler error regex

txtr devlog - 04/04/26 pt2

whats new???

• the new command registry is fully in place and implemented everywhere it needs to be!
• i have rewritten the entire of the commands file so that every single one of the currently registered commands (and yes i am every single command) - now uses the proper decorator and registry to define itself
• i have made very few behavioral changes to the editor and instead have simply implemented changes to the command definitions so that they match the new system
• did add a few aliases for certain commands - my current favorite being an alias for exit:
  :imstuckintxtrpleasehelpme - which exists txtr :)

checkout the timelapse of this session here

i am now working on a better error processing system for the compiler - it will be able to read error logs from your chosen compiler and then output them in a nicer format (perhaps line jumping later??)

changelog

• refactor(main): remove old cmd registry code
• feat(ui): finish full commands registry stuff!! (finally)
• feat(core): starting to work on compiler error handling
• refactor(main): remove more
• refactor(main): remove unnecessary files

txtr devlog - 04/04/26

whats new??

• more backend changes lol because who doesnt love backend
• i have finished the refactor of the command registry code - registering commands is now entirely managed by the command registry itself (not just with code dotted around everywhere)
• each registered command will now have to carry a handler callable alongside its display metadata - all managed by the dispatch method, which splits the typed string, tries the longest match first (ie “config set” before trying to match the command to “config”) then if a matching command is found. calls the handler with any args passed - which of course, then carries out whatever that command may need to do.
• the next thing i need to now do is updated the commands code in the app folder so it uses the new decorators - again, now behavioral changes, only improving the usability, and readbility of the code - and also thinking ahead for when i do plugins :)

changelog

• feat(core): final bit for cmd registry
• feat(core): first chunk of new registry - saved as newregistry.py so i can commit without breaking stuff :)

txtr devlog - 03/04/26

• quick lil devlog for now, nothing to really commit as its not stable yet but i thought id still explain what ive been doing
• i have started to work on the new command registry system - specifically, the changes i am making are about the command dispatch - the current command dispatch uses a massive list of if statements to parse commands and this isnt any good lol
• the new command dispatch is gonna be much more expandable and will also work better when i try to add a plugin system later
• the new system will have decorators when you define a function for each command ie something along the lines of :

@register(command="..." ... ) etc
def command_function(self) .....

much nicer and way easier to add commands, also means i’m not typing if statements constantly lmao

txtr devlog - 03/04/26 pt3

woohoo!! finished the refactor

whats new???

• the old app.py file which was ridiculously long has now been split up into 3 different files:
• __init__.py - the core app class, storing the key dispatch loop, autocomplete helpers, and everything else that makes up the core of the app itself.
• actions.py - this mixin stores every single action method, this is things like mode transitions, cursor movement, yank/paste/delete and all other editing operations
• commands.py - the commands mixin which is the core logic for all commands sent to the command line - this is things like write, quit, build, clean etc
• the main txtr app class then inherits from all three of these child classes!!

what isnt new??

• no behaviour changes (only some very minimal ones regarding warnings sent on build fail) - purely just a structural refactor

• i am now working on getting rid of the massive if statement chain that is currently used by the command dispatch and instead making it a much more maintainable system that works directly with the command register :)

changelog

• fix(ui): fix syntax error - too many typos lol [be51c76]
• fix(ui): more syntax errors lmao [90f0e16]
• feat(ui): more actions stuff [1e8c79e]
• feat(ui): finish off actions stuff in refactor [35eb5cb]
• refactor(ui): main app package stuff sorted - autocomplete, refresh, snips etc [a6f9363]
• docs(pypi): bump version v1.8.7 [01071e5]

txtr devlog - 03/04/26 pt2

whats new?

• done some more work toward restructuring the painfully long app.py file - i have finished the commands logic (although it still need changing later on so its more expandable and works with plugins)
• have done a decent bit of the actions logic - this is stuff like switching modes, auto brackets and tab stops - most of the backend is staying exactly the same, the code still performs the same functions, i am just changing how its laid out :)
• also getting started now on the init file for the new app code - this will manage snippet triggers, key binds (stuff like esc, u, dd etc

fixes

• whilst i was refactoring i realised there was some weird logic going on with validation when building stuff - from now on, when you try build a file whilst there is a currently running build, that build is cancelled and you are sent a notification to let you know that it has been cancelled and that the most recent build to be passed to the editor is now being built
• also fixed a couple syntax errors in the new commands code - stupidly left in the old app.py file when testing so my imports for app in the rest of the code were resolving to there and not the new app dir with the new code lol

changelog

• refactor(ui): first chunk of new actions logic (9362601)
• refactor(cui): app logic - init (9309225)
• fix(ui): fix syntax error lol - when testing the import was still being resolved by old app.py (78f1fe4)

txtr devlog - 03/04/26

whats new?

• changed the snippet system, instead of using | to identify where a tab stop lies inside a snippet, I have moved to using ${N} where N is the nth tab stop - this also allows for placeholder values by doing ${N:placeholder} which is pretty cool :)
• started to restructure the main app file too, it was getting way too long and just confusing to program
  –> i am going to split it down into mainly an actions class/file and a commands class/file - currently i am implementing commands as i did previously with just loads of if statements but this isnt very expandable so I will be changing the command registry system slightly once i’ve finished the refactor so it works alongside the command dispatch and not just the help menus.

changelog

• feat(latex): update default snippets for new system (66b5c22)
• refactor(main): remove misc file (dd37cfd)
• docs(pypi): bump version - v1.8.6 (20ffcd4)
• refactor(ui): start to refactor main app logic (6dbe894)