Lapce

Lapce is an open-source code editor written entirely in Rust, maintained by the Lapce team — the same group behind the Floem GUI toolkit and the Lapdev Kubernetes development environment platform. It is available as a pre-built release for Windows, Linux, and macOS, and is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The repository has accumulated over 38,000 GitHub stars since its creation in 2018.

What It Is

Lapce (IPA: /læps/) is a desktop code editor designed for speed and power. It uses Rope Science from the Xi-Editor project for lightning-fast text computation and leverages wgpu for GPU-accelerated rendering. The UI is built on Floem, the team's own cross-platform Rust GUI toolkit. Lapce is positioned as a native alternative to Electron-based editors, with a focus on low latency and a tight integration between local and remote development workflows.

Core Features

• Built-in LSP support: Provides intelligent code features including completion, diagnostics, and code actions via the Language Server Protocol.
• Modal editing: Vim-like modal editing is a first-class citizen and can be toggled on or off.
• Remote development: Built-in remote development support inspired by VSCode Remote Development, allowing developers to work on remote systems with a local feel. The team's Lapdev platform can manage remote dev environments.
• WASI plugin system: Plugins can be written in any language that compiles to the WASI format, including C, Rust, and AssemblyScript.
• Built-in terminal: An integrated terminal lets users run commands without leaving the editor.

Architecture and Technology

Lapce is built entirely in Rust, which contributes to its performance profile. The rendering pipeline uses wgpu, a cross-platform graphics API, enabling GPU-accelerated UI rendering. Text handling is based on Rope Science, a data structure approach originally developed for the Xi-Editor that enables efficient operations on large files. The plugin system targets the WASI (WebAssembly System Interface) standard, making it language-agnostic for plugin authors.

Open-Source Deployment Model

Lapce is released under the Apache License Version 2.0. The source code is publicly available on GitHub at lapce/lapce. Pre-built binaries are provided for Windows, Linux, and macOS via GitHub Releases, and installation via package managers is also documented. Users can also compile from source using the provided guide. The project accepts community contributions and maintains a Discord server and a Reddit community for feedback and discussion.

Update: v0.4.6

The latest published release is v0.4.6, released on January 21, 2026. The repository remains actively maintained, with the last code push recorded in June 2026. The project continues to develop alongside the Floem GUI toolkit and the Lapdev cloud environment platform, both of which share the same maintainer organization.