6 ms·

Rune 1.1: adds Python, an Emacs editor, a symbol index and is now free

100 points by ernestrc 2mo ago

ernestrc 2mo ago
Author here. We pushed 1.1 today. It was scheduled for release two weeks ago, but it was quite hard to balance adding so many new features with the influx of bug reports that followed our launch a month ago. Obviously, adding Python is a big one, but I'm most excited about the new symbol index, which reduces 10-second workspace-wide queries to under 100 ms. The agent also uses this index, so the benefits compound over long agentic sessions as well. FWIW I'm not quite sure about the black-and-white dimming feature. If it's not useful, we might remove it in a future release so please let us know!
- esafak 2mo ago
  Is there a short video walkthrough for newcomers?
  - ernestrc 2mo ago
    Not a walkthrough video, no. The first steps section of the getting started guide is the best place to start (https://docs.rune.build/#your-first-steps https://docs.rune.build/#your-first-steps). There are also a few short clips on the home, Go and Python pages. Fair ask though! a short walkthrough is on the list.
callistocodes 2mo ago
Page crashes with “a problem repeatedly occurred on $page” on iOS Safari, just fyi
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  Thanks, looking into it. edit: I think it's from all the videos playing at once, even when not visible. It should be fixed now.
  - callistocodes 2mo ago
    That fixed it :)
  - petrichor_solac 2mo ago
    Hey, I don't see anywhere in the docs how one can remap the `meta` key to something else? Project looks cool as hell tho
    - ernestrc 2mo ago
      Thanks! :) https://docs.rune.build/learn/key-mapping https://docs.rune.build/learn/key-mapping
bryanlarsen 2mo ago
Quite impressed with a sales page basically telling me to stick with Emacs for now: https://rune.build/coming-from/emacs https://rune.build/coming-from/emacs
- OhSoHumble 2mo ago
  > Org mode, Magit, TRAMP, or another deep Emacs-native package is your center of gravity This is me. > rewriting the editor live in Elisp is the whole point for you Funnily enough, this is not me. I just grab Doom Emacs and do very minor adjustments. I just really like all the packages and the ecosystem.
- wmedrano 2mo ago
  I had to chuckle at this pro > Built-in Emacs editor The built in editor is a one of my least favorite parts of Emacs. I'm in it for the customizability.
- warpspin 2mo ago
  You spelled Neovim wrong :-)
- rich_sasha 2mo ago
  Lots of IDEs claim to offer Vim/Emacs emulation. Vim users seem often quite happy with the vim emulation they get (I'm only an occasional Vim user so don't have an opinion). The issue with emulating Emacs is that the editor key bindings are not the feature. The feature of Emacs is basically an IDE totally tuned to how you want it, plus the fact that then you apply the same ecosystem to a great number of text-adjacent applications - Org, E-mail, code, markdown, etc. Someone saying to me "hey, you can copy with M-w!" just really doesn't appeal. Vim seems more about an out-of-the-box "language" for typing, so I can see how you can emulate this more sanely.
  - flexagoon 2mo ago
    > Vim users seem often quite happy with the vim emulation they get Its better than nothing, but usually only lets you use vim bindings for text editing itself. Compared to neovim, where the entire editor and the plugin ecosystem is fully based on the same keyboard-driven workflow, it's quite lacking. For example, I remember that when using VSCode with its Vim mode plugin, it took quite a bit of configuration to be able to switch to the file tree and navigate it with the keyboard, and it still didn't work that well due to inherent limitations of the software. Another huge example is Neogit. If you're an Emacs user, you probably use Magit, which Neogit is heavily inspired by, so you'll understand. Having it integrated into your editor and working with the same shortcuts is very nice and can't be replaced by vim emulation mode.
cobolexpert 2mo ago
Any connection to https://github.com/CeleritasCelery/rune https://github.com/CeleritasCelery/rune ?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  No connection. Naming things, sigh. It’s hard to find an unused name these days.
facepalmz 2mo ago
I have no idea what it is
- mpawelski 2mo ago
  Same. Is it completely new editor with "emacs mode"? an actual emacs configuration. Who knows? Why should I care if the author didn't care to explain it?
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
fooqux 2mo ago
I may check this out as I'm between editors currently. Liked zed for a bit, until a blog post showed me how they were installing npm and who knows what else on my PC without me knowing. Used Code for a bit after until suddenly they started requiring AI dependencies just to run the IDE. So hey, why not try something new.
- 3836293648 2mo ago
  There's a zed minus the iffy bits fork called gram. Haven't used it though, I'm still stuck in Emacs trying to figure out how to get out.
  - avhception 2mo ago
    Haha, I'm trying to figure out how to get in!
    - flexagoon 2mo ago
      Doom Emacs is the answer
  - fooqux 2mo ago
    I've looked at gram, but unfortunately it, being a fork of zed, still has some dependencies I'd rather not deal with. Given the recent hacks (especially those a few weeks ago with lots of compromised AUR packages in Arch) I'd rather not have npm or nodejs installed. I don't develop in it, I don't need it, and having it installed is just an huge unnecessary attack vector for me. I do love what the gram developer is doing though.
efficax 2mo ago
pricing page does not at all make clear what isn't included in the free version. you have to pay a monthly subscription for "language support"? does that mean it doesn't "support" languages in the free version? and what does "language support" mean?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  Fair. I’ll change the wording so it’s obvious. To answer your question, there’s no difference other than the licensing terms allowing you to use it for commercial work.
fishgoesblub 2mo ago
I'm not seeing any mention of this being FOSS, is this closed-sourced? If so, that should be mentioned in every single comparison page between editors. edit: It is mentioned in the Neovim, and Emacs pages. Not the VSCode, or Zed pages.
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  You’re right about this. I’ll add it to those pages as well. edit: done
be5invis 2mo ago
Are there any plan in forseeable future (10 years) to port Rune to other platforms (win, mobile/tablet, ..)?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  No plans yet but if there’s enough demand we’ll port it to Windows.
ilc 2mo ago
As soon as it said "non-commercial" I noped. That is so vague with some of what I do, that it isn't worth even looking further.
devinprater 2mo ago
OMG the live region announcements are really annoying on the web page: "RUNE rune.buildmain+0-0248 lines2026-07-30 21:54:38 unstablebuild "
loremm 2mo ago
Anyone know of something like spacemacs which does the chording well? I've gotten used to it but it's starting to feel like it's not being updated, but I have all the muscle memory
mercnz 2mo ago
i was so confused at first, why did they name themselves the same as the rune scripting language? https://rune-rs.github.io/ https://rune-rs.github.io/
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  I didn't know about rune, the programming language tbh. I guess we'll have to support it next
barrenko 2mo ago
Is this electron?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  No. It's written in Go.
  - amne 2mo ago
    can't say "I wrote it in Go" anymore
ubercore 2mo ago
Might want to think about installation. Suspicious of black box shell installations like that, and I'm on a laptop with restrictions. Looks like installation failed trying to write to places it shouldn't, but it's just pulling a dmg to copy on MacOS? EDIT: also not helping trust that it's not letting me quit?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  I’ll look into these. We do some special handling of cmd+q so resources are released gracefully. I’m guessing you didn’t select a preset yet. Is that accurate?
  - ubercore 2mo ago
    I selected vim. No quit available in application menu, I tried `!forcequit` from the command menu and nothing happened either.
    - ernestrc 2mo ago
      are you on apple silicon or intel? edit: nvm I found the issue. cmd+q or forcequit! doesn't work while the onboarding tutorial is running.
- dminvs 2mo ago
  also curious as to why libresolv.so.2 is packaged in the Linux tarball
  - ernestrc 2mo ago
    [dead]
_visgean 2mo ago
I tried it and its definetely not mature enough for me. Too cumbersome to use. But the project speaks to me.
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  I’d love to hear more about your opinion. Can you shoot us an email hi@unstable.build?
satnhak 2mo ago
Sorry, I just don't understand the premise behind Rune. The whole neovim / emacs / blah blah cult is based around configuring the infinitely configurable ecosystem. It's not better, or more productive, it's a hobby. So if you try to package that you've missed the point.

100 points by ernestrc 2mo ago

Author here. We pushed 1.1 today. It was scheduled for release two weeks ago, but it was quite hard to balance adding so many new features with the influx of bug reports that followed our launch a month ago. Obviously, adding Python is a big one, but I'm most excited about the new symbol index, which reduces 10-second workspace-wide queries to under 100 ms. The agent also uses this index, so the benefits compound over long agentic sessions as well. FWIW I'm not quite sure about the black-and-white dimming feature. If it's not useful, we might remove it in a future release so please let us know!

esafak 2mo ago
Is there a short video walkthrough for newcomers?
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  Not a walkthrough video, no. The first steps section of the getting started guide is the best place to start (https://docs.rune.build/#your-first-steps https://docs.rune.build/#your-first-steps). There are also a few short clips on the home, Go and Python pages. Fair ask though! a short walkthrough is on the list.

callistocodes 2mo ago

Page crashes with “a problem repeatedly occurred on $page” on iOS Safari, just fyi

ernestrc 2mo ago
Thanks, looking into it. edit: I think it's from all the videos playing at once, even when not visible. It should be fixed now.
- callistocodes 2mo ago
  That fixed it :)
- petrichor_solac 2mo ago
  Hey, I don't see anywhere in the docs how one can remap the `meta` key to something else? Project looks cool as hell tho
  - ernestrc 2mo ago
    Thanks! :) https://docs.rune.build/learn/key-mapping https://docs.rune.build/learn/key-mapping

bryanlarsen 2mo ago

Quite impressed with a sales page basically telling me to stick with Emacs for now: https://rune.build/coming-from/emacs https://rune.build/coming-from/emacs

OhSoHumble 2mo ago
> Org mode, Magit, TRAMP, or another deep Emacs-native package is your center of gravity This is me. > rewriting the editor live in Elisp is the whole point for you Funnily enough, this is not me. I just grab Doom Emacs and do very minor adjustments. I just really like all the packages and the ecosystem.
wmedrano 2mo ago
I had to chuckle at this pro > Built-in Emacs editor The built in editor is a one of my least favorite parts of Emacs. I'm in it for the customizability.
warpspin 2mo ago
You spelled Neovim wrong :-)
rich_sasha 2mo ago
Lots of IDEs claim to offer Vim/Emacs emulation. Vim users seem often quite happy with the vim emulation they get (I'm only an occasional Vim user so don't have an opinion). The issue with emulating Emacs is that the editor key bindings are not the feature. The feature of Emacs is basically an IDE totally tuned to how you want it, plus the fact that then you apply the same ecosystem to a great number of text-adjacent applications - Org, E-mail, code, markdown, etc. Someone saying to me "hey, you can copy with M-w!" just really doesn't appeal. Vim seems more about an out-of-the-box "language" for typing, so I can see how you can emulate this more sanely.
- flexagoon 2mo ago
  > Vim users seem often quite happy with the vim emulation they get Its better than nothing, but usually only lets you use vim bindings for text editing itself. Compared to neovim, where the entire editor and the plugin ecosystem is fully based on the same keyboard-driven workflow, it's quite lacking. For example, I remember that when using VSCode with its Vim mode plugin, it took quite a bit of configuration to be able to switch to the file tree and navigate it with the keyboard, and it still didn't work that well due to inherent limitations of the software. Another huge example is Neogit. If you're an Emacs user, you probably use Magit, which Neogit is heavily inspired by, so you'll understand. Having it integrated into your editor and working with the same shortcuts is very nice and can't be replaced by vim emulation mode.

cobolexpert 2mo ago

Any connection to https://github.com/CeleritasCelery/rune https://github.com/CeleritasCelery/rune ?

ernestrc 2mo ago
No connection. Naming things, sigh. It’s hard to find an unused name these days.

facepalmz 2mo ago

I have no idea what it is

mpawelski 2mo ago
Same. Is it completely new editor with "emacs mode"? an actual emacs configuration. Who knows? Why should I care if the author didn't care to explain it?

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

fooqux 2mo ago

I may check this out as I'm between editors currently. Liked zed for a bit, until a blog post showed me how they were installing npm and who knows what else on my PC without me knowing. Used Code for a bit after until suddenly they started requiring AI dependencies just to run the IDE. So hey, why not try something new.

3836293648 2mo ago
There's a zed minus the iffy bits fork called gram. Haven't used it though, I'm still stuck in Emacs trying to figure out how to get out.
- avhception 2mo ago
  Haha, I'm trying to figure out how to get in!
  - flexagoon 2mo ago
    Doom Emacs is the answer
- fooqux 2mo ago
  I've looked at gram, but unfortunately it, being a fork of zed, still has some dependencies I'd rather not deal with. Given the recent hacks (especially those a few weeks ago with lots of compromised AUR packages in Arch) I'd rather not have npm or nodejs installed. I don't develop in it, I don't need it, and having it installed is just an huge unnecessary attack vector for me. I do love what the gram developer is doing though.

efficax 2mo ago

pricing page does not at all make clear what isn't included in the free version. you have to pay a monthly subscription for "language support"? does that mean it doesn't "support" languages in the free version? and what does "language support" mean?

ernestrc 2mo ago
Fair. I’ll change the wording so it’s obvious. To answer your question, there’s no difference other than the licensing terms allowing you to use it for commercial work.

fishgoesblub 2mo ago

I'm not seeing any mention of this being FOSS, is this closed-sourced? If so, that should be mentioned in every single comparison page between editors. edit: It is mentioned in the Neovim, and Emacs pages. Not the VSCode, or Zed pages.

ernestrc 2mo ago
You’re right about this. I’ll add it to those pages as well. edit: done

be5invis 2mo ago

Are there any plan in forseeable future (10 years) to port Rune to other platforms (win, mobile/tablet, ..)?

ernestrc 2mo ago
No plans yet but if there’s enough demand we’ll port it to Windows.

ilc 2mo ago

As soon as it said "non-commercial" I noped. That is so vague with some of what I do, that it isn't worth even looking further.

devinprater 2mo ago

OMG the live region announcements are really annoying on the web page: "RUNE rune.buildmain+0-0248 lines2026-07-30 21:54:38 unstablebuild "

loremm 2mo ago

Anyone know of something like spacemacs which does the chording well? I've gotten used to it but it's starting to feel like it's not being updated, but I have all the muscle memory

mercnz 2mo ago

i was so confused at first, why did they name themselves the same as the rune scripting language? https://rune-rs.github.io/ https://rune-rs.github.io/

ernestrc 2mo ago
I didn't know about rune, the programming language tbh. I guess we'll have to support it next

barrenko 2mo ago

Is this electron?

ernestrc 2mo ago
No. It's written in Go.
- amne 2mo ago
  can't say "I wrote it in Go" anymore

ubercore 2mo ago

Might want to think about installation. Suspicious of black box shell installations like that, and I'm on a laptop with restrictions. Looks like installation failed trying to write to places it shouldn't, but it's just pulling a dmg to copy on MacOS? EDIT: also not helping trust that it's not letting me quit?

ernestrc 2mo ago
I’ll look into these. We do some special handling of cmd+q so resources are released gracefully. I’m guessing you didn’t select a preset yet. Is that accurate?
- ubercore 2mo ago
  I selected vim. No quit available in application menu, I tried `!forcequit` from the command menu and nothing happened either.
  - ernestrc 2mo ago
    are you on apple silicon or intel? edit: nvm I found the issue. cmd+q or forcequit! doesn't work while the onboarding tutorial is running.
dminvs 2mo ago
also curious as to why libresolv.so.2 is packaged in the Linux tarball
- ernestrc 2mo ago
  [dead]

_visgean 2mo ago

I tried it and its definetely not mature enough for me. Too cumbersome to use. But the project speaks to me.

ernestrc 2mo ago
I’d love to hear more about your opinion. Can you shoot us an email hi@unstable.build?

satnhak 2mo ago

Sorry, I just don't understand the premise behind Rune. The whole neovim / emacs / blah blah cult is based around configuring the infinitely configurable ecosystem. It's not better, or more productive, it's a hobby. So if you try to package that you've missed the point.