Mac Open-Source Hosting Spotlight: Aurora Editor

Introduction to open-source hosting with MacStadium 

MacStadium’s Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) program provides free access to a Mac mini hosted in one of our US or European data centers for the development and hosting of open-source projects. We currently sponsor over 100 projects, including Aurora Editor, enabling continued support for open-source software in the Apple ecosystem. 

What is Aurora Editor? 

Think Xcode, but simplified.  

Aurora Editor is an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) that’s built for the community, by the community, and written in Swift for the best native performance and feel for macOS. 

The Aurora Editor IDE encompasses all the features you would expect in an Xcode-inspired app, such as deep integration with your chosen git provider, project planning capabilities, and a suite of your preferred built-in editor tools. Aurora Editor aims to redefine what you expect from your development environment, offering a top-notch blend of speed, efficiency, and intuitiveness. 

Aurora Editor was formed in 2022 as a fork of CodeEdit. The team’s primary focus is to provide functionality over aesthetics for users. By simplifying the interface and removing modules that would often result in fetch failures, Aurora Editor offers a stable environment for expanding builds. 

How Aurora Editor uses MacStadium 

The MacStadium-hosted Mac mini is an integral part of the Aurora Editor team’s workflow. The additional compute power allows for faster GitHub CI builds and hosting their extensions store API backend. “The power of the MacStadium Mac mini is a game-changer for us,” said Tihan-Nico Paxton, one of the Aurora Editor Project Lead Developers. “It's pivotal for swiftly executing GitHub actions across numerous projects and will be the backbone of our extension store for Aurora Editor."

Current and Upcoming Aurora Editor Projects 

The Aurora Editor Team is working on several exciting new updates, including developing their extension store and enhancing the system architecture. Aurora Editor is currently improving their highlighting system through Tree-sitter to help prioritize efficient handling of large files, resulting in fewer delays in processing. They also completed their dynamic language registration facilitated through Swift's Notification Center. 

While focusing on continuous improvement for the app, Aurora Editor has another large project on the horizon for 2024 – A Mac-optimized branch of Aurora Editor specifically for Android development. They want to redefine the Android development experience for Mac users through a streamlined, intuitive environment tailored to their unique needs. 

“This initiative represents not just a new direction for Aurora Editor, but a leap forward in making cross-platform development more accessible and efficient,” said Tihan-Nico. 

How can Aurora Editor help other developers? 

Aurora Editor is a place for devs to not just stay on pace, but to accelerate and improve. Many times, developers and engineers get stuck on system failures or lags in their IDE. Aurora Editor eliminates these obstacles and streamlines the IDE experience. The environment is fast and smooth, allowing users to build projects without the headache of running into functionality issues. Developers can surpass build expectations and reach their full potential with Aurora Editor. 

Most comparable editors are built on Electron, which requires a Chromium instance to run. This leads to massive performance losses and high RAM usage even for small apps built on it. Additionally, the overall code footprint is significantly larger, and actions like window resizing can feel extremely laggy. Native apps such as Aurora Editor utilize system resources more efficiently, making them a more reliable solution. 

Since Xcode doesn’t support creating several projects in different programming languages, Aurora Editor comes to the rescue. Aurora Editor wants to give developers an opportunity to create projects in their desired language on a native editor that provides a similar experience to using Xcode on Mac. 
 

Where to download Aurora Editor 

Ready to elevate your coding experience with Aurora Editor? 

You can get Aurora Editor instantly on macOS. Requires a Mac running macOS Monterey 12.0 or later. 

Download Aurora Editor for free here! 

Want to see the details? 

Go to Aurora Editor on GitHub!