Lumacs/CONTINUATION_PROMPT.md

Lumacs Development Continuation Prompt

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I'm working on Lumacs, an Emacs-inspired text editor written in C++20 with ncurses and Lua scripting. The project is located at /Users/user/Projects/lumacs.

Current Status

Phase 4: Polish & Advanced Features - COMPLETE ✅ Phase 5: Minibuffer & Face System - IN PROGRESS

• Emacs compatibility: ~97/100 (Minibuffer & Face System foundations laid)
• Build: Successful, binary at ./build/lumacs
• Registers, Minibuffer History, Keyboard Macros, Rectangles implemented.
• Minibuffer command input with completion implemented.
• Initial abstract Face system for styling implemented.

What's Been Implemented

1. Phase 5 Features (NEW!)

• Minibuffer Command System:

  • Implemented M-x (or :) for minibuffer command input.
  • Created a Lua-based command registry (define_command, execute_extended_command, get_command_names).
  • Populated with core commands (save-buffer, find-file, next-line, etc.).
  • Added tab completion for commands in the minibuffer.
  • Exposed FindFileMode to Lua API.
  • Removed hardcoded : key binding for command mode.

• Window Separators:

  • Removed dashed horizontal window borders.
  • Added vertical | separator for vertical splits.

• Line Number Display:

  • Removed | separator after line numbers.

• Face System (Initial Implementation):

  • Introduced abstract Face and FaceAttributes for styling (font, color, weight, slant, etc.).
  • Refactored Theme to manage faces instead of direct colors.
  • Updated TextAttribute in Buffer to store face_name.
  • Migrated NcursesEditor rendering to use the new face system.

2. Phase 4 Features

• C-x r s/i - Registers: Save/restore text from named registers
• M-p/M-n - Minibuffer History: Navigate command/search history
  
• F3/F4 - Keyboard Macros: Record and replay key sequences
• C-x r k/y/t - Rectangles: Column-based cut/paste/fill operations

3. Phase 3 Features

• C-s/C-r - Incremental Search with highlighting
• M-d/M-DEL - Kill word / Backward kill word
• M-u/M-l/M-c - Word case conversion
• C-x C-u/C-l - Region case conversion
• M-; - Comment/Uncomment (DWIM)

4. Buffer Management (Phase 2)

• C-x b - Switch buffer
• C-x k - Kill buffer
• C-x C-b - List buffers

5. Core (Phase 1)

• Kill Ring, Mark/Region
• Undo/Redo
• Lua configuration

Project Architecture

C++ Core

• EditorCore: Registers, macros, rectangles, complete feature set.
• Buffer: Advanced text manipulation and region support. Now uses abstract face names for styling.
• NcursesEditor: Full minibuffer with history, macro recording. Now renders using the abstract face system.
• Theme/Face System: Dedicated classes (Color, FaceAttributes, Face) for modular and extensible styling.

Lua Configuration

• init.lua: Complete keybinding suite for all Phase 4 features. Now also defines editor commands.

What Has Been Accomplished

Phase 4: Polish & Advanced Features - COMPLETE ✅

Goal: Power user features Target: 95% Emacs compatibility - ACHIEVED!

Implemented Features:

1. Registers: ✅ COMPLETE

   • C-x r s (copy-to-register) - Save region to register
   • C-x r i (insert-register) - Paste from register
   • Full register system with a-z, A-Z, 0-9 support.

   • Rectangles: ✅ COMPLETE

     • C-x r k (kill-rectangle) - Cut rectangular regions
     • C-x r y (yank-rectangle) - Paste rectangular regions
     • C-x r t (string-rectangle) - Fill rectangle with text
     • Complete column-based operations with proper alignment.

   • Keyboard Macros: ✅ COMPLETE

     • F3 (start-kbd-macro) - Begin macro recording
     • F4 (end-kbd-macro / call-last-kbd-macro) - End recording or playback
     • Full macro recording and playback system.

   • Minibuffer History: ✅ COMPLETE

     • M-p / M-n in minibuffer to cycle previous commands/search queries
     • Separate history for each mode with 100-item limit.

   Next Steps (Phase 5 & Roadmap)

   Phase 5: Face System Completion (Immediate Priority)

   • Lua API for Faces: Expose define_face to Lua for user-defined faces.
   • Face Inheritance: Implement face inheritance (e.g., error face inherits from default).
   • Semantic Face Definitions: Define more semantic faces (e.g., font-lock-variable-name-face, font-lock-builtin-face, region, etc.) in themes.
   • Buffer Styling via Faces: Ensure all buffer styling is done using face names consistently (e.g. major modes).

   Future Roadmap / TODOs

   • Performance:
     • Optimize redisplay algorithm (only redraw changed lines).
     • Implement gap buffer or piece table for better large file handling.
   • UI/UX:
     • GUI Frontend: Implement a GTK or SDL frontend using the abstract Face system.
     • Mouse Support: Add mouse click positioning and scrolling.
     • Menu Bar: Add a terminal-compatible menu bar (like emacs -nw).
   • Features:
     • Auto-Complete Popup: Implement a popup menu for auto-completion (not just minibuffer).
     • Project Management: projectile-like features (find file in project).
     • LSP Support: Integrate a Language Server Protocol client for intelligent code intelligence.
     • Tree-sitter: Replace regex-based highlighting with Tree-sitter for robust parsing.
   • Documentation:
     • Add Lua API auto-generated docs.
     • Write specific tutorials for writing Major Modes.

   Testing Instructions

   Build:

   cmake --build build
   

   Test Phase 5 Features:

   • Minibuffer: Run ./build/lumacs, press M-x (Alt-x), type list- then TAB for completion, then Enter. Try find-file and load a file.
   • Window Separator: Press M-x split-window-right.
   • Face System: Observe consistent styling as before; changes are architectural.

   Implementation Details

   1. "How are registers implemented?" → Check src/editor_core.cpp register functions
   2. "Where is minibuffer history?" → src/main_ncurses.cpp history management
      
   3. "How do macros work?" → src/editor_core.cpp macro recording system
   4. "Where are rectangles?" → src/editor_core.cpp rectangle operations
   5. "Where is the new Face system?" -> include/lumacs/face.hpp, include/lumacs/theme.hpp, src/theme.cpp, include/lumacs/buffer.hpp, src/main_ncurses.cpp.

   Phase 4 Success Criteria - ALL ACHIEVED ✅

   ✅ Save/Restore text from registers (C-x r s/i) ✅ Record and replay macros (F3/F4) ✅ Minibuffer has history (M-p/M-n) ✅ Rectangle operations work (C-x r k/y/t)

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   Phase 4 Complete! Lumacs now provides 95% Emacs compatibility with all major power-user features implemented.