Emacs 31 is around the corner: The changes I'm daily driving

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Emacs 31 is prompting renewed enthusiasm among long‑time users, who highlight built‑in Tree‑sitter grammar installation, improved window management, and a faster, more capable terminal emulator as signs the editor is modernizing while staying true to its customizable roots. Commenters contrast Emacs with IDEs like VS Code, arguing that despite its steep learning curve and configuration overhead, it remains unmatched for keyboard‑driven workflows, remote editing, and tools like Magit and Org mode. A recurring theme is how LLM integrations and agent-style tools inside Emacs are lowering the barrier to configuration and extending its relevance as a power editor in an AI‑heavy development world.

Emacs 31 Features & Reactions

  • Strong enthusiasm for: auto tree-sitter grammar installation, editable xref, frame layout transposition, and speedbar as a side window.
  • Many see auto tree-sitter as removing a major pain point; some had elaborate scripts to manage grammars.
  • Some long‑time users admit they’ll upgrade, then mostly keep using Emacs as they always have, trimming configs as built‑ins improve.

Configuration, Distributions, and Presets

  • Persistent complaint: too much config needed to get a “modern IDE” experience (tree-sitter, LSP, completion, theming).
  • Suggestions: official presets or “profiles” that turn Emacs into a batteries‑included IDE with one setting.
  • Others argue Emacs is supposed to be hand‑tuned; prebuilt configs (Doom, Spacemacs, Bedrock, Centaur, etc.) already fill this niche.
  • Some users suffer “config bankruptcy” and either adopt Doom/Bedrock or strip back to minimal custom init files.

AI & Agent Integration

  • Several users say they briefly switched to VS Code for AI features but came back after getting Claude and other LLM tools working well in Emacs.
  • Emacs is praised as ideal for LLM‑assisted editing because it’s text‑configurable; agents can generate/maintain init files, though some warn this reduces understanding of one’s own config.
  • Tools mentioned: agent-shell, claude-code-ide, GPT‑related packages, with mixed UX (model switching, missing slash commands, concurrency limits).

Terminal Emulation & Remote Work

  • New terminal package Ghostel draws attention: claimed much faster and more capable than vterm, especially for modern TUIs and AI coding tools; links to benchmark numbers and feature comparisons.
  • Users highlight Ghostel integration with Claude tools (progress spinners, notifications, hyperlinking).
  • Emacs’ TRAMP and emacs‑daemon/emacsclient workflows are cited as long‑standing answers to remote editing and tmux/screen alternatives, though some still prefer VS Code’s remote containers for latency.

Ergonomics, Modal Editing, and Keybindings

  • Recurring issues: “Emacs pinky” and wrist pain from modifier chords; common mitigations include remapping Caps Lock to Ctrl, using thumb modifiers, or hardware like Ergodox.
  • Extensive debate over modal editing:
    • Evil‑mode is widely praised as the best Vim emulation anywhere; some say Emacs “vims better than Neovim.”
    • Others reject modal defaults and dislike Doom/Spacemacs keymaps, wanting non‑Evil setups.
  • Emacs/readline movement keys are valued across shells, browsers, and CLIs; some note loss or breakage in modern GTK/Firefox/Chrome stacks.

Why People Still Use Emacs

  • Long‑time users (decades) say they rely on Emacs as a “toolbox OS” for: coding, org‑mode, Magit, mail, RSS, calendars, note‑taking, spaced repetition, PDF annotation, terminal multiplexer replacement, and even reading Hacker News/Jira/Slack.
  • Many value dense, distraction‑free code views and the ability to keep multiple windows/frames and contexts visible simultaneously.
  • Some claim Emacs with LSP, tree-sitter, and Magit now rivals or surpasses modern IDEs for their work.

Critiques and Limitations

  • Performance complaints: slow startup on macOS, slowness on Windows/macOS without tuning GC/native‑comp, TRAMP latency, and general “jank.”
  • One user objects to native compilation and lexical scope changes on security/complexity grounds; another notes pgtk builds currently require native‑comp, which some see as a bug.
  • A few say Emacs’ mouse experience and GUI feel are poor compared to mouse‑centric editors/IDEs.
  • Others argue that for teams, standardized IDEs still win for out‑of‑box tooling, debuggers, and shared workflows.

Culture and History Notes

  • Several nostalgic asides: Emacs’ age, early TECO/Gosmacs days, and infamous salty comments in old terminal.el preserved in a separate “nasty” file.
  • Many emphasize Emacs as a rare piece of software that has improved steadily for decades while remaining under user control and highly scriptable.