⬡ FERRUM STUDIO
The professional IDE built exclusively for Nim
Fast. Native. Zero Electron.
Ferrum Studio is a lightweight, native desktop IDE designed from the ground up for the [Nim programming language]. Built with Go + Wails, it runs as a true native application — not a bundled Chromium browser. The result is an IDE that starts in under a second, uses under 50 MB of RAM, and feels fast on any machine.
Most editors treat Nim as an afterthought — a language server plugin bolted onto a general-purpose tool. Ferrum Studio is different. Every feature, shortcut, snippet, error message, and template is designed around the way Nim developers actually work.
*Note --> The IDE is still in v0.7
- Instant Diagnostics: Compiler errors now appear in under 800ms with a new smart-clearing system that removes markers as soon as you start typing.
- Faster Autocomplete: Autocomplete latency reduced to 60ms and threshold lowered to 1 character for near-instant suggestions.
- Interactive IO Fix: Refactored backend stream handling to support unbuffered output and interactive stdin, fixing jumbled input/output issues.
- Nim Treasure Map: Added a new interactive sidebar panel with curated, one-click code gems for common Nim patterns and idioms.
- Expanded Error Fixes: Added 12 new human-readable error explanations and specific fix suggestions for common syntax and type errors.
- Enhanced Layout: Upgraded the IDE with high-visibility, 12px editor scrollbars and improved contrast for navigating long scripts.
- Refined Echo: User input in the terminal is now dimmed and uses inline printing to align correctly with interactive prompts.
Open a Nim project →
F5to run → see output instantly in the integrated terminal.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ File Edit Run Nim View Nim 2.2.10 windows │
├──────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ◈ │ main.Nim × │
│ ⚙ ├─ src / main.Nim ──────────────────────────────────── │
│ ≡ │ 1 echo "Hello" │
│ │ 2 │
│ src/ │ 3 │
│ main│ 4 │
│ build│ 5 │
│ │ 6 │
│ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────│
│ │ Terminal ⚠ Problems ✦ Tests ⚙ Build │
│ │ │
│ │ Hello! │
│ │ ─── [OK] exit 0 (0.31s) ─── │
└──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- Nim syntax highlighting
- Smart indentation (whitespace-aware)
- Auto-close brackets
- Bracket match highlighting
- IntelliSense (modules, procs, templates, macros)
- Dot-aware autocomplete
- Snippets support
- Inline error hints
- Error squiggles
- Multi-tab editing
- Word wrap toggle
- Quick open (Ctrl+P)
F5→ Run (nim c -r)F6→ Run with argumentsF7→ BuildF8→ Test- Format via
nim pretty - Fast diagnostics via
nim check - Auto-check after typing
- Interactive stdin support
- Stop process with Ctrl+C
- Clean error explanations
- Click to jump to line
- Grouped by file
- Suggestions for common mistakes
- CLI App
- Library
- Web App
- Async App
- Metaprogramming examples
- File explorer with Git indicators
- Snippets browser
- Build shortcuts
- Integrated terminal
- ANSI colors
- Command history
- Interactive input support
- Branch display
- File status indicators
- Auto refresh
Ferrum Studio detects Nim automatically using:
- PATH lookup
- Common install directories
- Home directory scan
- Manual selection fallback
- Nim (1.6+ or 2.x)
- Go (1.21+)
- Wails CLI v2
- Node.js 18+
git clone https://github.com/CzaxStudio/Ferrum-Studio
cd ferrum-studio
wails dev
### Build for distribution
```bash
# Windows
wails build -platform windows/amd64
# macOS
wails build -platform darwin/universal
# Linux
wails build -platform linux/amd64
npm install -D vite-nodeOutput binary is in build/bin/.
ferrum-studio/
├── app.go # Go backend — all Zig integration, file I/O, Git
├── hidden_windows.go # Windows: hide console windows for sub-processes
├── hidden_other.go # macOS/Linux: no-op SysProcAttr
├── main.go # Wails entry point
├── wails.json # Wails project config
└── frontend/
└── src/
├── main.js # Full IDE frontend (~3000 lines)
├── enhancements.js # Templates, error explanations, fix suggestions
└── style.css # Complete dark theme (~820 lines)
Ferrum Studio uses Wails to embed a WebView2 (Windows) / WKWebView (macOS) / WebKitGTK (Linux) pane inside a native Go application. The Go backend handles all OS operations — running Nim, reading files, opening dialogs, registry access — and communicates with the JavaScript frontend via an auto-generated bridge.
There is no Electron, no Node.js runtime, no bundled Chromium. The total binary is ~8 MB on Windows.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+S |
Save and check |
Ctrl+Shift+F |
Format with zig fmt |
Ctrl+Shift+C |
Check (ast-check) |
Ctrl+/ |
Toggle line comment |
Ctrl+D |
Select next occurrence |
Ctrl+F |
Find in file |
Ctrl+G |
Go to line |
Ctrl+P |
Quick open file |
Ctrl+N |
New file |
Ctrl+O |
Open file |
Ctrl+W |
Close tab |
Ctrl+= |
Increase font size |
Ctrl+- |
Decrease font size |
Ctrl+0 |
Reset font size |
Ctrl+Shift+W |
Toggle word wrap |
Home |
Smart home (first non-whitespace → column 0) |
Tab |
Expand snippet / indent |
Shift+Tab |
Unindent |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
F5 |
Run file |
F6 |
Run with arguments |
F7 |
nim build |
F8 |
nim test |
Ctrl+C (in terminal) |
Kill running process |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Escape |
Close any open dialog/panel |
Ctrl+G |
Go to line |
Ctrl+P |
Quick open |
| Arrow Up/Down (terminal) | Command history |
| Ferrum Studio | VS Code + ZLS | Zed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose-built for Nim | ✓ | Partial | Partial |
| Native (no Electron) | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Interactive stdin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Human-readable errors | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Fix suggestions | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Zig project templates | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Auto Zig detection | ✓ | Manual | Manual |
| RAM usage (idle) | ~35 MB | ~300 MB | ~80 MB |
| Cold start time | < 1 s | 3–8 s | 1–2 s |
Contributions are welcome. Areas where help is most valuable:
- Language server protocol (LSP) integration with ZLS for go-to-definition and hover docs
- More error explanations in
enhancements.js— theZIG_ERROR_EXPLANATIONSarray - Themes — the CSS uses CSS variables throughout; a light theme PR would be straightforward
- Zig 0.14+ syntax — keep the highlighter updated with new keywords
- macOS / Linux testing — most development has been on Windows
AI Usage
Frontend UI was partially assisted by AI tools. Core backend and architecture were implemented manually.
# Run in dev mode with hot reload
wails dev
# Frontend only (if you only changed JS/CSS)
cd frontend && npm run devMIT License — see LICENSE.
Built with ♥ for the Nim community
"Ferrum" is Latin for iron — the element that gives steel its strength.