Prelude is an Emacs distribution that aims to enhance the default Emacs experience. Prelude alters a lot of the default settings, bundles a plethora of additional packages and adds its own core library to the mix. The final product offers an easy to use Emacs configuration for Emacs newcomers and lots of additional power for Emacs power users.
Prelude is compatible ONLY with GNU Emacs 24.4+. In general you're advised to always run Prelude with the latest Emacs - currently 25.2.
You can support the development of Prelude via Salt, Patreon and Liberapay.
Table of Contents
- Fast Forward
- Installing Emacs
- Installation
- Updating Prelude
- Enabling additional modules
- Running
- Getting to know Prelude
- Automatic package installation
- Caveats & Pitfalls
- Known issues
- Support
- Contributors
- Bugs & Improvements
Assuming you're using an Unix-like OS (*BSD, GNU/Linux, macOS, Solaris,
etc), you already have Emacs 24.4+ installed, as well as git & curl you
can skip the whole manual and just type in your favorite shell the
following command:
curl -L https://git.io/epre | shYou can now power up your Emacs, sit back and enjoy Prelude, forgetting about the rest of this manual.
There are two environment variables you can use to control the source repository and the installation directory. To change the installation directory:
export PRELUDE_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.emacs.d" && curl -L https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude/raw/master/utils/installer.sh | shTo change the source repository:
export PRELUDE_URL="https://github.com/yourname/prelude.git" && curl -L https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude/raw/master/utils/installer.sh | shNote that the installer will back up any existing .emacs file or
.emacs.d since it will unpack Prelude's code in .emacs.d. If
you're doing a manual install make sure you don't have a .emacs file
or back up your existing .emacs.d directory manually.
Don't forget to adjust your prelude-modules.el file once the installation is done.
By default most of the modules that ship with Prelude are not loaded.
Obviously to use the Emacs Prelude you have to install Emacs first. Have a look at the WikEmacs articles on installing Emacs.
You can install Emacs Prelude via the command line with either curl or
wget. Naturally git is also required.
If you're using curl type the following command:
curl -L https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude/raw/master/utils/installer.sh | shIf you're using wget type:
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude/raw/master/utils/installer.sh -O - | shMake sure you do not have any ~/.emacs file present.
git clone git://github.com/bbatsov/prelude.git path/to/local/repo
ln -s path/to/local/repo ~/.emacs.d
cd ~/.emacs.dIf you are using Windows, you should check what Emacs thinks the ~ directory is by running Emacs and typing C-x d ~/<RET>, and then adjust the command appropriately.
The update procedure is fairly straightforward and consists of 3 steps:
Just run M-x package-list-packages RET U x.
cd path/to/prelude/installation
git pullThe path/to/prelude/installation is usually ~/.emacs.d (at least
on Unix systems).
It's generally a good idea to stop Emacs after you do the update. The next time Prelude starts it will install any new dependencies (if there are such).
Simply run M-x prelude-update from Emacs itself and restart Emacs afterwards.
By default, Prelude will install packages from the melpa and gnu package
repositories. Occasionally package integration can break when upgrading packages.
This can be avoided by pinning packages to stable versions in other repositories.
To do so, copy prelude-pinned-packages.el from the sample directory to
Prelude's root directory and adjust the variables
inside accordingly.
By default most of the modules that ship with Prelude are not loaded. For more information on the functionality provided by these modules visit the docs.
;;; Uncomment the modules you'd like to use and restart Prelude afterwards
(require 'prelude-c)
;; (require 'prelude-clojure)
;; (require 'prelude-coffee)
;; (require 'prelude-common-lisp)
;; (require 'prelude-css)
(require 'prelude-emacs-lisp)
(require 'prelude-erc)
;; (require 'prelude-erlang)
;; (require 'prelude-elixir)
;; (require 'prelude-haskell)
(require 'prelude-js)
;; (require 'prelude-latex)
(require 'prelude-lisp)
;; (require 'prelude-mediawiki)
(require 'prelude-org)
(require 'prelude-perl)
;; (require 'prelude-python)
;; (require 'prelude-ruby)
;; (require 'prelude-scala)
(require 'prelude-scheme)
;; (require 'prelude-scss)
;; (require 'prelude-web)
(require 'prelude-xml)You'll need to adjust your prelude-modules.el file once the
installation is done. If you are doing a manual install then you first
need to copy the prelude-modules.el available in the sample
directory to the root of path/to/prelude/installation and then
adjust that one.
After you've uncommented a module you should either restart Emacs or evaluate the module
require expression with C-x C-e.
Nothing fancy here. Just start Emacs as usual. Personally I run Emacs in daemon mode:
emacs --daemonAfterwards I connect to the server with either a terminal or a GUI client like this:
emacsclient -t
emacsclient -cYou'd probably do well to put a few aliases in your .zshrc (or
.bashrc):
alias e='emacsclient -t'
alias ec='emacsclient -c'
alias vim='emacsclient -t'
alias vi='emacsclient -t'The last two aliases are helpful if you're used to editing files from
the command line using vi(m).
You can also open a file with the cursor positioned directly on a specific line:
emacsclient somefile:1234This will open file 'somefile' and set cursor on line 1234.
Certainly the best way to understand how Prelude enhances the default
Emacs experience is to peruse Prelude's source code (which is
obviously written in Emacs Lisp). Understanding the code is not
necessary of course. Prelude includes a prelude-mode minor Emacs mode
which collects some of the additional functionality added by
Prelude. It also adds an additional keymap that binds many of those
extensions to keybindings.
| Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
| C-x \ | align-regexp |
| C-+ | Increase font size(text-scale-increase). |
| C-- | Decrease font size(text-scale-decrease). |
| C-x O | Go back to previous window (the inverse of other-window (C-x o)). |
| C-^ | Join two lines into one(crux-top-join-line). |
| C-x p | Start proced (manage processes from Emacs; works only in Linux). |
| C-x m | Start eshell. |
| C-x M-m | Start your default shell. |
| C-x C-m | Alias for M-x. |
| M-X | Like M-x but limited to commands that are relevant to the active major mode. |
| C-h A | Run apropos (search in all Emacs symbols). |
| C-h C-m | Display key bindings of current major mode and descriptions of every binding. |
| M-/ | Run hippie-expand (a replacement for the default dabbrev-expand). |
| C-x C-b | Open ibuffer (a replacement for the default buffer-list). |
| F11 | Make the window full screen. |
| F12 | Toggle the Emacs menu bar. |
| C-x g | Open Magit's status buffer. |
| C-x M-g | Open Magit's popup of popups. |
| M-Z | Zap up to char. |
| C-= | Run expand-region (incremental text selection). |
| C-a | Run crux-move-beginning-of-line. Read this for details. |
| Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
| C-c o | Open the currently visited file with an external program. |
| C-c i | Search for a symbol, only for buffers that contain code |
| C-c g | Search in Google for the thing under point (or an interactive query). |
| C-c G | Search in GitHub for the thing under point (or an interactive query). |
| C-c y | Search in YouTube for the thing under point (or an interactive query). |
| C-c U | Search in Duckduckgo for the thing under point (or an interactive query). |
| C-S-RET or Super-o | Insert an empty line above the current line and indent it properly. |
| S-RET or M-o | Insert an empty line and indent it properly (as in most IDEs). |
| C-S-up or M-S-up | Move the current line or region up. |
| C-S-down or M-S-down | Move the current line or region down. |
| C-c n | Fix indentation in buffer and strip whitespace. |
| C-c f | Open recently visited file. |
| C-M-\ | Indent region (if selected) or the entire buffer. |
| C-c u | Open a new buffer containing the contents of URL. |
| C-c e | Eval a bit of Emacs Lisp code and replace it with its result. |
| C-c s | Swap two active windows. |
| C-c D | Delete current file and buffer. |
| C-c d | Duplicate the current line (or region). |
| C-c M-d | Duplicate and comment the current line (or region). |
| C-c r | Rename the current buffer and its visiting file if any. |
| C-c t | Open a terminal emulator (ansi-term). |
| C-c k | Kill all open buffers except the one you're currently in. |
| C-c TAB | Indent and copy region to clipboard |
| C-c I | Open user's init file. |
| C-c S | Open shell's init file. |
| C-c . + | Increment integer at point. Default is +1. |
| C-c . - | Decrement integer at point. Default is -1. |
| C-c . * | Multiply integer at point. Default is *2. |
| C-c . / | Divide integer at point. Default is /2. |
| C-c . \ | Modulo integer at point. Default is modulo 2. |
| C-c . ^ | Power to the integer at point. Default is ^2. |
| C-c . < | Left-shift integer at point. Default is 1 position to the left. |
| C-c . > | Right-shift integer at point. Default is 1 position to the right. |
| C-c . # | Convert integer at point to specified base. Default is 10. |
| C-c . % | Replace integer at point with another specified integer. |
| C-c . ' | Perform arithmetic operations on integer at point. User specifies the operator. |
| Super-g | Toggle between God mode and non-God mode |
| Super-r | Recent files |
| Super-j | Join lines |
| Super-k | Kill whole line |
| Super-m m | Magit status |
| Super-m l | Magit log |
| Super-m f | Magit file log |
| Super-m b | Magit blame mode |
Note: For various arithmetic operations, the prefix C-c . only needs to be pressed once for the first operation.
For subsequent operations, only the appropriate operations (i.e. +, -, *, /... needs to be pressed).
Prelude does not mess by default with the standard mapping of Command (to Super) and Option (to Meta).
If you want to swap them add this to your personal config:
(setq mac-command-modifier 'meta)
(setq mac-option-modifier 'super)You can also temporarily swap them with C-c w (M-x prelude-swap-meta-and-super).
Note: I'd highly recommend to all macOS users to consider remapping Return to Control instead. That's an epic productivity boost and it's not as crazy as it sounds!
Projectile is one of the essential packages bundled with Prelude. It provides an easy way to navigate and switch projects. Take a look at its extensive documentation to get a feel for everything you can do with Projectile.
Prelude adds an extra keymap prefix s-p (s stands for
Super) in addition to the standard one C-c p. By default on Windows keyboard
Super is mapped to the Windows key and on macOS keyboards Super is mapped
to the Command key.
If you ever forget any of Projectile's keybindings just do a:
C-c p C-h or s-p C-h
Alternatively you can just press s-p and wait for a moment
for which-key to kick in and show you the available keybindings.
Helm is setup according to this guide: A Package in a league of its own: Helm.
You can learn Helm usage and key bindings following the guide. C-c h is Prelude's default prefix key for Helm. If you don't remember any key binding, append C-h after C-c h for a list of key bindings in Helm.
If you love Helm and want to use Helm globally with enhanced helm-find-files, helm-buffer-lists..., you will have to also add (require 'prelude-helm-everywhere).
When prelude-helm-everywhere is activated, Helm enables these global key bindings:
| Key binding | Description |
|---|---|
| M-x | Run helm-M-x, an interactive version of M-x. |
| M-y | Run helm-show-kill-ring, shows the content of kill-ring. |
| C-x b | Run helm-mini, an interactive version of C-x b with more features. |
| C-x C-f | Run helm-find-files, an interactive version of find-file with more features. |
| C-h f | Run helm-apropos, an interactive version of apropos-command. |
| C-h r | Run helm-info-emacs, an interactive version of info-emacs-manual. |
| C-h C-l | Run helm-locate-library that can search for locations of any file loaded into Emacs. |
This key binding is activated in shell-mode:
| Key Binding | Description |
|---|---|
| C-c C-l | Run helm-comint-input-ring that shows shell history using Helm interface. |
This key bindings is activated in eshell-mode:
| Key Binding | Description |
|---|---|
| C-c C-l | Run helm-eshell-history that shows eshell history using Helm interface. |
If you prefer Ido in everywhere, you should not add prelude-helm-everywhere, so you can use Helm along with Ido and Prelude's default commands.
You can always reactivate Helm with (prelude-global-helm-global-mode-on).
NOTICE: In helm-M-x, you have to pass prefix argument AFTER you run helm-M-x,
because your prefix argument will be displayed in the modeline when in helm-M-x
buffer. Passing prefix argument BEFORE =helm-M-x= has no effect.
Key-chords are available only when the prelude-key-chord module has been enabled.
| Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|
| jj | Jump to the beginning of a word(avy-goto-word-1) |
| jk | Jump to a character(avy-goto-char) |
| jl | Jump to the beginning of a line(avy-goto-line) |
| JJ | Jump back to previous buffer(crux-switch-to-previous-buffer) |
| uu | View edits as a tree(undo-tree-visualize) |
| xx | Executed extended command(execute-extended-command) |
| yy | Browse the kill ring(browse-kill-ring) |
In some cases you may not want to have a key-chord that is defined by prelude,
in which case you can disable the binding in your personal.el file by setting
its command to nil. For example, to disable the jj key-chord add the
following line:
(key-chord-define-global "jj" nil)If you're an evil-mode user you'll probably do well to disable key-chord-mode altogether:
(key-chord-mode -1)If you want to use vim keybindings inside of Emacs enable the prelude-evil module which provides
support for evil-mode.
Use C-h k <key> (<key> are the ones listed on the left) or C-h f <function> (<function> are the ones listed on the right) to see the detailed explanation.
Install LaTeX
cd modules/doc
pdflatex prelude-cheatsheet.texInstall Poppler
cd modules/doc
pdftocairo -png -singlefile prelude-cheatsheet.pdf cheatsheetThe default Prelude installation comes with a bare minimum of
functionality. It will however install add-ons for various programming
languages and frameworks on demand. For instance - if you try to open
a .clj file clojure-mode, cider and Prelude's enhanced Lisp
configuration will be installed automatically for you.
You can, of course, install anything you wish manually as well.
Emacs provides a dozen of
built-in themes you can use out-of-the-box by invoking the M-x load-theme command.
Zenburn is the default color theme in Prelude, but you can change it at your discretion. Why Zenburn? I (and lots of hackers around the world) find it pretty neat for some reason. Personally I find the default theme pretty tiresome for the eyes, that's why I took that "controversial" decision to replace it. You can, of course, easily go back to the default (or select another theme entirely).
To disable Zenburn just put in your personal config the following line:
(disable-theme 'zenburn)Or you can use another theme altogether by adding something in personal/preload like:
(prelude-require-package 'solarized-theme)
(setq prelude-theme 'solarized-dark)Note Solarized is not
available by default - you'll have to install it from MELPA first,
therefore the need for prelude-require-package. Alternatively you
can manually install the package like this - M-x package-install RET solarized-theme.
Finally, if you don't want any theme at all, you can add this to your
personal/preload:
(setq prelude-theme nil)Fork (instead of cloning) the official Prelude repo and add your own touch to it. You're advised to avoid changing stuff outside of the personal folder to avoid having to deal with git merge conflicts in the future.
If you'd like to add some auto installation of packages in your personal config use the following code:
(prelude-require-packages '(some-package some-other-package))If you require just a single package you can also use:
(prelude-require-package 'some-package)Sometimes you might want to load code before Prelude has started loading. Prelude will automatically preload all
Emacs Lisp files in your personal/preload directory. Note that at this point you can't using anything from
Prelude, except a few variables like prelude-dir, etc (since nothing is yet loaded).
Although whitespace-mode is awesome, some people might find it too
intrusive. You can disable it in your
personal config with the following bit of code:
(setq prelude-whitespace nil)If you like whitespace-mode, but prefer it to not automatically
cleanup your file on save, you can disable that behavior by setting
prelude-clean-whitespace-on-save to nil in your config file with:
(setq prelude-clean-whitespace-on-save nil)The prelude-clean-whitespace-on-save setting can also be set on a
per-file or directory basis by using a file variable or a
.dir-locals.el file.
If you're not fond of spellchecking on the fly:
(setq prelude-flyspell nil)Generally it's a good idea to do a package update before running updating Prelude, since the latest Prelude code might depend on newer versions of the bundled packages than you would currently have installed.
If you're doing manual Prelude updates you should always do a package update first.
M-x package-list-packages RET U x
That's not necessary if you're using M-x prelude-update, since it
will automatically update the installed packages.
Prelude makes heavy use of the flyspell-mode package for spell
checking of various things. The proper operation of flyspell depends
on the presence of the aspell program and an en dictionary on your
system. You can install aspell and the dictionary on macOS with
homebrew like this:
brew install aspell --with-lang=enOn Linux distros - just use your distro's package manager.
If your Emacs looks considerably uglier in a terminal (compared to the
GUI version) try adding this to your .bashrc or .zshrc:
export TERM=xterm-256colorSource the .bashrc file and start Emacs again.
If you get some http connection error related to the MELPA repo
just do a manual M-x package-refresh-contents and restart Emacs
afterwards.
This is not a bug - it's a feature! I firmly believe that the one true way to use Emacs is by using it the way it was intended to be used (as far as navigation is concerned at least).
If you'd like to be take this a step further and disable the arrow key navigation completely put this in your personal config:
(setq guru-warn-only nil)To disable guru-mode completely add the following snippet to your
personal Emacs config:
(setq prelude-guru nil)Prelude overrides C-a to behave as described
here. If
you don't like that simply add this to your personal config:
(global-set-key [remap move-beginning-of-line]
'move-beginning-of-line)Prelude swaps the default ido flex matching with the more powerful
ido-flx.
The sorting algorithm flx uses is more complex, but yields better results.
On slower machines, it may be necessary to lower flx-ido-threshold to
ensure a smooth experience.
(setq flx-ido-threshold 1000)You can always disable the improved sorting algorithm all together like this:
(flx-ido-mode -1)While everything in Prelude should work fine in Windows, I test it only with GNU/Linux & macOS, so there might be Windows-specific problems from time to time. This situation will probably improve over time.
Check out the project's issue list a list of unresolved issues. By the way - feel free to fix any of them and send me a pull request. :-)
Support is available via several channels:
- Prelude's Google Group [email protected]
- Prelude's Freenode channel (
#prelude-emacs) - Gitter
Here's a list of all the people who have contributed to the development of Emacs Prelude.
Bug reports and suggestions for improvements are always welcome. GitHub pull requests are even better! :-)
Cheers,
Bozhidar