GNU Emacs

IDE / Editor · Highly customizable workflows, power users, Org-mode, terminal-centric development

At a glance

Pricing	Free
Setup effort	High
Operating systems	macOS, Windows, Linux
Released	1985
Open source	Yes
Interface	GUI
AI integration	AI via extension
Extensibility	Plugins
Languages	All
Capabilities	Multi-file editing, Command execution, Elisp scripting, Thousands of packages, Copilot plugin

What GNU Emacs does

Multi-file editing, Command execution, Elisp scripting, Thousands of packages, Copilot plugin

Best for

Highly customizable workflows, power users, Org-mode, terminal-centric development

Works well with

LLM Provider / Model

Integration

Context / RAG

Agent / Orchestration

Other tools

Conflicts & caveats

GitHub Copilot does not officially support GNU Emacs.
Continue.dev only supports VS Code and JetBrains — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Codeium does not officially support GNU Emacs — use VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, or Neovim.
Cursor built-in only runs inside the Cursor editor — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Cline only supports VS Code and JetBrains IDEs — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Windsurf Cascade only runs inside Windsurf — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Sourcegraph Cody does not officially support GNU Emacs — use VS Code, JetBrains, or Visual Studio.
Tabnine does not officially support GNU Emacs.
Amazon Q Developer does not officially support GNU Emacs — use VS Code or JetBrains.
JetBrains AI Assistant only runs inside JetBrains IDEs — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Qodo officially supports VS Code and JetBrains — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Supermaven only supports VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and Zed — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Roo Code runs as a VS Code-compatible extension — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Kilo Code runs as a VS Code-compatible extension — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Zed Agent only runs inside the Zed editor — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Augment Code officially supports VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, and Neovim — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Amp (Sourcegraph) officially supports VS Code and JetBrains — your IDE is GNU Emacs. Use the CLI version otherwise.
Sourcegraph Cody (Enterprise) supports VS Code, JetBrains, and Visual Studio — your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Cursor CLI works in any terminal but needs an active Cursor subscription — your IDE is GNU Emacs, which is fine but the cost is tied to Cursor.
@codebase indexing is a Cursor-only feature, but your IDE is GNU Emacs.
Cursor Background Agents are dispatched from Cursor (desktop or mobile) — your IDE is GNU Emacs.

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