Skink vs Micro

Find an action in F1, bind it in bindings.json.

Skink started from Micro. It uses Micro’s default key bindings and the same settings.json and bindings.json formats, so your muscle memory carries over.

The difference is what is built in. Skink ships language servers, tree-sitter, git, project search, terminal tabs and an AI agent client. Micro keeps a small core and adds features through Lua plugins.

Who should pick Micro

Plugins. You use Micro plugins or write your own in Lua. Skink has no plugins or scripting yet.
Maturity. Micro has been around since 2016. Skink is alpha.
Micro’s own formats. You like Micro’s syntax files and colorschemes and want to keep customising them.
Minimalism. You want the smallest feature set that does the job.

Who should pick Skink

IDE features without plugins. You love Micro’s keys but want completion, hover, go to definition, rename, code actions and formatting out of the box.
Syntax-aware editing. Tree-sitter highlighting, syntax-aware selection (Alt+O / Alt+I) and folding.
Git in the editor. Gutter marks, stage and revert hunks, blame, a git panel and conflict resolution.
AI agents. You run AI coding agents and want them in the editor, not just next to it.

Feature comparison

	Skink	Micro
Editing model	Modeless, Micro keys	Modeless
Mouse	On	On by default (`mouse` option)
LSP	Built in	Community plugins
Syntax	tree-sitter, 19 languages	Regex YAML syntax files, many languages
Built-in terminal	Terminal tabs, dock, history search	`term` command
Tabs and splits	Yes	Yes
Git	Gutter, hunks, blame, panel, diff	`diff` gutter plugin
Project search, file tree	Built in	Plugins
AI agents	ACP client, prompt box, agent panel	No
Plugins	None yet	Lua plugins with a plugin manager
Clipboard over SSH	OSC 52 by default	`"clipboard": "terminal"`
Works over plain SSH	Yes	Yes
Footprint	Small	Small
Maturity	Alpha	Mature

Bring your Micro config over

Skink reads the same file formats from its own folder, ~/.config/skink (or $SKINK_CONFIG_DIR). It does not read ~/.config/micro by itself, so copy the files over:

mkdir -p ~/.config/skink
cp ~/.config/micro/settings.json ~/.config/micro/bindings.json ~/.config/skink/

Then run :reload inside Skink, or restart it.

What carries over

bindings.json uses Micro’s key names and action names, including chains. "Copy|CopyLine" runs the first that works, "Escape,Deselect" runs both, and "command-edit:goto " opens the command line pre-filled.
settings.json accepts Micro’s options where Skink has the same feature, for example tabsize, tabstospaces, autoclose and colorcolumn (Skink also has rulers). Options for features Skink lacks have no effect.
Comments. Skink also accepts // comments and trailing commas in both files.
Not supported. Bindings that call Micro plugin actions or Lua do nothing.

{
  "Ctrl-j": "Save",
  "Alt-g": "command-edit:goto ",
  "Ctrl-c": "Copy|CopyLine"
}

As in Micro, a capital letter after Alt- in bindings.json means Shift: "Alt-G" is Alt+Shift+G.

Keys that are the same

Everything from Micro’s defaults works as before:

Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+Q quit
Ctrl+F find, Ctrl+N / Ctrl+P next / previous match
Ctrl+E command line
Ctrl+D multiple cursors
Ctrl+U / Ctrl+J record / replay a macro
Alt+, / Alt+. previous / next tab

Keys that are new in Skink

Key	Typed command	Does
`Alt`+`P`	`:recent`	Quick open: tabs, recent and project files
`F1`	`:palette`	Command palette
`F8` / `Ctrl`+`B`	`:files` / `:sidebar`	File tree / hide the sidebar
`F12` / `Shift`+`F12`	`:toggleterm` / `:newterm`	Toggle to the terminal / new terminal
`Alt`+`S`	`:grep`	Search in all files
`Alt`+`G`, `Alt`+`K`, `Alt`+`R`	`:def`, `:hover`, `:refs`	Definition, hover, references
`Ctrl`+`G`	`:ask`	AI prompt box for the selection
`Alt`+`Shift`+`C`	`:gitpanel`	Git panel

To run a typed command, press Ctrl+E, type the name and press Enter. Every key has one. See typed commands.

Full table: shortcuts.

Try it

curl -fsSL https://skink.cc/install.sh | sh
skink .

Micro and Skink install side by side.

Next: quick start, or Skink vs nano.