Roadmap

This page separates the current implementation from deliberately deferred work. Deferred items are not production-readiness claims.

Implemented today

• Buffer editing -- insert/delete, Emacs-style kill-ring/yank, numeric prefix arguments, multi-level undo grouped by command boundary, and restriction-aware narrowing/widening (C-x n n / C-x n w), plus read-only buffers with an interactive toggle (C-x C-q).
• Movement -- character/line motion, beginning/end of line.
• Emacs-style keybindings -- install-default-keybindings installs the command registry's movement, editing, search, file, window, file-tree, session, register, recent-file, bookmark, shell, help, keyboard-quit, and quit bindings, including the C-x/C-c prefix sequences. The bindings live in src/application/commands-keybindings.lisp, and the declarative catalogue lives in src/application/command-definitions.lisp.
• Window management -- horizontal/vertical splits (C-x 2 / C-x 3), window selection (C-x o), per-window buffer switching (C-x b).
• Named workspaces -- create, switch, cycle, and kill independent window trees with C-x t 2, C-x t o, C-x t n, C-x t p, and C-x t k; the active workspace is shown in the shortcut line and persisted by sessions.
• File-tree sidebar (C-x C-t) -- navigate, and create/rename/delete files and directories on disk, using cl-boundary-kit for normal and testable operations. The direct native path is limited to the real filesystem with wild pathnames; cl-host-kit covers host-level filesystem paths that require it.
• File I/O -- find-file (C-x C-f), save-buffer (C-x C-s).
• Regular-expression search and replacement -- C-s, M-%, and M-g g, using cl-regex-kit patterns with a bounded search operation.
• M-x command registry and prompts -- extended commands resolve through the declarative catalogue in src/application/command-definitions.lisp and the lookup implementation in src/application/command-registry.lisp; quit confirmation uses cl-prolog-kit, and minibuffer history uses cl-history-kit directly.
• Raw-mode terminal event loop -- built on cl-tty-kit, with a double-buffered renderer.
• Interactive PTY terminals -- M-x terminal starts a child process, translates editor key events into terminal input, polls output, handles resize, and displays the current bounded ANSI screen in a read-only buffer. The session retains cumulative raw output separately.
• Bounded concurrent file-tree runtime -- cl-concurrent-kit workers prefetch uncached directory listings, while generation checks, cache invalidation, and render-lane draining prevent stale results from changing editor state. The default is four workers with a queue capacity of 64.
• Syntax highlighting -- Common Lisp uses a reader-aware, line-local tokenizer; other modes use a lightweight tokenizer with mode-specific keywords and comment prefixes. Tokens are rendered through the presentation boundary. Multiline reader state is not retained.
• Major modes and project navigation -- buffers infer a mode from their path, M-x set-major-mode can override it, and C-x p f, C-x p s, and C-x p r find files, search project contents, and show the project root.
• Common Lisp evaluation -- M-: and C-x C-e evaluate trusted forms in LOOM-USER and append structured results or errors to *Loom-Eval*.
• Shell command integration -- M-! and M-x pipe-command run a command in the selected file's directory and append captured standard output, standard error, and the exit code to *Loom-Pipe-Command*.
• Code formatting -- M-x format-current-buffer sends the complete buffer to an external command and applies successful output as one undoable edit, preserving point and mark offsets.
• Git status, staging, and diff integration -- C-x g runs concise branch-aware status from the current project root; M-x git-diff and M-x git-diff-staged display working-tree and index patches; and M-x git-stage-file / M-x git-unstage-file prompt for a repository path before changing the index. Read-only result buffers show standard output, falling back to standard error when standard output is empty. Failed commands report their exit status in the minibuffer; staging commands report their outcome there as well.
• Auto-save -- M-x auto-save-mode enables global automatic saving and M-x toggle-auto-save enables it for the selected buffer; modified writable file-backed buffers are written to #file-name# sidecars from the event loop without clearing their normal modified state.
• LSP client slice -- lsp-start, lsp-stop, and lsp-diagnostics use a project-local .loom-lsp command when available (while allowing an explicit prompt override). A discovered command requires review of its configuration path, directory, and command, followed by the exact answer yes before execution. The client negotiates initialization capabilities, synchronize file-backed buffers with UTF-8 percent-encoded URIs, render publishDiagnostics messages in *Loom-Diagnostics*, and perform the shutdown/exit handshake with a timeout fallback. lsp-completion-at-point (C-M-i) requests completion and presents a capability-gated candidate popup; lsp-find-definition (M-.) jumps to a returned local file and lsp-pop-definition (M-,) returns to the jump origin.
• S-expression motion -- C-M-f and C-M-b move by expression, C-M-u and C-M-d cross the enclosing parentheses, and C-M-k kills the expression after point. Parentheses inside a string, a comment, or a #\ character literal are text rather than structure, and the parenthesis beside point is marked together with its partner -- or with nothing at all when the form does not balance.
• Structural editing -- C-<right> and C-<left> slurp and barf forward, C-M-<left> and C-M-<right> do the same backward, M-( wraps the next expression, M-s splices the enclosing list away and M-r raises the expression at point out of it. These commands transform delimiters and group each successful edit into a single undo step.
• Incremental search -- C-s and C-r move point to the next match on every keystroke, highlight all matches with the current one distinguished, advance or turn around on a further C-s/C-r, keep point on RET while filing the pattern in the minibuffer history, and return point to where the search began on C-g. M-x search-forward keeps the non-incremental form.
• Line display -- a window follows point horizontally in screen cells for a truncating buffer and wraps a long logical line across several rows for a wrapping one. The major mode picks the default -- code truncates, Markdown, Org, and plain text wrap -- and M-x toggle-truncate-lines overrides it per buffer. next-line and previous-line move by screen row.
• User extension -- LOOM_INIT_FILE or ~/.loom/init.lisp can register commands and keybindings before the terminal loop starts.
• Session and buffer lifecycle -- explicit session save/load persists buffers, named workspace layouts, recent files, named bookmarks, and M-x/minibuffer command history in the canonical v5 format; the reader accepts only the v5 envelope and has no compatibility path for pre-v5 session files. switch-to-buffer, kill-buffer, and case-insensitive minibuffer prefix completion manage the buffer registry.
• Recent files and named bookmarks -- C-x r f opens the bounded, canonical recent-file list; C-x r m, C-x r b, C-x r d, and M-x list-bookmarks set, jump to, delete, and list named bookmarks.
• Registers and keyboard macros -- named text/point registers and record/replay keyboard macros are available through the C-x r and C-x bindings.
• CLI -- built on cl-cli; --help/-h, --version/-V, and one optional positional path are supported. A file opens in the first window, a directory becomes the file-tree root, and no path defaults to .. See *loom-app* in src/application/startup-cli.lisp.
• Integrated test, coverage, and benchmark paths -- the loom/test ASDF component order is declared in loom.asd and loads unit and integration coverage in serial order. It includes dedicated coverage for major modes and project navigation. The development guide documents the test runner, PTY checks, coverage, and benchmark commands.

Verification scope

The source tree uses explicit domain/application/infrastructure/presentation boundaries, release-pinned dependencies, and an ASDF-integrated test and coverage workflow. The Nix gate runs formatting, paredit syntax, tests, coverage, and documentation for the selected host system. Results for other declared systems require separate execution. Deferred work remains listed below.

The Nix check is the in-process gate. Sandbox3 may skip PTY-dependent checks when no usable PTY is available. nix run .#e2e is the separate PTY gate and must be assessed independently.

Not yet implemented

• Richer LSP protocol surface. Command confirmation is not a sandbox; approved discovered commands and explicit overrides run with the user's permissions. Dynamic registration and requests beyond the current completion, definition, diagnostics, and document-sync slice remain future work.
• Broader editing surface. A richer package/extension distribution story and editing commands beyond the current region-aware kill/yank slice remain future work.
• Full VT terminal emulation and desktop/editor integrations. Complete terminal compatibility beyond the bounded common-ANSI screen model, interactive terminal application integrations, richer Git staging and diff UI, and additional language modes remain future work.

Release status

Release readiness for the implemented feature set requires recorded results from both verification gates and the author's completed manual checklist. Unperformed checks are not passes. The deferred features above are outside that release scope.

The Nix build patches the pinned renderer's wide-character output. Regression tests check ANSI text placement as well as cursor geometry, including replacement of wide characters by narrow ones. The verification ledger records the observed checks and remaining acceptance criteria.