Coming from
Looking for Notepad++ on the Mac?
There isn’t an official one. Notepad++ is Windows-only: it’s built directly on the Win32 API, so it has never shipped a native macOS version, and running it through Wine or a virtual machine gives up everything that makes a Mac app feel like a Mac app.
Incise was built to be the editor Notepad++ users reach for on macOS: the same fast, dependable, get-out-of-your-way feeling, as a genuinely native Swift and Cocoa app. It’s free, on the Mac App Store and via Homebrew.
What carries over from Notepad++
Tabbed editing
Every file opens in a tab across the top, with drag-to-reorder and quick keyboard switching.
Syntax highlighting
Automatic from the file extension, powered by a native Scintilla engine, the same engine lineage Notepad++ uses.
Find & replace with regex
Match case, whole word, and full regular expressions with backreferences, plus project-wide Find in Files.
Handles large files
Opens big logs and data files without lag, with code folding and fast navigation.
Multiple cursors & column select
⌘-click for extra cursors, select every occurrence at once, or ⌥-drag a rectangular column selection.
Never loses your work
Notepad++ is famous for keeping unsaved tabs across a crash. Incise caches every tab to disk continuously and restores them all on relaunch, even ones you never saved.
Your Notepad++ plugins, the Mac way
Notepad++ leans on plugins for much of its power. Incise shares the same Scintilla editor lineage, so most of that is built in natively. There is nothing to install and no plugin manager. These aren’t ports of the Windows plugins; they’re the native equivalent, and a few are still on the way.
- NppExec Built in
- Run commands, scripts, and compilers from a real Terminal built into the Homebrew edition. (The sandboxed Mac App Store build can’t include a terminal.)
- Compare Built in
- A side-by-side Diff view highlights every change between two files.
- Explorer Built in
- A file tree with drag-and-drop and git awareness, there since v1.0.
- AutoSave Built in
- On by default and unconditional: every tab is cached to disk continuously and restored on relaunch, even ones you never saved.
- Multi-select & column edit Built in
- Multiple cursors, select-every-occurrence, and rectangular column selection, all native to the editor with no plugin.
- Formatting (Prettier) Built in
- Format Document reflows HTML, CSS, SCSS, JSON, XML, YAML, and Markdown through a bundled Prettier, with no toolchain to install.
- JSON Viewer / JSON Tools Built in
- JSON pretty-prints through Format Document (⌥⇧⌘F), nothing extra to install. A collapsible tree view, and JSON Tools’ querying and schema validation, aren’t included.
- XML Tools Built in
- XML/SVG/XSL/XSD are syntax-highlighted and reflow through Format Document (⌥⇧⌘F). XPath and schema validation aren’t included.
- DSpellCheck Built in
- Inline spell-check for prose (Markdown, plain text): red squiggles as you type, hover one for corrections, right-click to apply / Learn / Ignore. On by default; toggle it in Settings ▸ Editor.
- MarkdownViewer++ Built in
- A live preview pane, rich styling in the source itself, and a visual editor that writes back your target platform's Markdown dialect, plus a linter that flags what that platform won't render.
- NppOpenAI & AI assistants Built in
- Bring the agent you already use rather than another API key: Incise implements Claude Code’s /ide integration, so Claude sees your file and selection and its edits open as diffs you accept or reject. Codex, Cursor and other agents connect over MCP.
- HEX-Editor Not planned
- Editing binary files byte by byte isn’t on the roadmap; Incise is a text editor.
- NppVim Not planned
- Vim-style modal editing and key bindings aren’t on the roadmap.
- NppFTP Not planned
- Editing files directly on a remote server isn’t on the roadmap yet.
Formatting: Prettier built in, your own tools too
Format Document (⌥⇧⌘F) reflows web files (HTML, CSS, SCSS, YAML, Markdown) through a bundled Prettier, with nothing to install.
The Homebrew / direct-download edition goes further: it runs the command-line formatters you already have installed, so the same keystroke picks the right tool per language.
- Black
- Python
- SQLFluff
- SQL
- gofmt
- Go
- rustfmt
- Rust
- clang-format
- C / C++ / Obj-C
- swift-format
- Swift
- perltidy
- Perl
Incise finds them on your login-shell PATH (pyenv, pipx, and ~/.local/bin all work) and honors your project config (pyproject.toml, .sqlfluff, rustfmt.toml, .clang-format, .perltidyrc). The sandboxed Mac App Store build can’t launch external tools, so CLI formatters are Homebrew-only; Prettier still works there. How to install each one.
Where it’s different
Incise isn’t a port or a clone of Notepad++: no Notepad++ code is involved, and it doesn’t copy the toolbar or plugin system. It’s a fresh, native take on the same philosophy, so a few things are simply the Mac way instead:
- A native macOS toolbar and full light / dark mode that follows your system appearance.
- Claude Code integration (
/ide): run Claude Code in any terminal (Terminal.app, iTerm, or Incise’s own) and connect it to the editor. Works in both the Mac App Store and Homebrew editions. - A local MCP server for every other coding agent: Codex, Cursor, Antigravity, Grok Build, VS Code, and anything else that speaks MCP can open files, read your selection, and show diffs in Incise. It listens on
127.0.0.1only, is token-protected and off until you enable it, and works in both editions. - A built-in Terminal in the Homebrew / direct-download edition — what you reached for NppExec to do, without the second window. The sandboxed Mac App Store build can’t include one, so download it from Homebrew or the GitHub link if you want a terminal inside the editor.
- A file tree with drag-and-drop and git awareness built in, rather than bolted on through plugins.
See the full feature set or the help guide for keyboard shortcuts and details. If it’s plain Notepad you’re replacing, that page is the shorter answer.