Every IDE that supports Nim does it as an afterthought. You install a language server plugin, bolt it onto VS Code or Sublime, and hope the latest update didn't break something.

I wanted something different.

So I built Ferrum Studio — a lightweight, native desktop IDE built from the ground up exclusively for Nim.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/621bf84f-a3b5-4f1c-a7d4-85e3b3e83247

No Electron. No bundled Chromium. No 300MB of RAM just to open a file.

Cold start: < 1 second

RAM usage (idle): ~35 MB

Binary size: ~12 MB (Windows)

Built with Go + Wails, not JavaScript + Node. The backend is compiled Go, the frontend is a native WebView, and the whole thing talks across an auto-generated bridge.

What Makes Ferrum Different?

Most editors treat Nim as a plugin. Ferrum treats Nim as the only thing that matters.

Every feature — snippets, error messages, templates, shortcuts — is designed around how Nim developers actually work.

Editor Features
Nim syntax highlighting (kept current with new keywords)

Smart indentation (whitespace-aware)

Dot-aware autocomplete

Snippets support

Inline error squiggles

Multi-tab editing

Quick open (Ctrl+P)

Nim Integration

F5 → Run (nim c -r)

F6 → Run with arguments

F7 → Build

F8 → Test

Format via nim pretty

Fast diagnostics via nim check

Interactive stdin support

Problems Panel
Clean error explanations with fix suggestions. Click any error to jump directly to the line. No more cryptic compiler output — Ferrum translates common errors into plain English.

Templates

One-click project templates for:

CLI App

Library

Web App

Async App

Metaprogramming examples

Terminal

Integrated terminal with ANSI colors, command history, and full interactive input support. Plus a "Nim Treasure Map" sidebar with curated code gems for common patterns.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. The best places to help:

Add more error explanations in enhancements.js

Keep the syntax highlighter updated with new Nim keywords

Test on macOS/Linux

Build a light theme

Note on AI usage: The frontend UI was partially assisted by AI tools. The core backend and architecture were implemented manually.

Links

Repository: https://github.com/CzaxStudio/Ferrum-Studio
Website: https://czaxstudio.github.io/Ferrum-Studio/