README.md
May 30, 2026 Β· View on GitHub
circumflex is a command line tool for browsing HackerΒ News in your terminal
Main features
- π Everything in one place β read both the comment section and articles in Reader Mode
- π Syntax highlighting β syntax-aware formatting for comments and headlines
- β‘οΈ Vim-style navigation β scroll through, jump between and collapse threads with familiar keybindings
You might also like:
- π€Ή Native terminal colors β you bring your own color scheme,
circumflexdoes the rest - π Nerd Fonts β full support for Nerd Fonts as icons
- β€οΈ Add to favorites β save interesting submissions for later
Installing
The binary name for circumflex is clx.
# Homebrew
brew install circumflex
# Nix
nix-shell -p circumflex
# AUR
yay -S circumflex
# Go
go install github.com/bensadeh/circumflex/cmd/clx@latest
# From source
go run ./cmd/clx
Features
Categories
Switch between categories with Tab. The header shows top, best, ask, show and favorites by
default. Pick which ones appear (and in what order) with the --categories flag:
clx --categories top,new,best
Available categories are top, best, new, ask, show and favorites.
Comment section
Press Enter to view the comment section.
The comment section has two modes: read mode and navigate mode.
In read mode, you can scroll using the usual vim bindings. You can also jump between top-level
comments (n/N), and you can expand and collapse threads by quote level
(h/l) or all at once (Enter).
In navigate mode, you can individually select comments and collapse specific threads. This is useful in longer threads
with many replies.
circumflex is read-only and does not support logging in, voting or commenting.
Reader Mode
Press Space to read the linked article in Reader Mode. Just like in the comment section, you can jump between headers using n/N, and you can scroll using the usual vim bindings.
Favorites
Press f to add the highlighted submission to your favorites. Remove it with x.
You can also add a submission by ID from the command line:
clx add [id]
Favorites are stored in ~/.config/circumflex/favorites.json and pretty-printed to be human-readable and VCS-friendly.
History
Visited submissions are marked as read, and comments added since your last visit are highlighted.
History is stored in ~/.cache/circumflex/history.json. Disable tracking with -d/--disable-history, or clear it
with:
clx clear
Theme
circumflex uses your terminal's color scheme by default. To customize, write out the default config and edit it:
clx default-theme
The theme lives at ~/.config/circumflex/theme.toml and accepts named colors, hex codes, and ANSI 256 values.
Keymaps
Main view keybindings β press i in any view for the full list, including comment and reader mode.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter | View comments |
| Space | Reader Mode |
| Tab | Next category |
| r | Refresh stories |
| o | Open story in browser |
| c | Open comments in browser |
| f | Add to favorites |
| x | Remove from favorites |
| u | Toggle read |
| q | Quit |
Usage
Run clx help or man clx for a full list of available commands and flags.