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Your first five minutes

ase path/to/file.c     # open a file
ase                    # reopen what you had last time

Launched with no file, ase reopens the session you closed — the same files, the same cursor positions. Launched with a file it opens that file and nothing else, because ase foo.c means foo.c, not "and the eleven things I had open last week."

Vim mode is on

By default the editor starts in Normal mode. i starts typing, Esc goes back. If that is not what you want, one line in your config turns it off for good:

vim_mode = false

With it off, ase behaves like an ordinary editor: keys type, Ctrl+S saves, Ctrl+Z undoes.

The six keys worth knowing first
F1 Every shortcut, searchable. The same table this site generates from.
: The command line — :w, :q, :theme. Also Alt+;.
Ctrl+P Open any file in the project by name
Alt+F Search the whole project
Alt+R Replace across the whole project, previewed before it happens
Ctrl+W then a key Move between panes, resize them, close them
Ctrl+S Save

F1 is the one to remember. It reads the same binding table the editor dispatches from, so it cannot tell you about a key that does not work.

Your work survives a crash

Unsaved changes are snapshotted a moment after you stop typing, somewhere that is not beside your files. If the editor dies — or the machine does — the next start offers the work back.

That includes a buffer you never named. Ctrl+N, type, crash, and it is still offered when you come back.

Quitting normally is not a crash: work you were asked about and chose to drop is dropped.

Where your settings live

~/.config/ase/config.ase, written for you on first run. :config opens it in the editor, and saving it applies immediately — there is no reload command and no restart. See Configuration.

Try a theme

:theme
:theme simple-nord
:theme save

The first lists what is available, the second shows you one, the third keeps it. Nothing is written to your config until you say save.

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