Turbostar logo Turbostar
A Highly Productive TUI

Classic Aesthetics, Modern Power

Turbostar provides a distraction-free, highly responsive workspace in the terminal. It pairs nostalgia with the robust utility developers demand for complex C++ and Python projects.

Multi-Window Tiled Workspace

Turbostar splits screen real estate dynamically, supporting multi-document layouts. Window boundaries are double-bordered, drop-shadowed, and react natively to mouse events for resizing and dragging.

  • Mouse Interception: Click and drag coordinates-free layouts natively. Hold Shift to override and trigger your terminal emulator's native selection.
  • Linked Windows: Opening complementary files binds window pairs (e.g. Code Review edits & compiler outputs) so they move and cycle focus synchronously.
turbostar src/main.cpp
Turbostar Multi-Window Editing Screen

Interactive GDB Debugging

Perform single-stepping, add breakpoints, and analyze variables directly inside the TUI editor window. Executes the program inside an integrated gdbserver environment.

  • Asynchronous execution: Compile projects and execute debugger steps concurrently on separate background worker threads.
  • Status Help Prompts: Dynamic help status bar mappings update to show shortcuts based on cursor context and focus.
turbostar --debug
Turbostar Interactive Debugging Split Screen

Integrated Crash Catcher (libturbocatch)

Never lose your terminal state to a segmentation fault. Turbostar integrates libturbocatch.so, a specialized preloaded library that handles unexpected crashes gracefully.

  • Graceful Terminal Restoration: Restores standard terminal modes immediately upon receiving signals like SIGSEGV or failed assertions, preventing your terminal from getting corrupted.
  • Actionable Crash Reports: Intercepts assertion failures and prints clean backtraces using libunwind, automatically generating detailed markdown reports in the Crash Manager.
turbostar --crash-manager
Turbostar Crash Catcher and Manager Interface

Core View Manager

Easily inspect crash dumps and memory faults without leaving the editor. The Core View Manager aggregates system coredumps and provides a parsed, syntax-highlighted interface for stack investigation.

  • Aggregated Logs: Displays a list of recent application crashes, complete with dates, target binaries, and active thread identifiers.
  • Stack Investigation: Highlights exactly which line of source code triggered the fault, matching symbol maps automatically.
turbostar --core-view
Turbostar Core View Manager Layout

Keyboard Quick Reference

Turbostar utilizes WordStar/Joe-style keybinding structures for block selections, search controls, and text deletions. Rather than relying on modern key combinations or menu bar navigation, developers can execute standard commands using prefix keys.

The explicit design goal of Turbostar is to be Joe "finger compatible", ensuring that muscle memory from classic Joe and WordStar editors maps natively to editing actions, while maintaining full support for traditional Turbo Pascal keys (like F2 to save, F3 to load, and F10 to open the main menu).

Key sequences are structured logically: Block Commands begin with Ctrl+K (e.g., ^K B to mark start, ^K K to mark end, ^K C to copy, ^K Y to delete), while Navigation & Deletions map directly to standard terminal signals (e.g., Ctrl+A for start of line, Ctrl+E for end of line, Ctrl+Y to delete a line).

Command Action WordStar Keybinding Alternative Shortcut
Open File Menu — F10 or Esc
Load File ^K O F3
Save Document ^K S F2
Select Block Start ^K B —
Select Block End ^K K —
Toggle AI Agent Window ^K A —
Undo History ^K H —
Quit Editor ^K Q Alt+X