micro
A modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor
Runssource: GitHubhomepageGoMITcommit 7484d5f5fa95
Go, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: command line, cross platform, editor, go, golang, micro, terminal and text editor.
micro runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 7 minutes and hit 1 error and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
micro built from source, its test suite passes (85/85), and the editor launched in a terminal, accepted an edit, saved it to disk, and exited cleanly.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 100 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- Go toolchain missing (`go: not found`)5 minutes
- Install time
- 7 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 2 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 1 hit, 1 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- make test exited 0 (85 passed, 0 failed); ./micro -version printed 'Version: 0.0.0-unknown / Commit hash: 7484d5f'; PTY run of './micro /tmp/microhome/editme.txt' let me type 'APPENDED', Ctrl-S save, Ctrl-Q quit, and the file on disk changed to 'APPENDEDline1'
- Model tokens used
- 21,407
- Exact commit tested
- 7484d5f5fa95
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
Everything is verified. Final report: **Outcome** - `micro` (terminal text editor, Go) installs, builds, and runs with real end-to-end verification. - The only blocker was a missing Go toolchain; fixed by installing the official Go 1.27.3 tarball u… **What I ran and observed** - `make build` exited 0 → `./micro` binary built (14 MB, statically linked, `CGO_ENABLED=0`). - `./micro -version` printed `Version: 0.0.0-unknown`, `Commit hash: 7484d5f`, `Compiled on Novembe… - `./micro -h` printed usage and exited 0. - `make test` exited 0: 85 tests passed (80 `--- PASS` lines + 5 package-level results), 0 failures… - Launched `./micro /tmp/microhome/editme.txt` in a PTY with `TERM=xterm-256color`; it stayed up, r… - Typed `APPENDED`, saved (Ctrl-S → confirm `y`), quit (Ctrl-Q); the file on disk became `APPENDEDl… - Clipboard note: the README's optional X11 clipboard helpers (`xclip`/`xsel`) are absent here, so …
Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
- Recovered from all 1 error without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
- Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.
- Measured 2 times, so the result is not a one-off.
What did not, or is not known
- Took 7 minutes to install, slower than the median of the 6 comparable projects Argusic has measured.
Of the 7 command-line projects Argusic has installed and timed, micro was the 6th fastest to reach a running state, and 6 of 7 reached one at all.
What it is a reasonable choice for
- Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
- A quick evaluation: it was running 7 minutes after the clone.
Also tested, in the same area
Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.
Run history
Topics (from GitHub)
command-linecross-platformeditorgogolangmicroterminaltext-editor
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/micro)Questions
- Does micro run?
- Yes. micro runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 7 minutes, hitting 1 error on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test micro?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 7484d5f5fa95. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test micro?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.02: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does micro take to install?
- 7 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does micro need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing micro?
- 1 thing broke in the recorded run, and 1 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- How does micro compare with the alternatives?
- Of the 7 command-line projects Argusic has installed and timed, micro was the 6th fastest to reach a running state, and 6 of 7 reached one at all.
- Where is the evidence for micro?
- All 2 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.