Brouillon, the fast text editor that stays on your machine.
A local-first editor written in Rust, for people who miss EditPlus. Free, open source (MIT), no account. Alpha for Windows.
Brouillon is a free, open-source (MIT) desktop text editor written in Rust by Laurent Rochetta. It works offline, needs no account and has no telemetry in the editor. It is an early alpha for Windows. Letting your AI agents drive it through MCP is on the roadmap, not shipped.
windows-x64 - 6.0 MB - No (unsigned test build)
Coming soon AI-agent control via MCP: coming soon, not in this build.
Alpha. Alpha test build, unsigned. It can lose data, change without notice and lacks many features. Keep backups of anything important.
| File | Type | Size | SHA-256 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brouillon-0.1.0-alpha.13-build83-win-x64-setup.exe | installer | 6.0 MB | 4a7648a6132677c79fe785dd890f14f415b64df31150a1e2f97dfb5e76a8c2aa |
| Brouillon-0.1.0-alpha.13-build83-win-x64-portable.zip | portable | 5.9 MB | 045ff50baeb51b01e542804dd4356958587e7ba9fa93f8a8d723fa72c03f60e7 |
Full details and verification - Licence: MIT. Free, including the alpha.
Goals, not promises
These are design objectives. Only dated measurements are listed as measurements, with their limits.
Latest measurements (dated, not the current build)
Early prototype numbers on development machines, not a comparison with other editors. The memory goal is not met yet: the prototype used far more than 80 MB.
| Metric | Result | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Start time | 56 to 66 ms | Prototype, May 2026, one machine. Goal < 100 ms. |
| Binary size | 12.7 MB | Prototype release executable, built 2026-05-28. Goal < 30 MB. |
| Memory | 319 MB | Prototype, measured in a sandbox with a large file. Goal < 80 MB: not met. |
| Search speed | 113 ms | Counting 1,000,000 matches in 51 MB, release build, single run, integration branch. |
What works, what is close, what is planned
Every feature is sorted by what you can do today. Engine ready means the code exists and is tested but has no screen or menu yet.
Available in the test build
Tabs and files Available
Multiple documents in tabs. Opening a file adds or activates a tab. Native open/save dialogs; the tab shows unsaved changes.
Safe saving Available
Atomic writes with dated backups (on by default). Crash recovery journal with autosave every 30 seconds.
Encodings and line endings Available
BOM, code page and per-file line endings (LF, CRLF, CR) survive open and save. Status bar panes are clickable.
Undo that makes sense Available
Typing is coalesced into undo steps; Replace All is one undo step; selection is restored.
Find and replace Available
Regular expressions and case sensitivity, with atomic Replace All. Find in Files over the file's folder, with a results panel and F4 / Shift+F4 jumps.
Navigation and selection Available
Go to line, matching brackets, auto-indent, column (rectangular) selection with Alt + drag, bookmarks.
Text commands Available
Line and text operations from the palette (sort, duplicate, case, trim, comment toggle, Base64, MD5, SHA-256 and more), clipboard history.
Command palette and keymap Available
Palette (Ctrl+K) built from one command registry; editable keymap.toml; optional Classic shortcut overlay close to EditPlus.
User tools Available
Run your own commands from tools.toml with Ctrl+1 to 0, stream their output in a panel and jump to error lines.
Cliptext and templates Available
Insert cliptext entries with Ctrl+Alt+digit, templates and abbreviations.
Sessions and command line Available
Tabs and cursor positions restored; recent files; file:line:col on the command line, single instance, portable mode.
Views and themes Available
Hex view, Markdown preview, built-in themes, and two interface presets (Moldu and Geek).
Syntax colouring, limited Available
Rust (tree-sitter), JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, CSS, JSON, TOML and Markdown (lighter fallback tokenizer), plus plain text. Seven colour categories: keyword, string, comment, type, number, punctuation, identifier.
Engine ready, no screen yet
Keymap editor, Quick Open, settings editor Engine ready
The models exist; the commands open nothing yet.
Cliptext panel and encoding picker Engine ready
Insert works; the panel and the Reopen with encoding / Convert to dialogs are not wired.
Multi-caret editing Engine ready
The engine supports several regions; the editor still collapses them to one.
Replace in Files Engine ready
Engine merged and tested; no preview and confirmation dialog yet.
External change detection Engine ready
The watcher exists but is not driven by the app: no reload or conflict dialogs. Large-file profile is not applied at open.
EditPlus and theme importers Engine ready
Importers for an EditPlus settings folder and for EditPlus, Notepad++ and TextMate/Sublime themes exist; no menu entry yet.
Navigation history Engine ready
Back and forward exist as commands without default keys.
In progress and roadmap
Wider syntax colouring In progress / roadmap
Not available yet: C and C++, PHP, Java, C#, SQL, XML, Ruby, Perl, VB, Go, shell. No EditPlus .stx-style multi-group colouring, so no colouring parity with EditPlus.
SFTP / FTP In progress / roadmap
Not in this build.
macOS and Linux builds In progress / roadmap
The code is portable Rust, but only a Windows test build is published.
Plugins, macros, project folders In progress / roadmap
Planned.
MCP server for agents Coming soon
Planned, off by default. Not implemented.
Per-change review of agent edits Coming soon
Planned: each edit arrives as a diff you accept or reject, undone in one step.
Driven by your agents, when you decide Coming soon
- Off by default. No agent access, no open port, until you turn it on.
- Local first. An agent connects to your machine; your files go nowhere else because of Brouillon.
- You approve. Every change arrives as a diff: apply it, reject it, or undo the whole turn in one step.
Design in progress. This describes planned behaviour; no agent can connect to the current build. MCP is an open standard; no specific agent product is claimed as compatible until tested.
It does not phone home.
- No telemetry in the editor, no account, works offline.
- The editor makes no network request on its own in this build.
- This website: no cookies, no trackers, no JavaScript, no third-party requests, fonts hosted here.
How it compares
An honest, dated table against EditPlus, Notepad++ and Sublime Text. Brouillon is alpha and does not claim parity.
Frequently asked questions
Is Brouillon free and open source?
Yes. Brouillon is free to download and use, including the alpha, and is released under the MIT licence. The source code is in a public repository. There is no account and no trial timer. The author is Laurent Rochetta.
What does alpha mean here?
It means usable for simple tasks but incomplete and unstable. Features may be missing or change, files may be handled imperfectly, and several finished engine parts are not yet connected to the interface. Keep backups and do not use it as your only editor yet.
Which platforms are supported?
Only the Windows test build listed on the download page is published. The code is Rust and designed to run on macOS and Linux, but those builds are not released or tested yet. They are on the roadmap.
Do my files leave my computer?
No. Brouillon reads and writes files on your disk, has no telemetry, needs no account and contacts no server on its own in this build. Future exceptions would be opt-in: an AI agent you connect yourself may send what it reads to its own provider.
Can AI agents drive Brouillon?
Not yet. The plan is an opt-in local MCP server, off by default, where an agent proposes edits and you accept them. It is specified, not implemented. No agent can connect to the current build.
Does it replace EditPlus?
Not yet. Brouillon covers part of what EditPlus does. Syntax colouring is limited to 9 languages (Rust, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, CSS, JSON, TOML, Markdown) with seven colour categories, and there is no FTP or built-in HTML preview. If EditPlus works for you, keep it.
Why does Windows warn me?
The test build is not code-signed, so SmartScreen shows a warning for software it does not recognise. It does not mean a virus was found. Compare the file SHA-256 with the value on the download page before running it.
How do I report a bug?
Open an issue in the public repository with the version and build number from the download page, your Windows version, the steps and, if possible, a small file that reproduces it. Never attach files with secrets or personal data.