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CodeMirror

Code editor library in Developer tools

Recommended as a flexible, lightweight, mobile-friendly code editor library that handles browser quirks for you. Common caveats: the docs are sometimes lacking, and it needs a lot of client-side JavaScript.

9 people recommended CodeMirror in Hacker News comments, 6 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.

Summary written by Claude from 16 comments.

16 people gave an opinion

recommend it
9
mixed feelings
6
warn against or regret it
1

The record

Each figure is one person. RecommendsMixed feelingsCriticizes

Recommended in 5 of 12 months

In 8 different threads.

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: not recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
  • 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
  • Recommended in 8 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
  • The biggest thread supplies 22% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.

The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works

What people say about it

Reasons grouped from a sample of 16 of the 18 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Good base for building editors

    “CodeMirror as the basic building block, which is great, but it does not support WYSIWYG table editing out of the box”

    Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Things I've Done with AI”

    “CodeMirror/Monaco (realistically just use, not build”

    Comment from 11 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Extend UI – open-source UI kit for modern document apps”

    “just using Monaco or https://codemirror.net/”

    Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Markdown Viewer and Editor”
  • Go-to library for many developers

    “CodeMirror and ProseMirror are impressive works and my current go-to libraries”

    Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Collaborative Editing in CodeMirror”

    “code mirror is already good”

    Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6”
  • Rich feature set, like Obsidian

    “I went with CodeMirror because I enjoy the feature-set of the obsidian editor”

    Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Ichinichi – One note per day, E2E encrypted, local-first”

    “I was marveled at what it could do”

    Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Collaborative Editing in CodeMirror”
  • Works with Yjs and tiptap

    “Interesting using tiptap with codemirror”

    Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: OpenKnowledge – open-source alternative to Obsidian/Notion”

    “Good to see CodeMirror and yjs in there.”

    Comment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: OpenKnowledge – open-source alternative to Obsidian/Notion”

What people said

16 of the 18 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“which is like Monaco but more lightweight”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Fine, I'll build my own text editor”

“It's an amazing project but I always found the docs lacking.”

MixedComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Fine, I'll build my own text editor”

“abstracts away all the browser-specific edge cases and quirks for you”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Fine, I'll build my own text editor”

“just using Monaco or https://codemirror.net/”

RecommendsComment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Markdown Viewer and Editor”

“code mirror is already good”

RecommendsComment from 27 Jun 2026 in “U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6”

“Good to see CodeMirror and yjs in there.”

RecommendsComment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: OpenKnowledge – open-source alternative to Obsidian/Notion”

“Interesting using tiptap with codemirror”

MixedComment from 26 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: OpenKnowledge – open-source alternative to Obsidian/Notion”

“CodeMirror/Monaco (realistically just use, not build”

RecommendsComment from 11 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Extend UI – open-source UI kit for modern document apps”

“I was marveled at what it could do”

RecommendsComment from 6 May 2026 in “Collaborative Editing in CodeMirror”

“CodeMirror and ProseMirror are impressive works and my current go-to libraries”

RecommendsComment from 6 May 2026 in “Collaborative Editing in CodeMirror”

“still requires a lot of clientside JavaScript”

MixedComment from 5 May 2026 in “Collaborative Editing in CodeMirror”

“I was in the Codemirror forums trying to get help”

MixedComment from 25 Apr 2026 in “It's OK to Use Agentic to Revive the Projects You Never Were Going to Finish”

“I went with CodeMirror because I enjoy the feature-set of the obsidian editor”

RecommendsComment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Ichinichi – One note per day, E2E encrypted, local-first”

“CodeMirror as the basic building block, which is great, but it does not support WYSIWYG table editing out of the box”

MixedComment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Things I've Done with AI”

“not only is it much more performant but also mobile friendly”

RecommendsComment from 17 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: 1Code – open-source Cursor-like UI for Claude Code”

“they're interpreting mouse inputs, cancelling default behavior and selecting text themselves”

CriticizesComment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Gnome and Mozilla Discuss Proposal to Disable Middle Mouse Paste on Linux”

Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.