Emacs Bedrock
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 6 Emacs distributions by recommenders
A free Emacs starter kit with better defaults and example configuration, often recommended to new or overwhelmed Emacs users as a base to build on.
A free Emacs starter kit with better defaults and example configuration, often recommended to new or overwhelmed Emacs users as a base to build on.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 21 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good starting point for new users
“I highly recommend Bedrock to first-time or new-ish Emacs users who feel overwhelmed or who need a little organization in their environment.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “Emacs, how it all started (for me)” “some time ago I declared Emacs bankruptcy and started from Bedrock, every chance I get I recommend it now”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?” “I’ve recently rewrote my configuration and used Bedrock as a new starting point. It’s great”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?” - Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?”
- Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving”
- Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “What's new in Emacs 31.1”
- Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?”
Sensible defaults and example configuration
“It's just a bunch of better defaults, plus some example configuration for some of the most popular packages.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs, how it all started (for me)” “It helped me get started with reasonable defaults out-of-box.”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?” Well curated, well maintained packages
“It's a very well curated set of packages that enhance the basic experience.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Emacs is my new window manager (2015)” “awesome and well maintained Emacs starter kit”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Tree-sitter vs. Language Servers” Built-in customization, easy to understand
“I made Bedrock as a bare-bones starting point that focuses on built-in customization and understandability.”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Emacs Turns 50” “gave me the room I needed to get my own setup together”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Emacs 31 Is Around the Corner: The Changes I'm Daily Driving”
Other Emacs distributions people recommend
The four most recommended other Emacs distributions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doom Emacs | 60 | 23 | 72% | 11 | 1 yr8 owners | Approved |
| Spacemacs | 24 | 17 | 59% | 10 | — | — |
| Emacs BedrockThis page | 21 | 1 | 95% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Emacs Solo | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| minimal-emacs.d by James Cherti | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
24 of the 25 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I made Bedrock as a bare-bones starting point that focuses on built-in customization and understandability.”
“Bedrock introduces the ability to manage WP core and plugins using PHPs composer package manager”
“you might find some ideas in Ben Bridle's Bedrock worth stealing”
“Cool project, thanks for sharing”
“I love those highly crafted starter kits, they are full of gems.”
“This package aims to give other users a similar experience.”
“Those are both fantastic starting points.”
“There are projects that seek to do just that. I'd recommend taking a look at them”
“We trust bedrock but not mantle”
“I highly recommend Bedrock to first-time or new-ish Emacs users who feel overwhelmed or who need a little organization in their environment.”
“I think bedrock is reasonable”
“It's just a bunch of better defaults, plus some example configuration for some of the most popular packages.”
“gave me the room I needed to get my own setup together”
“two pages that resonated with me were on the topic of stable APIs”
“These pages document Bedrock Linux 0.7 Poki which was released on December 17th, 2018.”
“awesome and well maintained Emacs starter kit”
“It's a very well curated set of packages that enhance the basic experience.”
“which is a pretty long time without any updates for a FOSS project”
“That's 100% what it was made for.”
“It helped me get started with reasonable defaults out-of-box.”
“Bedrock is a great starting point.”
“some time ago I declared Emacs bankruptcy and started from Bedrock, every chance I get I recommend it now”
“I’ve recently rewrote my configuration and used Bedrock as a new starting point. It’s great”
“I suggest starting with it, or at least taking a look at it to get some ideas!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.