# IDEmacs

6 Hacker News commenters recommended IDEmacs and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Emacs setup that mimics Visual Studio Code and appeals to some Vim users, though critics say it mostly configures existing packages and skips Emacs basics.

## Why people recommend it

- Users express enthusiasm despite doubts (2 comments): "I would never use this, but, somehow, I still love it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45942424)) "I'm really happy to see this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943830))

## What people warn about

- Adds little beyond package configuration (2 comments): "all of the "improvements" provided by the OP are a matter of loading and configuring packages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943612)) "I don't see a point to this beyond hack value." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943128))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Doom Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/doom-emacs.md): 60 recommend
- [Spacemacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spacemacs.md): 24 recommend
- [Emacs Bedrock](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs-bedrock.md): 21 recommend
- [Emacs Solo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs-solo.md): 7 recommend
- [minimal-emacs.d by James Cherti](https://hackerapproved.com/p/minimal-emacs-d.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "IDEmacs", https://hackerapproved.com/p/idemacs/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).