# joe text editor

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/joe/

9 people recommended joe text editor in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A long-running terminal text editor with WordStar-style keybindings that people use daily for command-line editing, especially when no graphical desktop is available.

Summary written by Claude from 11 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 10 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Preferred editor for everyday use (4 comments in the sample): "in my preferred text editor (joe), i set up a selection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49014768)) "JOE still remains my preferred editor as a result." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060692)) "I use joe for mostly everything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48695249))
- Works well on the command line (3 comments in the sample): "install joe editor package, disable graphical desktop and boot to console only" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697892)) "JOE is a good text editor to use on the command line." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122380)) "among the easiest CLI/TUI editors there are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45823872))
- Familiar WordStar-style keybindings (2 comments in the sample): "The UI and keybindings ended up burned into muscle memory, so I just kept using it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058415)) "If you're like me and grew up using pseudo-Wordstar keybindings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696007))

## Other text editors people recommend

- [GNU Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs/): 463 recommend, 122 mixed, 162 criticize
- [Zed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed/): 450 recommend, 193 mixed, 376 criticize
- [Vim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vim/): 412 recommend, 80 mixed, 107 criticize
- [Visual Studio Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-studio-code/): 332 recommend, 112 mixed, 509 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "joe text editor", https://hackerapproved.com/p/joe/ (9 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.