use-package for Emacs
Shares rank 17 of 24 Emacs packages by recommenders
Recommended for being stable and for standardising Emacs package configuration, including :vc support for installing packages straight from version control.
Recommended for being stable and for standardising Emacs package configuration, including :vc support for installing packages straight from version control.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Plugin management and :vc installs
“Now that use-package supports the :vc keyword”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Emacs Bedrock 2.0” “use-package for plugin management”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?”
Other Emacs packages people recommend
The four most recommended other Emacs packages, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evil mode for Emacs | 39 | 7 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| agent-shell | 25 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| TRAMP for Emacs | 25 | 10 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| gptel | 20 | 1 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| use-package for EmacsThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Now that use-package supports the :vc keyword”
“for all its flaws at least standardises”
“I wrap it into use-package commands for compatibility reasons.”
“it is very stable and for me also doesn't break”
“use-package for plugin management”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.