Roadmap
Birchpad first catches up with Notepad++ (phases 1–6), then goes further (phase 7). Phases are ordered by dependency, not by calendar. The detailed list with checkmarks is ROADMAP.md.
✓ 1. MVP notepad
Section titled “✓ 1. MVP notepad”Tabs, lossless encodings and line endings, simple find and replace, a Notepad++-like status bar, a single instance with Notepad++’s command line, installers, portable mode.
✓ 2. Notepad++-level editor
Section titled “✓ 2. Notepad++-level editor”Highlighting for 50 languages with tree-sitter, embedded languages, folding, multi-cursor and columns, smart highlighting, bookmarks, line operations, split view, sessions with backups, watching files, automatic updates.
✓ 3. Search and navigation — 0.1.3
Section titled “✓ 3. Search and navigation — 0.1.3”Extended mode and regular expressions, marks, Find in Files, the search results panel, incremental search, side panels (Function List, Document Map, workspace, projects), navigation history, change history.
✓ 4. Customization — 0.1.4
Section titled “✓ 4. Customization — 0.1.4”Themes and Notepad++ theme import, the Style Configurator, Preferences, the Shortcut Mapper, macros, User Defined Languages, auto-completion, the Run and Tools menus, DOS and EBCDIC code pages, a Russian interface, printing, right-to-left text.
5. Plugins — next
Section titled “5. Plugins — next”A plugin API as WebAssembly components (commands, documents, events, panels, menus), user scripting (Lua or Rhai), a plugin manager with an allowlist for organizations. Built-in versions of popular Notepad++ plugins: Compare, JSON/XML tools, hex view, spell check.
6. Full parity with Notepad++
Section titled “6. Full parity with Notepad++”Everything phases 1–5 did differently or left for later: fonts in themes, the remaining Preferences sections, the Window menu, tab colors and pinned tabs, the text’s context menu, the UDL editor, print preview, more interface languages, input methods and screen readers verified on real systems.
7. Beyond Notepad++
Section titled “7. Beyond Notepad++”An LSP client, a command palette and fuzzy file finder, Git (gutter changes, blame, diff), an integrated terminal, syntax-aware selection, multi-gigabyte files, remote editing over SSH/SFTP, CSV and JSON viewers, vim mode, collaborative editing, AI assistance (disabled by the OnlineFeatures policy).
Releases
Section titled “Releases”| Channel | Built from | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly | the next version’s branch | nightly, when there are changes |
| Beta | release/x.y |
every 1–2 weeks |
| Stable | tags on the release branch | every 4–8 weeks |
In the works: Authenticode signing for Windows and notarization for macOS, an ARM64 MSI, winget and Scoop manifests, ADMX/ADML templates.