Atom

New
hold
First Added:July 23, 2026

Atom was GitHub’s hackable, Electron-based text editor. We hold it because the project is archived; use Visual Studio Code or Cursor for new work.

Blurb

The hackable text editor.

Summary

Do not start new work in Atom. Keep it only for historical context, configuration recovery, or migrating an old workflow to Visual Studio Code or Cursor.

Atom helped popularize extensible Electron editors, but its archived status ends the case for active adoption. Existing packages and configuration may still explain later editor preferences.

Details

  • Source: https://github.com/atom/atom
  • Status: Archived and no longer maintained
  • Successors: Visual Studio Code for the broad extension ecosystem; Cursor for the current agent-first workflow
  • Fit: Tool / IDE as a historical editor platform
  • Lineage: Followed Emacs in the estate’s editor history and preceded Visual Studio Code