abo-abo/swiper

Ivy - a generic completion frontend for Emacs, Swiper - isearch with an overview, and more. Oh, man!

Source code at GitHub https://oremacs.com/swiper/

{
  "createdAt": "2015-03-09T19:29:06Z",
  "defaultBranch": "master",
  "description": "Ivy - a generic completion frontend for Emacs, Swiper - isearch with an overview, and more. Oh, man!",
  "fullName": "abo-abo/swiper",
  "homepage": "https://oremacs.com/swiper/",
  "language": "Emacs Lisp",
  "name": "swiper",
  "pushedAt": "2025-11-23T10:29:45Z",
  "stargazersCount": 2383,
  "topics": [
    "completion",
    "counsel",
    "emacs",
    "ivy",
    "search",
    "swiper"
  ],
  "updatedAt": "2025-11-25T18:18:09Z",
  "url": "https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper"
}

[![CI build badge][ci-badge]][ci]

Flexible, simple tools for minibuffer completion in Emacs

This repository contains:

[Ivy]!(#ivy), a generic completion mechanism for Emacs.
[Counsel]!(#counsel), a collection of Ivy-enhanced versions of common Emacs commands.
[Swiper]!(#swiper), an Ivy-enhanced alternative to Isearch.

Ivy

[![Ivy badge from GNU-devel ELPA][ivy-dev-badge]][ivy-dev] [![Ivy badge from GNU ELPA][ivy-badge]][ivy] [![Ivy badge from MELPA][ivy-melpa-badge]][ivy-melpa] [![Ivy badge from MELPA Stable][ivy-stable-badge]][ivy-stable]

Ivy is a generic completion mechanism for Emacs. While it operates similarly to other completion schemes such as icomplete-mode, Ivy aims to be more efficient, smaller, simpler, and smoother to use yet highly customizable.

To try Ivy, just call M-x ivy-mode. This will enable generic Ivy completion, including specific completion for file and buffer names.

Installation

Install the ivy package from GNU ELPA or MELPA.

Users of Debian ≥10 (and derivatives such as Ubuntu ≥18.04) can install Ivy, Counsel, and Swiper with sudo apt install elpa-counsel. To add Hydra support: sudo apt install elpa-ivy-hydra.

Documentation

Manual

Installing ivy from GNU ELPA or MELPA also installs the manual under the (ivy) Info node.

The source file for the Info manual is [ivy.org]!(doc/ivy.org).

The manual is also available as [HTML][ivy-manual].

Wiki

There is an Ivy and Swiper [wiki on GitHub][ivy-wiki].

Small config example

(ivy-mode)
(setopt ivy-use-virtual-buffers t)
(setopt enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
;; Enable this if you want `swiper' to use it:
;; (setopt search-default-mode #'char-fold-to-regexp)
(keymap-global-set "C-s" #'swiper-isearch)
(keymap-global-set "C-c C-r" #'ivy-resume)
(keymap-global-set "<f6>" #'ivy-resume)
(keymap-global-set "M-x" #'counsel-M-x)
(keymap-global-set "C-x C-f" #'counsel-find-file)
(keymap-global-set "<f1> f" #'counsel-describe-function)
(keymap-global-set "<f1> v" #'counsel-describe-variable)
(keymap-global-set "<f1> o" #'counsel-describe-symbol)
(keymap-global-set "<f1> l" #'counsel-find-library)
(keymap-global-set "<f2> i" #'counsel-info-lookup-symbol)
(keymap-global-set "<f2> u" #'counsel-unicode-char)
(keymap-global-set "C-c g" #'counsel-git)
(keymap-global-set "C-c j" #'counsel-git-grep)
(keymap-global-set "C-c k" #'counsel-ag)
(keymap-global-set "C-x l" #'counsel-locate)
(keymap-global-set "C-S-o" #'counsel-rhythmbox)
(keymap-set minibuffer-local-map "C-r" #'counsel-minibuffer-history)

Note: parts of this config can be replaced by using counsel-mode.

Counsel

[![Counsel badge from GNU-devel ELPA][counsel-dev-badge]][counsel-dev] [![Counsel badge from GNU ELPA][counsel-badge]][counsel] [![Counsel badge from MELPA][counsel-melpa-badge]][counsel-melpa] [![Counsel badge from MELPA Stable][counsel-stable-badge]][counsel-stable]

ivy-mode ensures that any Emacs command invoking completing-read or completion-in-region will use Ivy for completion.

Counsel takes this further, providing versions of common Emacs commands that are customized to make the best use of Ivy. For example, counsel-find-file has some additional keybindings. Pressing DEL will move you to the parent directory.

Enabling counsel-mode remaps built-in Emacs functions that have Counsel replacements:

Emacs command	Counsel counterpart
`execute-extended-command`	`counsel-M-x`
`describe-bindings`	`counsel-descbinds`
`describe-function`	`counsel-describe-function`
`describe-variable`	`counsel-describe-variable`
`describe-symbol`	`counsel-describe-symbol`
`apropos-command`	`counsel-apropos`
`describe-face`	`counsel-describe-face`
`list-faces-display`	`counsel-faces`
`find-file`	`counsel-find-file`
`find-library`	`counsel-find-library`
`imenu`	`counsel-imenu`
`load-library`	`counsel-load-library`
`load-theme`	`counsel-load-theme`
`yank-pop`	`counsel-yank-pop`
`info-lookup-symbol`	`counsel-info-lookup-symbol`
`pop-to-mark-command`	`counsel-mark-ring`
`bookmark-jump`	`counsel-bookmark`

Installation

Install the counsel package from GNU ELPA or MELPA.

Swiper

[![Swiper badge from GNU-devel ELPA][swiper-dev-badge]][swiper-dev] [![Swiper badge from GNU ELPA][swiper-badge]][swiper] [![Swiper badge from MELPA][swiper-melpa-badge]][swiper-melpa] [![Swiper badge from MELPA Stable][swiper-stable-badge]][swiper-stable]

Swiper is an alternative to Isearch that uses Ivy to show an overview of all matches.

A Helm version of Swiper is also available: [swiper-helm][swiper-helm].

Installation

Install the swiper package from GNU ELPA or MELPA.

Screenshots

![Screenshot of Swiper in Emacs][swiper-shot]

There’s also a ~ten minute [video demo][swiper-demo].

Frequently asked questions

Q: How do I enter an input that matches one of the candidates instead of this candidate? Example: create a file bar when a file barricade exists in the current directory.
A: Press C-M-j. Alternatively, you can make the prompt line selectable with:
```
(setopt ivy-use-selectable-prompt t)
```

Contributing

Please see the [guidelines]!(CONTRIBUTING.org) for reporting issues and opening pull requests.

[ci] !: https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper/actions/workflows/test.yml ‘CI build’ [ci-badge] !: https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg ‘CI build status’

[ivy-dev] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/ivy.html ‘Ivy on GNU-devel ELPA’ [ivy-dev-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/ivy.svg ‘Ivy version on GNU-devel ELPA’ [ivy] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/ivy.html ‘Ivy on GNU ELPA’ [ivy-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/ivy.svg ‘Ivy version on GNU ELPA’ [ivy-melpa] !: https://melpa.org/#/ivy ‘Ivy on MELPA’ [ivy-melpa-badge] !: https://melpa.org/packages/ivy-badge.svg ‘Ivy version on MELPA’ [ivy-stable] !: https://stable.melpa.org/#/ivy ‘Ivy on MELPA Stable’ [ivy-stable-badge] !: https://stable.melpa.org/packages/ivy-badge.svg ‘Ivy version on MELPA Stable’ [ivy-manual] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/doc/ivy.html ‘Ivy manual on GNU ELPA’ [ivy-wiki] !: https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper/wiki ‘Ivy wiki on GitHub’

[counsel-dev] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/counsel.html ‘Counsel on GNU-devel ELPA’ [counsel-dev-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/counsel.svg ‘Counsel version on GNU-devel ELPA’ [counsel] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/counsel.html ‘Counsel on GNU ELPA’ [counsel-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/counsel.svg ‘Counsel version on GNU ELPA’ [counsel-melpa] !: https://melpa.org/#/counsel ‘Counsel on MELPA’ [counsel-melpa-badge] !: https://melpa.org/packages/counsel-badge.svg ‘Counsel version on MELPA’ [counsel-stable] !: https://stable.melpa.org/#/counsel ‘Counsel on MELPA Stable’ [counsel-stable-badge] !: https://stable.melpa.org/packages/counsel-badge.svg ‘Counsel version on MELPA Stable’

[swiper-dev] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/swiper.html ‘Swiper on GNU-devel ELPA’ [swiper-dev-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/devel/swiper.svg ‘Swiper version on GNU-devel ELPA’ [swiper] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/swiper.html ‘Swiper on GNU ELPA’ [swiper-badge] !: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/swiper.svg ‘Swiper version on GNU ELPA’ [swiper-melpa] !: https://melpa.org/#/swiper ‘Swiper on MELPA’ [swiper-melpa-badge] !: https://melpa.org/packages/swiper-badge.svg ‘Swiper version on MELPA’ [swiper-stable] !: https://stable.melpa.org/#/swiper ‘Swiper on MELPA Stable’ [swiper-stable-badge] !: https://stable.melpa.org/packages/swiper-badge.svg ‘Swiper version on MELPA Stable’ [swiper-helm] !: https://github.com/abo-abo/swiper-helm ‘Swiper-Helm on GitHub’ [swiper-shot] !: swiper.svg ‘Swiper search for def and wip but not face’ [swiper-demo] !: https://youtu.be/VvnJQpTFVDc ‘Swiper demo on YouTube’