emacs.d

W. Nicholas Greene's emacs configuration. Install some dependencies then checkout this repo to your home directory as .emacs.d and launch emacs. It should grab the required packages from the package manager:

# Install dependencies (Linux).
sudo apt-get install clangd
pip install --user cpplint ruff

# Install dependencies (macOS).
brew install coreutils  # Provides gls for dired --group-directories-first support.
brew install ripgrep    # Required for consult-ripgrep (project-wide search).
pip install --user cpplint ruff

# Clone and run.
git clone https://github.com/wngreene/emacs.d.git ~/.emacs.d
emacs -nw .

Requires:

• emacs 28.1+

Completion stack (Vertico + Consult)

Completion is powered by the minad stack:

• Vertico — vertical completion UI for all minibuffer commands
• Orderless — space-separated fuzzy matching in any order
• Marginalia — rich annotations next to candidates
• Consult — enhanced search/navigation commands
• Embark — contextual actions on minibuffer candidates

Key bindings:

Key	Command	Description
M-x	(built-in)	Enhanced by Vertico automatically
C-x C-f	find-file	Enhanced by Vertico automatically
C-x C-b	consult-buffer	Buffers + recent files + bookmarks
C-c h o	consult-line	Search lines in current buffer
C-c h g	consult-ripgrep	Ripgrep (prompts for directory)
C-c h i	consult-imenu	Jump to symbol
C-.	embark-act	Contextual actions on candidate

Project navigation uses built-in project.el (git root detection):

Key	Command
C-x p f	Find file in project
C-x p g	Grep in project (scoped to git root)
C-x p b	Switch to project buffer
C-x p p	Switch project
C-x p d	Dired at project root

macOS: Caps Lock as Meta in Terminal Emacs (iTerm2)

Caps Lock is in the same physical position on every keyboard, making it a consistent Meta key when running Emacs in a terminal.

Karabiner-Elements (brew install --cask karabiner-elements):

• Simple Modifications → All Devices: caps_lock → right_option
• Simple Modifications → External PC keyboard: left_option → left_command (makes the physical Alt key act as Command system-wide)

System Settings → Keyboard → Modifier Keys → Karabiner DriverKit Virtual HID Keyboard:

• Leave at defaults (Option → Option, Command → Command)

iTerm2 → Settings → Profiles → Keys:

• Left Option Key: Normal
• Right Option Key: Esc+

Result: Caps Lock + x/i/j/k/l/... → Meta in Emacs on any keyboard. Window resize bindings use C-c w b/f/p/n (terminal-compatible alternative to C-s-b/f/p/n which don't work in terminal Emacs).