Hello everyone 👋

For a long time, the structure of Modes in Text Forge had become a serious bottleneck for development. Every time we wanted to add a new feature — whether it was syntax highlighting, the Preview panel, or even Auto Format — we had to wrestle with legacy code and convoluted structures. This made Mode development both slow and fragile.

For example, the INI file highlighter didn’t support comment highlighting because the ; symbol triggered a parsing error in mode.cfg.

So we decided it was time for a major overhaul. The result is PR #71, where we’ve rewritten the Mode API from the ground up — now reaching version 2.0. It’s still under development, but we’ve landed the final changes and I wanted to share this note before merging.

🧩 What changed?

Previously, Modes were scattered classes, each implementing a piece of behavior or functionality. There was no unified structure, and adding new features like Preview or Outline to the Mode API was practically impossible. One major issue was the risk of incompatibility between each Mode’s functions and the standard instance.

Now, in the new version:

• All Modes inherit from a base class called TextForgeMode, which ensures the editor behaves correctly even with incomplete Modes. It also provides a shared foundation that reduces code duplication and allows bulk updates across all Modes.
• Each Mode can define its own panels, highlighter, and enabled features.
• Mode lifecycle is now fully defined and controllable — from init to teardown.
• The new structure is fully modular and extensible.
• Important note: Exporting and installing multiple Modes used to be handled via “Package.” That’s now renamed to “Mode Kit.” This frees up the term “Package” for future use in other contexts. You might still see “Package” in the docs — feel free to open a PR to fix it, or just file an issue if that’s easier.

You can explore the changes in the mode library branch here: Mode Library - Update TFM API 2.0.
Once this update is finalized, it’ll be merged into the main branch. I’ve also published a note there about the new Text Forge Mode API, along with a list of new Modes and links to their repositories. Each Mode now lives in its own repo (Mode Kits too), which greatly improves the development workflow. Plus, unofficial Modes are now treated with the same respect as official ones — as they should be. You can check out the first unofficial Text Forge Mode here: Text Forge Python Mode

✨ New capabilities unlocked

This isn’t just a refactor — it’s a whole new foundation for building advanced features. Some of the things already enabled:

• Custom BBCode Preview Panel: Each Mode can now define how its Preview output is generated.
• Outline Panel: Displays file structure and enables quick navigation.
• Problems Panel: Modes can report errors or warnings, and users can click to jump to the relevant location. This enables linting support for Modes.
• Independent Syntax Highlighting: Each Mode can have its own highlighter, fully decoupled from global structures. Highlighters are now actual highlighters — not just metadata for generating one.
• Auto Format and Indent: Modes define their own formatting and indentation logic. Auto Indent is back, and both features are powered by Action Scripts and connected to Modes via the EditorAPI.
• Safe Mode Lifecycle: Better error handling and crash prevention in case of internal issues or incompatibility.

🔍 What we’ve tested

We’ve tried to cover all Mode-related areas:

• Switching between Modes
• Preview and Outline
• Auto Format and Code Completion
• Problems panel and navigation
• Behavior in no-Mode state
• Editing Modes inside the editor

Regression testing is still ongoing, and there may be bugs we haven’t caught yet. So we’d love it if you could test things out and share your feedback.

The Mode Manager was left out of the previous refactor, so its code isn’t super clean. Still, the structural changes to Modes have inevitably affected this part too. Because of its complexity and lack of cleanup, bugs are more likely here — please report anything you find.

🎯 Why this matters

This rewrite is a turning point. Not just because the code is cleaner, but because now we can:

• Build custom Modes with unique capabilities
• Enable more advanced syntax highlighting
• Deliver a better user experience
• Make future development faster and more stable

It’s a big step toward a more extensible, reliable, and professional Text Forge.

💬 We’d love your feedback

If you have time, check out PR #71. You can clone it and see the changes directly (plus, the new Modes each have their own repo — you can explore 8 new Modes in the updated mode library, packed with improved features). Any thoughts, suggestions, or bug reports would be super helpful. Feel free to comment here or open an issue.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped along the way — whether through coding, reviewing, or testing. ❤️

— Mahan