Turbo Go, or 90s nostalgia

Developer Rickub released Turbo Go v1.0.3, an open-source terminal IDE for the Go programming language built with AI assistance, offering snippets, LSP support, an embedded terminal, and TOML-based configuration. The tool is available as binaries for macOS and Linux, with a Windows binary built but untested, and can be installed via a curl command or configured with a ready-made Golang config from the turbo-editors/configs repository. Rickub said the project was partly a test of AI-assisted development skills and that the minimal editing mode helps developers "use my brain a bit more.

My first real IDE was Borland's Turbo Pascal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo Pascal editor or maybe QBasic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QBasic 🤓 , and I have to admit I missed it a lot, especially when I'm in a terminal. The closest thing to it is the Midnight Commander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight Commander text editor, but it's not development oriented. For the much younger ones among you who probably never got to know Turbo Pascal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo Pascal or Turbo C and Turbo C++ , it looked like this: So, like I was saying, I missed it: a simple but powerful editor, where I don't need to type wq to get out ... troll ... And what if AI gave me a hand on this one? I've been polishing development skills, quality skills, ... for a few months now, so it was a good test subject: I wanted to build a Turbo Go 🚀. And the test was conclusive 🎉 So today let me introduce my little Turbo Go , an old-school IDE/editor with modern features. Now, it's not "battle tested" yet, but it's already usable. I keep working on it and I still need to "polish" the docs, which for the moment are generated automatically. I've been able to test Turbo Go on macOS and Linux the Windows binary exists, but I need to find a bit of time . Installing Turbo Go installing-turbo-go You can find the binaries of the latest release v1.0.3 over here: https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-go/releases/v1.0.3 https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-go/releases/v1.0.3 . I work on macOS, and here's how I do it: download the binary release in https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-golo/releases VERSION=1.0.3 curl -fsSLO "https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-golo/releases/download/v${VERSION}/turbo-golo-${VERSION}-darwin-arm64" chmod +x ./turbo-golo-${VERSION}-darwin-arm64 xattr -cr ./turbo-golo-${VERSION}-darwin-arm64 sudo rm /usr/local/bin/turbo-golo sudo cp ./turbo-golo-${VERSION}-darwin-arm64 /usr/local/bin/turbo-golo And now I can launch Turbo Go from anywhere with the turbo-go command. For the other operating systems, I'll let you figure it out but I'll update the README.md once I'm done with my tests, or I'll write some "quick starts" . Launching Turbo Go - first contact launching-turbo-go-first-contact So, Turbo Go is configurable with .toml files, but for this post, I've prepared a ready-made configuration over here: turbo-editors/configs https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/configs that you can install like this: cd demo or any other directory turbo-go -load-config https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/configs/tree/main/golang-init Output: Copied .turbo-go from https://git.rickub.com/turbo-editors/configs.git main : settings.toml snippets.toml tools.toml So now you have this in your ./demo directory: . └── .turbo-go ├── settings.toml ├── snippets.toml └── tools.toml And you can launch turbo-go : Using Turbo Go - Quick Tour using-turbo-go-quick-tour Start by saving the file as main.go : Then use the snippets menu and select main : There you go, you have a first program to get started: With a bit of completion as a bonus: Then run a go mod init : And we can finally run the program: Now, we could have done the same thing faster from a terminal, and that works out nicely, because we have a terminal in Turbo Go 📺 : You can also get the list of your project's files: Then, for a bit more clarity, tidy up your windows: I also added LSP support it can be improved, but it's a start : That's it for this quick tour of Turbo Go . Oh, by the way, you can change the theme: So, do you actually use it? so-do-you-actually-use-it Well, yes, I use it. The goal was to have a tool to code quickly and comfortably, and also to use my brain a bit more 😉. At first, it was also for fun, but I'm discovering that this very minimal editing mode is also a good way to discover other languages, and in parallel I'm evolving, at the same time as Turbo Go, other editors for other languages which are on my todo list : - Turbo Rust https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-rust - Turbo Python https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-python - Turbo JS https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-js I already know it, but it's handy - Turbo Golo https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-golo my favorite language 🥰 - Turbo Moonbit https://rickub.com/turbo-editors/turbo-moonbit a very nice functional language for doing WebAssembly and probably more to come ... And what's next? and-whats-next Since I really like playing with local LLMs, I added support for ACP Agent Client Protocol so I can use them from the Turbo Editors, but I'll tell you about that later: Stay tuned 🤗, and if you too ask AI to help you build the tools you're missing, feel free to add a comment, I'm very curious to hear about your creations. Written by Keep reading Pablo, a small Golang library to make your life easier with BubbleTea Pablo is a small declarative TUI framework for Go, built on BubbleTea, bringing HTML-like component composition to the terminal. Apr 9, 2026 N.O.V.A. Chat Agent & Docker Model Runner Build composable conversational mini-agents with the NOVA Go library, powered by local models through Docker Model Runner. Feb 18, 2026 Create an AI Coder Agent with Golo Script and Agentic Compose Build an AI coder agent with GoloScript and Agentic Compose, with streaming code generation and a TUI, powered by local models. Jan 29, 2026