Full native macOS Notepad++ port written in Objective C++ with Cocoa APIs, Universal Binary for Apple Silicon and Intel, Apple-notarized, no emulation required.
Key Takeaways
Built on the Scintilla engine with native Cocoa APIs; identical editing experience to Windows including 80+ language syntax highlighting and macro recording.
Universal Binary signed with Apple Developer ID and Apple-notarized; runs natively on M1 through M5 and Intel without Rosetta translation.
Independent community port by Andrey Letov, started March 10, 2026; not affiliated with Don Ho or the official upstream Notepad++ project.
Plugin Admin included with a growing library of Windows plugins being actively ported; new plugin releases added daily.
No telemetry, no analytics, no data collection; only network activity is explicit Plugin Admin use fetching the public GitHub plugin registry.
Hacker News Comment Review
Mac developers questioned the value proposition given BBEdit and Nova already occupy the native macOS editor space well.
Multiple commenters flagged the unofficial status prominently; the Notepad++ name is trademarked by Don Ho, and the near-identical icon raises potential IP boundary concerns.
NotepadNext (github.com/dail8859/NotepadNext) already serves this niche as a cross-platform Notepad++ reimplementation; several commenters noted active daily use on Mac today.
Notable Comments
@r00t-: “This was definitely vibe coded, even the landing page” – pointed critique of the site’s build quality as a signal about project maturity.
