X-Date: 2024-06-10T21:00:38Z
X-Note-Id: f850f802-798d-49e7-ad9b-c0d6a977d4bb
Subject: Emacs can start up almost as fast as Vim
X-Slug: emacs_fast_startup

My own configuration which includes a number of plugins can now load in about 200ms.
With Vim modal editing emulation through [evil-mode](https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil) it is suitable
as default `$EDITOR` in the terminal. This enables convenient editing of git commit messages, or random
one-off changes where I usually resorted to plain vim. So much so that I've set `alias vim=emacs -nw`.

The trick turned out to be quite simple: you need to lazy-load most of the packages. When you run the
editor, you're likely only using a subset of extensions like syntax highlighting for the programming language
that your initial buffer is in. So no need to spend CPU time on things that you either don't need or use
later.

Latest versions of Emacs have `use-package` module built in that allows to succintly describe configuration
of plugins and set the rules of when they should be loaded. Here's an example of configuration for `org-roam`,
a plugin I use for note-taking:

```
(use-package org-roam
  :ensure t
  :defer t
  :bind
  ("C-c n l" . org-roam-buffer-toggle)
  ("C-c n i" . org-roam-node-insert)
  ("C-c n f" . org-roam-node-find)
  ("C-c n r" . consult-org-roam-search)
  ("C-c n d" . org-roam-dailies-goto-today)
  ("C-c n w" . org-roam-week)

  ...
  )
```

Here, `:defer` flag means that the module shouldn't be eagerly loaded. The `:bind` specifies keybindings that
should trigger specific actions of this module. As soon as you type those key combinations - only then the module
will be loaded.

Some packages like `which-key` that are not needed immediately, can be loaded with a delay:

```
(use-package which-key
  :ensure t
  :defer 2
  :config
  (which-key-mode)
  (which-key-setup-side-window-bottom)
  )
```

Here, `:defer 2` means "load this plugin 2 seconds after the startup". This allows you to open and start editing a
file and the plugin will be loaded in the background.

Really, it all boils down to carefully using `:defer`, and most of the load time can be shaved off. With so much stuff
already in the standard package, you can probably even put emacs to your devserver, `scp` the config there, and
it should just work.