Editing code

Klive IDE leverages Monaco editor (the one in Visual Studio Code) as its code editor, so search for VS Code documentation about basic usage patterns. While the editor in Klive uses the same experience as in VS Code, it does not have the tools that language servers and VS Code extensions provide.

Monaco editor basics

Because Klive uses Monaco, you get the full standard editing experience out of the box:

• Multi-cursor editing: Hold Alt and click to place additional cursors. Use Ctrl+Alt+Down / Ctrl+Alt+Up (macOS: Opt+Cmd+Down / Opt+Cmd+Up) to add a cursor on the line below or above.
• Find and replace: Press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F) to open the search widget. Press Ctrl+H (Cmd+H) to also replace matches. Supports plain text, case-sensitive, whole-word, and regex search.
• Go to line: Press Ctrl+G to jump to any line number.
• Command palette: Press F1 to open the command palette and search for any editor action by name.
• Minimap: The vertical strip on the right edge of the editor is a zoomed-out map of the entire file. Click anywhere on it to jump to that position. It also shows error and warning markers as colored marks so you can locate problems at a glance.
• Code folding: Click the triangle icons in the gutter (left margin) to collapse or expand any block. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+[ and Ctrl+Shift+] (Cmd+Opt+[ / Cmd+Opt+]) to fold/unfold the block around the cursor.
• Bracket highlighting: When your cursor is next to an opening or closing bracket, parenthesis, or brace, the matching counterpart is highlighted automatically.
• Auto-indentation and bracket closing: The editor automatically indents new lines and closes brackets, parentheses, and quotes as you type.
• Undo / redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y (Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z). The editor keeps a deep undo history per file, persisted across tab switches.
• Multiple selection via keyboard: Ctrl+D (Cmd+D) selects the next occurrence of the current word or selection, letting you edit all copies simultaneously.

Editor preferences

You can set some preferences with the menu items within the View | Editor Options menu.

These are the preferences you can set:

• Font size: The relative font size of the editor.
• Enable AutoComplete. The editor provides AutoComplete patterns from samples you typed in earlier. I suggest you keep this option turned off. In the future, Klive may include its smart AutoComplete functionality, which is aware of the Z80 assembly syntax.
• Enable Selection Highlight. This option highlights all other occurrences of the selected text in the editor.
• Enable Occurrences Highlight. This option highlights all other occurrences of the symbol (e.g., variable or function name) under the cursor without needing to select it.
• Detect Indentation. Use this option to automatically set (and override) the Tab Size and Insert Spaces instead of Tabs options based on the file’s content (i.e., it detects indentation style from the text).
• Insert Spaces instead of Tabs. This option controls whether pressing the Tab key inserts actual spaces or a tab character.
• Render Whitespaces. This option controls whether and how whitespace characters (spaces, tabs) are visibly rendered in the editor.
• Tab Size. The tabulator size to use with the editor.

Assembly editor extensions

Klive extends Monaco with features that are specific to Z80 (and 6510) assembly development. These features are driven by Klive’s background compiler, which analyses your source continuously as you type.

Semantic syntax highlighting

The Klive editor uses semantic tokens — a form of syntax highlighting driven by the compiler’s understanding of your code, not just its textual patterns. Beyond the basic tokenizer colors, Klive uses the compiler’s knowledge of your code to color tokens by their resolved role: labels, macro names, struct names, .equ constants, variables, and macro parameter placeholders each get a distinct style. These semantic colors update a moment after you finish typing, reflecting the compiler’s current interpretation of your source.

You can customize every semantic color and token style (including font weight and emphasis) via View | Customize Colors. For in-depth information, including how token definitions work and how to create your own theme, see the Customize Syntax Colors how-to guide.

Inline error diagnostics

After each background compilation pass, Klive underlines errors in red directly in the editor. Hover over any underlined token to read the error message in a tooltip. Error positions are also marked in the scrollbar overview ruler and the minimap, so you can see at a glance how many errors exist and where they are in a long file.

Macro expansion preview

Hover over a macro name at its invocation site to see the macro’s body in a tooltip, with each parameter placeholder shown in its {{name}} form. This lets you quickly verify what code a macro will emit without navigating to its definition.

Code folding for assembler blocks

All assembler block constructs can be folded independently: .macro/.endm, .loop/.endl, .repeat/.until, .while/.endw, .for/.next, .proc/.endp, .struct/.ends, .if/.endif, .module/.endmodule, and #if/#ifdef/#ifndef/#endif. Click the triangle in the gutter next to any opening keyword to collapse the block.

Block pair highlighting

When the cursor rests on a block-opening keyword (.macro, .if, .loop, etc.) or its matching closer, both keywords are highlighted simultaneously. Nesting is handled correctly: inner pairs highlight independently from outer ones.

Rename symbol

Press F2 on any label, macro name, struct name, variable, or .equ constant to rename it. A small rename widget appears inline; type the new name and press Enter. Klive updates every reference across all files in the project automatically, respecting module scope so only the right symbols are renamed.

Address and byte count on hover

Hover over any instruction, data statement, or directive to see two pieces of information in the tooltip: the assembled address (e.g., $4000) at which that line is placed, and the emitted machine-code bytes (e.g., 21 00 40). Lines that emit no bytes — pure labels, .equ statements, comments — show no address information.

Go to included file

Hover over the filename string in any #include directive and press F12, or hold Ctrl (Cmd) and click the filename, to open that file directly in a new editor tab.

Color decorators for attribute values

When your code calls attr(), ink(), or paper(), a small colored square appears next to each color argument, showing the actual ZX Spectrum palette color that the argument evaluates to. For attr(), the ink and paper arguments each show their own swatch, and the bright flag is factored in. Click a swatch to open a color picker; selecting a different color snaps to the nearest palette index and updates the numeric argument in your source automatically.