SLIME: The Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Emacs

SLIME is a Emacs mode for Common Lisp development. Inspired by existing systems such Emacs Lisp and ILISP, we are working to create an environment for hacking Common Lisp in.

This frugal page is an invitation to learn more about what's going on.

feature highlights

• slime-mode: An Emacs minor-mode to enhance lisp-mode with:
  • Code evaluation, compilation, and macroexpansion.
  • Online documentation (describe, apropos, hyperspec).
  • Definition finding (aka Meta-Point aka M-.).
  • Symbol and package name completion.
  • Automatic macro indentation based on &body.
  • Cross-reference interface (WHO-CALLS, etc).
  • ... and more.
• SLDB: Common Lisp debugger with an Emacs-based user interface.
• REPL: The Read-Eval-Print Loop ("top-level") is written in Emacs Lisp for tighter integration with Emacs. The REPL also has builtin "shortcut" commands similar those of the McCLIM listener.
• Compilation notes: SLIME is able to take compiler messages and annotate them directly into source buffers.
• Inspector: Interactive object-inspector in an Emacs buffer.

supported platforms

SLIME works with GNU Emacs versions 24.3 and later, on Linux, macOS, Windows, *BSD, Unix.

The currently supported Common Lisp implementations are:

• CMU Common Lisp (CMUCL)
• Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL)
• Clozure CL (a.k.a. OpenMCL)
• LispWorks
• Allegro CL
• CLISP
• Scieneer CL
• ECL
• Corman CL
• ABCL
• Clasp

downloading

Our source repository is hosted at github: https://github.com/slime/slime.

You can also grab the latest release.

documentation

We have a manual (as pdf) that explains what SLIME can do and how to use it.

screencasts and tutorials

Various tutorials about SLIME are available on the 'net:

• Marco Baringer's SLIME tutorial from 2005. (original video, 150 MB)
• Baggers' Installing Common Lisp, Emacs, SLIME & Quicklisp. 2013.
• Baggers' Emacs with SLIME — Really useful keyboard shortcuts. 2014.

bug tracker

You can report bugs at the bugtracker.

mailing list and IRC

The slime-devel@common-lisp.net mailing list is used for all SLIME discussions. This is where to ask questions and generally participate in the development.
To post messages to that list you must be subscribed.

Chatter about SLIME happens on the #slime channel in the Libera.Chat IRC network.

history

SLIME is an Extension of SLIM, which was written by Eric Marsden in mid-2003. Luke Gorrie and Helmut Eller took over development to create SLIME as a traditional "open-source project." Since then the hacking has continued at a rapid pace as many more hackers joined the fray.

A (hopefully) complete list of code contributors appears in the SLIME manual.

HTML style shamelessly stolen by Luke Gorrie from the sawfish homepage.
Any remaining HTML-conformance is solely due to Stephen Caldwell.
Last updated: 2024