Geany: A Fast and Lightweight IDE for Everyday Development

In the process of creating and editing Conky themes, I rely heavily on tools that support rapid testing and visual adjustments. Geany, with its fast startup time and simple interface, has become one of my go-to editors. Two features in particular—its built-in color picker and support for an external terminal—make it especially valuable when adjusting color palettes and running scripts in real time.

Why Choose Geany?

Geany is a lightweight Integrated Development Environment (IDE) designed for speed and minimalism. It includes just the right features for everyday coding tasks without the overhead of a full-scale IDE. It supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion, project management, and quick compiling or running of code—all in one compact package.

Geany ( source : Wikipedia)

Key Features

• Fast startup and low memory usage
• Syntax highlighting for many languages
• Integrated build tools and terminal support
• Plugin system for extended functionality
• Color picker for editing themes and UI elements
• External terminal integration (e.g., with Alacritty)

Installation

You can install Geany via your Linux distribution’s package manager:

• Arch Linux / Manjaro:

  sudo pacman -S geany

• Debian / Ubuntu:

  sudo apt install geany

• Fedora:

  sudo dnf install geany

• openSUSE:

  sudo zypper install geany

Uninstall

• Arch Linux:

  sudo pacman -Rns geany

• Debian / Ubuntu:

  sudo apt remove geany

• Fedora:

  sudo dnf remove geany

Example Use in Conky Theming

In my Conky theme projects, Geany helps with both scripting and visual layout. I use the color picker plugin to quickly copy hex color codes into my Conky configuration. This is especially useful when experimenting with new color schemes or matching colors with desktop wallpapers.

Geany also allows launching scripts directly in an external terminal. I configure it to open Alacritty, so I can test Bash scripts or run Conky with specific config files using real-time terminal output:

conky -c ~/.config/conky/mytheme.conf

This tight integration speeds up the cycle between editing, saving, and testing.

Conclusion

Whether you're working on Conky themes or writing general-purpose scripts, Geany offers an excellent balance between power and simplicity. Its performance, extensibility, and thoughtful features like color picking and terminal support make it a great choice for Linux users who want to stay productive without being overwhelmed by full IDE suites.

Related article

the application I used when creating the Conky theme:
▶ Gucharmap ( Tool for get symbol )