Atom editor is officially sunset, with a security caveat

GitHub has formally retired Atom, the open-source text editor it launched in 2011. All repositories under the Atom organization were archived on December 15, 2022, following an announcement made six months earlier. The decision stems from declining community involvement and a strategic shift toward cloud-based development tools.

The editor has not seen significant feature development in years, with only maintenance and security updates keeping it alive. GitHub now plans to direct its focus toward enhancing developer experience in the cloud through GitHub Codespaces, alongside Microsoft Visual Studio Code.

Why Atom is being retired

While Atom’s development has stagnated, its influence persists through the Electron framework, which originated from the project. Electron later enabled the creation of thousands of applications, including Visual Studio Code, Slack, and GitHub Desktop itself. However, GitHub’s priorities have shifted toward reliability, security, and performance, which the company believes are better served by technologies built for cloud-based workflows.

What users should expect

For those still running Atom, several changes take effect after the sunset:

  • Pre-built binaries remain downloadable from the atom repository releases
  • Package management has stopped working
  • No further security updates will be issued
  • Teletype, the collaborative editing feature, is no longer functional
  • Deprecated redirects supporting Electron symbol and header downloads have been disabled

Security advisory: action required before February 2

In a separate development, GitHub reported unauthorized access to a set of repositories used in Atom’s planning and development. The investigation found no risk to GitHub.com services, but a set of encrypted code signing certificates was exfiltrated. Although the certificates were password-protected and no malicious use was detected, GitHub is revoking them as a preventative measure.

Users of Atom versions 1.63.1 and 1.63.0 must download a previous release before February 2, 2023, as these versions will stop working once the certificates are revoked. GitHub also noted that the same advisory impacts some GitHub Desktop users, with details available in a related blog post.

GitHub has acknowledged the effort required for users to migrate to alternative editors and has committed to supporting the community through the transition, thanking contributors for their work on extensions, bug fixes, and features over the years.