Hex-X

Hex-X 1.0.0 is a tabbed desktop hex editor for opening, inspecting, editing, comparing, and saving binary files.

The app keeps the lightweight single-window workflow from its editor roots, but the document model now treats files as bytes. Each tab renders offsets in the gutter, a 16-byte hexadecimal grid, and an ASCII preview pane so binary files are readable and editable without converting them to text.

Highlights

• Opens files as raw bytes and writes bytes back on save
• Hex view with offsets shown only in the gutter, 16 bytes per row, and ASCII preview
• Direct nibble editing in the hex grid
• Printable ASCII editing in the ASCII pane
• Right-click Add NOP action that overwrites selected bytes with 90
• Selection byte tools for fill, randomize, invert, XOR, and custom patterns
• Byte-native find/replace with hex, text, compact hex, and ?? search wildcards
• Inspector / checksum dialog for selections and cursor bytes
• Paste support for copied hex dumps, byte strings, and plain text
• Go To Offset with decimal, 0x..., and ...h input
• Side-by-side compare for open tabs
• Remote open/save through scp for user@host:/absolute/path files
• Offset gutter, breadcrumbs, status bar, zoom, notes, command panel, themes, language selector, and hotkey settings
• No minimap; the editor keeps the byte grid focused and uses the gutter as the only offset ruler
• Read-only preview mode for files larger than the editable byte limit
• Atomic binary saves, recovery snapshots, and conflict checks before overwriting changed files

Editing Model

Hex-X is overwrite-oriented, which is the safest default for binary files.

• Type a hex digit in the byte grid to replace the selected nibble.
• Type a printable character in the ASCII pane to replace that byte.
• Press Delete to set the current byte to 00.
• Press Backspace to move to the previous byte.
• Select bytes, right-click, and choose Add NOP to overwrite that selection with 90 bytes.
• Use the Edit menu or right-click menu to fill, randomize, invert, or XOR selected bytes.
• Paste accepts Hex-X dump rows, plain hexadecimal byte sequences, or normal clipboard text encoded as UTF-8.

Find And Replace

• Find searches bytes in hex tabs and accepts spaced hex (DE AD BE EF), compact hex (DEADBEEF), normal text, quoted text ("be"), and wildcard search bytes (48 8B ?? ??).
• Replace Bytes uses the same byte-native search syntax. Replacement accepts text or exact bytes and can grow or shrink the file.
• Inspector / Checksums shows CRC32, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, integer, and float interpretations for selected bytes.

File Size Behavior

• Files up to the editable byte limit open as editable hex buffers.
• Larger files open as a read-only preview of the first loaded byte range so the UI stays responsive.
• Preview tabs cannot be saved back over the source file.

Command Panel

Press Ctrl+Shift+K to open the command panel. Built-in commands begin with :.

Useful commands include:

• :open [path]
• :remote user@host:/absolute/path
• :recent [list|N|clear]
• :new-tab
• :close-tab
• :save
• :save-all
• :save-as
• :save-copy
• :find
• :find-next
• :find-prev
• :replace
• :fill 00|ff|random|invert|PATTERN
• :xor PATTERN
• :inspect
• :goto-offset
• :compare
• :close-compare
• :theme [list|create|name]
• :offset-gutter on|off
• :language [list|code]
• :breadcrumbs on|off
• :autosave on|off
• :help
• :about

Main Shortcuts

• Ctrl+W Open
• Ctrl+Alt+O Open Remote
• Ctrl+T New Tab
• Ctrl+Shift+T Close Tab
• Ctrl+S Save
• Ctrl+Shift+S Save All
• Ctrl+Shift+Q Save As
• Ctrl+Alt+S Save Copy As
• Ctrl+F Find
• Ctrl+R Replace Bytes
• Ctrl+I Inspector / Checksums
• F3 Find Next
• Shift+F3 Find Previous
• Ctrl+G Go To Offset
• Ctrl+Q Compare Tabs
• Ctrl+Shift+K Command Panel
• Ctrl+Plus Zoom In
• Ctrl+Minus Zoom Out
• F1 Help Contents
• Shift+F1 About Hex-X

Locales

The English locale (cfg/language/en_us.yml) is the source locale for the Hex-X UI. Other locale files keep compatible keys and can be translated from the updated English text.