Emacs London

A local user group dedicated to Emacs, the powerful customisable text editor, and to Emacs Lisp, its programming language.

Intro

Emacs is a powerful and customisable text editor. People use Emacs to write code and prose, organise their tasks, handle email, interact with LLMs and LLM agents, and much more. Emacs is one of the oldest pieces of software in existence and has been around since the 1970s. It has grown and adapted over the last half century, and remains the cherished choice close to the heart of many.

  • Whether you discovered Emacs last week or have been using it since 1976
  • Whether you are a programmer 🖥️, a writer ✍️, a baker 🍞 or a nurse 💉
  • Whether you are a lisp hacker 🦸🏻‍♀️ or not
  • Whether you use vanilla 🍦 Emacs defaults, Spacemacs 🪐, Doom 👹, Evil 😈 or anything else
  • Never used Emacs before? 🌱 That's fine too! Plenty of us remember our first bewildering encounter with Emacs—come and we'll help you find your footing.

We usually meet at University College London, 40 Bernard Street, WC1N 1LE on the second Tuesday of every month. But sometimes, we choose a different day or location. Please check our events listing or Fediverse feed.

During the meetup, we often have a short talk from a community member. We then follow it up with open discussion where people have the opportunity to chime in with Emacs questions, latest discoveries, hacks, etc.

The meetup is absolutely free to attend. It usually runs for around 2 hours, and some of us go to the pub afterwards.

If you'd like to get involved, speak, or just have questions, please send us a message here on meetup.com. Don't be shy to reach out or just show up at the meetup. Everyone is welcome!

Code of Conduct

We believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their background or experience. We value considerate and respectful behaviour. Please be respectful and empathetic of differing viewpoints, perspectives and life experiences. Please work with us to cultivate an environment where newcomers feel welcome and comfortable, regardless of their gender, religious, ethnic, linguistic, class or caste identity. If you experience or witness behaviour that makes you uncomfortable, please contact one of the organisers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long has this meetup been running?

The current incarnation of the Emacs meetup has been running since August 2025. It is organised by Álvaro Ramírez, Arun Isaac, Eric Fraga and Fabio Natali. There have been previous incarnations over the years in London run by others in the community.

Do I need to bring a laptop?

You are welcome to bring your laptop to share your Emacs setup, or you're free to just follow along without one.

Is there a mailing list or chat?

We are on the Fediverse at @emacs_london@hachyderm.io.