Spacemacs is a configuration framework for GNU Emacs.

[6] It can take advantage of all of GNU Emacs' features, including both graphical and command-line user interfaces, and being executable under X Window System and within a Unix shell terminal.

[7] It is free and open-source software (FOSS) released under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.

[8][9][10] It features a novel mnemonic key binding design (e.g., commands for file manipulation often start with "f",) which attempts to improve ergonomics (and avoid emacs pinky), a system for adding or excluding pre-configured features called 'layers', and includes verbose software documentation.

As of 2021[update], its repository on GitHub has been starred over 21,100 times and has over 11,300 commits.