Markdown Preview: A Native, Lightweight Markdown Reader for macOS

Markdown Preview is a Markdown reader designed specifically for macOS. Drop a .md file onto the app icon, or set Markdown Preview as the default handler, and it will display the document in a clean, scrollable layout with outline navigation—without Electron or another browser tab.

Although reading remains its primary focus, Markdown Preview also offers lightweight editing, Finder previews, and integrations with popular editors and AI apps. It is well suited to reading project READMEs, technical documentation, meeting notes, and Markdown content generated by AI tools.

Key Features

• Native macOS experience: Built with AppKit, Markdown Preview follows familiar macOS window, toolbar, and keyboard shortcut conventions.

• Document outline: Headings are automatically turned into a navigable outline. Click any item in the sidebar to jump directly to that section.

• Finder Quick Look: Select a .md file in Finder and press the Space bar to preview the rendered document. The same extension also works with Spotlight and supported email attachments.

• Lightweight editing: Press ⌘E to edit the current Markdown file in place. The formatting toolbar provides quick access to headings, emphasis, lists, blockquotes, code, and links. Press ⌘S to save your changes.

• Mermaid and math rendering: Mermaid diagrams, inline LaTeX, display equations, and fenced math blocks are supported. The required renderers are bundled with the app, allowing previews to work offline.

• Search and text zoom: Search within the current document, move between matches, and adjust the text size using the trackpad, toolbar controls, or keyboard shortcuts.

• Open in your preferred editor: Send the current file to VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Sublime Text, BBEdit, Xcode, TextEdit, or another Markdown-aware editor. Markdown Preview remembers your previous selection.

• Open in AI apps: Send the current Markdown file to Codex, Claude, or ChatGPT from the toolbar. The Share menu passes the raw Markdown source, making it easy to continue editing or rewriting the content.

• Command-line tools: Install the mdp, md-preview, and markdown-preview commands from the app menu, then open files or folders directly from the terminal:

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mdp README.md
mdp .

Supported File Types

Markdown Preview supports the following file extensions:

• .md
• .markdown
• .mdown
• .txt

System Requirements

• macOS 15 or later
• Apple Silicon and Intel Macs

Installation

Markdown Preview is available from the official Homebrew Cask repository:

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brew install --cask markdown-preview

Alternatively, download the signed and notarized DMG from GitHub Releases.

Markdown Preview is free and open source under the MIT License. Release builds can submit limited anonymous crash reports, but they do not collect document contents, file paths, personal information, network requests, or usage breadcrumbs. Crash reporting can be disabled completely from the app’s settings.