Marky

A simple, fast markdown viewer and editor that just works.

Open any .md file, read it the way it's meant to be read, edit it the way you'd edit a doc. No mode switches, no sidebars in the way, no syntax noise. Just text.

YAML frontmatter is preserved and editable: files that open with a --- block get a collapsible metadata panel, and the block round-trips without corruption.

Cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux), open source, ~10 MB.

Install

Download the latest release for your platform: Releases →

• macOS (Apple Silicon / Intel): .dmg. Builds are not yet notarized, so after dragging Marky to Applications, clear the download quarantine flag once:

  /usr/bin/xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Marky.app
  

  (Use the full /usr/bin/xattr path — a Homebrew/Python xattr earlier in your PATH may not support the -r flag.)

  Then open Marky normally. (Right-click → Open does not bypass this on current macOS — you'll see a misleading "is damaged" error until you run the command above. The app is fine; it's just unsigned.) Once installed, future versions auto-update without this step.

• Windows: .msi — SmartScreen warning expected until we sign.

• Linux: .deb / .AppImage.

Then double-click any .md file, or run marky path/to/file.md after installing the optional CLI shim (sudo sh scripts/install-cli.sh on macOS).

What works today

• Double-click a .md file → it opens in Marky
• WYSIWYG editing (CommonMark + GFM): bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes, code, links, tables
• File menu: New, Open, Save, Save As, Revert, Recent Files, Show in Finder
• Keyboard shortcuts (⌘N / ⌘O / ⌘S / ⌘⇧S, ⌘B / ⌘I / ⌘K, ⌘1–6 for headings, …)
• Dirty-state tracking — warns before closing or discarding
• File watcher — prompts to reload if the file changes on disk
• Drag a .md file onto the window to open it
• Light / Dark / System theme
• Zoom in/out (⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0 to reset) — persists across sessions
• Auto-update — checks GitHub Releases on launch (and via Marky → Check for Updates…), installs signed updates with one click
• Help menu: Report a Bug, Suggest a Feature, View on GitHub

Stack

• Shell: Tauri 2 (Rust + native webviews)
• Editor: Milkdown 7 (ProseMirror-based, true WYSIWYG)
• Frontend: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite
• Targets: macOS, Windows, Linux

Run

npm install
npm run tauri dev

First run will compile the Rust dependencies — expect 3-5 minutes.

Build

npm run tauri build

Outputs:

• macOS: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/
• Windows: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/msi/
• Linux: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/{deb,appimage}/

Roadmap

v0.1 (shipped)

• Tauri 2 shell, React + TS frontend
• Milkdown editor with CommonMark + GFM
• Open / save .md files via native dialogs
• Keyboard shortcuts (⌘N/O/S/⇧S, ⌘B/I/K, ⌘1–6, …)
• Recent files menu
• Dirty-state warning on close / discard
• File watcher — reload prompt on external edits
• Drag-and-drop to open
• Light / dark / system theme
• Help menu — bug report and feature suggestion

v0.2 (next)

• Better typography defaults (iA Writer-quality)
• Image paste → assets/ folder + relative path rewrite

v0.2 (differentiators)

• Theme engine + 6 ship-quality themes
• Export: HTML, PDF (via webview print), DOCX (pandoc shellout)
• File tree pane + outline pane
• Slash-command menu
• Math (KaTeX), Mermaid, syntax highlighting (Shiki)

Notes

• The fs:scope capability is currently ** for dev convenience. Tighten before shipping — Tauri's dialog-driven access pattern (allow only files the user picked) is the correct production model.
• Linux uses WebKitGTK and may have minor rendering differences from macOS (WKWebView) and Windows (WebView2). Shipped as best-effort, not pixel-parity.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.