editmd
Edit markdown as a rendered page. Save it as plain markdown.
A small native Mac editor. You type in the formatted document, as in a word processor, and editmd writes the file back as markdown.
brew install --cask kirahowe/tap/editmd
Features
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Edit the page, not the syntax
Type as you would in any word processor. Markdown shortcuts work too:
#starts a heading,-a list, and**bold**turns bold when you close it. -
Your file stays your file
Open a file and save it without editing, and the bytes on disk stay exactly as they were. Edited files keep their links, images, reference links, YAML or TOML front matter, encoding and line endings.
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Saves as you go
A second after you stop typing, or every five seconds if you keep going. Cmd-S saves straight away, and closing a window saves instead of asking.
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GitHub flavored
Tables, strikethrough and task lists with checkboxes you can click. Headings get the same anchors GitHub gives them, so a table of contents written for GitHub works here too.
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Mermaid diagrams
Fenced
mermaidblocks render as diagrams. Click one to edit its source with a live preview underneath. The file keeps the ordinary fenced block. -
Source view
Cmd-/ switches between the rendered view and the markdown source.
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Drop in images
Drop an image file on the document to add it where you drop it, linked by a path relative to the document's folder.
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Light and dark
The window follows the system's light or dark appearance.
Works alongside coding agents
Other programs can edit the file while it is open, a coding agent for example. editmd notices and merges their changes into the window.
- With nothing unsaved, the window just shows the new version.
- With unsaved edits, both sides' changes are kept. Edits to different paragraphs, list items or table rows combine, and your cursor stays where it was.
- Cmd-Z undoes only your own edits, not the agent's.
- Before writing, a save reads the file one last time and merges anything newer on disk.
Each window keeps the document in a Yjs CRDT and replays outside changes as edits against it, block by block. If you and the other program change the same paragraph at the same time, the paragraph keeps both changes, which may need tidying.
Safe to open someone else's README
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Links don't launch anything
Cmd-click opens a link. Web and mail links go to your browser or mail app, and text files open in editmd. Any other local file, folder or app is shown in Finder rather than opened. Other schemes ask first and show the full URL.
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Remote images wait for you
As in Mail, images from the web don't load until you choose View > Load Remote Images, so an image in a document can't tell anyone you opened it.
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Nothing from the network
The editor and Mermaid are bundled into the app. A content rule list blocks every load except the app's own files.
Install
With Homebrew
brew install --cask kirahowe/tap/editmd
From source
You need Xcode (or the Swift toolchain) and bun. make install builds the app, copies it to ~/Applications and registers it.
git clone https://github.com/kirahowe/editmd
cd editmd
make installThen open a file
open -a editmd notes.md