A Mac app. Through and through.
AppKit windows. System WebKit. Familiar shortcuts, trackpad gestures and native file dialogs. MDVu feels at home because it is built on the frameworks already on your Mac.
AppKit + WebKit v0.4.1 / Small app. Big possibilities.
MDVu — native Markdown viewer for macOSLess app.
MDVu — native Markdown viewer for macOSLess app.
More document.
MDVu is a fast, native Markdown viewer for macOS. Read .md files beautifully, from a simple README to diagrams, equations and a whole vault of ideas.
brew install --cask stpork/tap/mdvu A LITTLE APP. THE WHOLE PICTURE.
~3.4 MiB
native app, engines included
61.57 ms
to parse 1 MiB of Markdown¹
0 Electron
AppKit + your Mac’s WebKit
100% free
open source, MIT licensed
PURPOSEFULLY SMALL
Everything you want to read.
Nothing to get in the way.
Opening a document should be the easy part. MDVu brings rich rendering and a native Mac experience to a remarkably small app.
Small by design. Rich by default.
About 3.4 MiB for the native app, including compressed diagram engines. No bundled Chromium, Node.js or JVM. Heavy renderers load only when your document needs them.
~3.4 MiBYour files. Your machine.
Read local documents without an account, upload or subscription. Math and diagrams render on your Mac. No telemetry in the app. Your workflow stays yours.
Local renderingRICH DOCUMENTS. ZERO SETUP.
Markdown.
With all the good parts.
Technical docs are more than headings and paragraphs. Read the diagram, understand the equation, follow the callout. The engines are already inside.
architecture.md
```mermaid
flowchart LR
A[Your Markdown] --> B{MDVu}
B --> C[Beautiful documents]
B --> D[Local rendering]
```THE IDEA, MADE VISIBLE
Your MarkdownMDVu
Beautiful documentsLocal rendering
Architecture, sequences, charts and relationships. No diagram server. No Java install.
research.md
## A little mathematical beauty
Euler’s identity: $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$
$$
\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-x^2} dx
= \sqrt{\pi}
$$MATHEMATICS, NOT SCREENSHOTS
Inline equations and display math, rendered with native WebKit MathML. No formula-font downloads.
notes.md
> [!NOTE] Stay in context
> Your best ideas deserve a little space.
> [!TIP] Keep exploring
> Follow [[Architecture|the bigger picture]].GIVE THE IMPORTANT BITS A VOICE
ⓘ Stay in context
Your best ideas deserve a little space.
◇ Keep exploring
Follow the bigger picture.
Familiar syntax, readable structure. Your notes keep their meaning when you open them here.
Illustrative syntax examples. See the actual MDVu rendering in the app screenshot above.
CommonMark / GFM
Tables, tasks, footnotes, autolinks and strikethrough. Powered by cmark-gfm.
Obsidian
Callouts, collapsible notes, wikilinks and media embeds.
MkDocs
Admonitions with !!!, ??? and ???+ syntax.
Docusaurus / VuePress
Fenced :::note, :::tip, :::warning and :::danger containers.
CriticMarkup
Additions, deletions, substitutions, highlights and review comments.
And the useful details
YAML frontmatter, GitLab TOC tokens, subscript, superscript and underline.
FAST, WITH THE RECEIPTS
A small footprint.
A quick mind.
A fast C parser at the core. Work starts while the app starts. Repeated diagrams come from a cache. Every layer is built to do less unnecessary work.
- Reference cmark-gfm parsing engine
- Prewarmed WebView for subsequent windows
- Diagram engines load independently, on demand
- SHA-256 disk cache for rendered diagrams
MARKDOWN PARSING / v0.4.1arm64
61.57 ms
1 MiB of Markdown → parsed
¹ Recorded native arm64 run: median of five iterations after warmup, repeated test-light.md input. Parser only; excludes app launch, DOM rendering and diagram execution. Results vary by Mac and document. Not a competitor benchmark.
my-next-idea.md
⌄ my-project⌄ docs ◧ architecture.md ◧ getting-started.md› notes◧ README.md
YOUR NEXT GOOD IDEARoom to think.
Everything in its right place.
⌘OOpen. Read. Keep moving.
AT HOME IN YOUR WORKFLOW
From one README
to a thousand ideas.
Open a file, a project folder or an Obsidian vault. Follow the table of contents on the left and explore your files on the right. No importing. No new place to keep your work.
Read your way
Light or dark. Readable width or edge to edge. Find, zoom from 10–500%, and move through history with a two-finger swipe.
Add a Markdown preview
Save a change and watch the preview update. Launch from Terminal, or render a Markdown file to a PNG with the snapshot command.
$ mdvu --snapshot output.png README.md
THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE READ
Your editor can stay.
Your viewer can be better.
Choose MDVu when the job is to open, understand and move through documents. You get rich technical rendering in a focused native app, without setting up a workspace or plugin stack.
| What matters | MDVu THE FOCUSED ONE | Obsidian | Typora | VS Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | Focused reading | Knowledge management | Writing & editing | Software development |
| Markdown + math | Built in | Built in | Built in | Built in |
| Mermaid | Built in · offline | Built in | Built in | Built in |
| PlantUML | Bundled · no Java | Via community plugins | Not documented¹ | Via extensions |
| App license / price | MIT · free | Proprietary · free | Proprietary · paid | Free · source: MIT² |
A feature comparison, not a speed ranking. Other tools offer broader editing or knowledge-management workflows. ¹ PlantUML is not listed in Typora’s official diagram guide. ² VS Code binaries have a Microsoft product license; the Code - OSS source is MIT. Features checked October 10, 2026.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE DOCUMENT
Meet your new
Markdown viewer.
Small download. Rich documents. A little more joy
every time you open a Markdown file.
One command. You’re in.
Already using Homebrew? Install the app and its command-line tool together.
brew install --cask stpork/tap/mdvu01
Install with Homebrew, or open the DMG and drag MDVu into Applications.
02
Open a Markdown file or folder. That’s your setup.
v0.4.1 is ad-hoc signed. macOS may require first-launch approval. Installation notes ↗
What is a Markdown viewer?
A Markdown viewer displays plain .md files as formatted documents, with readable headings, tables, code and links. MDVu provides a native Markdown preview on macOS, including offline math and diagram rendering.
Which Markdown files can I open?
MDVu is an MD file viewer for .md, .markdown, .mdown and .mkd documents. Open a README, project documentation or a folder of notes directly from Finder or Terminal. The original Markdown files stay where they are.
Is MDVu an editor?
MDVu is a dedicated viewer. Write in your favorite editor and keep MDVu beside it: the file watcher refreshes the document when you save. It is made for reading, reviewing and navigating Markdown.
Which Macs are supported?
macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel. The DMG contains a Universal app; architecture-specific ZIP archives are also available on GitHub Releases.
Does it really work offline?
Markdown, math and the bundled diagram engines render locally without a server, account or Java installation. Remote images or other external resources referenced by a document can still use the network. MDVu itself has no telemetry.
Can I open my Obsidian vault?
Yes. Open a folder or a Markdown file inside your vault. MDVu recognizes .obsidian and .git roots and supports callouts, wikilinks and media embeds. It does not run Obsidian plugins or replicate every vault feature.
Why might macOS show a first-launch warning?
The v0.4.1 release is ad-hoc signed, not Apple-notarized. Gatekeeper may ask for an explicit first-launch approval. Download only from the project’s official releases, check the published SHA-256 checksum and follow the installation notes linked below.
Is it free for commercial use?
Yes. MDVu is released under the MIT license, with no subscription or paid feature tier. Bundled third-party components retain their own licenses, listed in the repository.
Open source. Open possibilities.
Read the code. Report a bug. Make it better. A small app with room for your ideas.