Reader.md app icon

Reader.md

A fast, native markdown reader for your Mac. Point it at your notes, docs, or an entire repo — and just read.

Free & open source · macOS 13+ · Apple silicon · Auto-updates via Sparkle

Built for reading, not editing

Open anything

Single files, whole folders, or a mix. Add any number of roots, drag folders onto the window, or make it your default markdown app.

Remote SSH folders

Browse markdown on a VPS: Reader.md rsyncs it read-only into a local cache using your existing ~/.ssh config. No credentials stored.

Live reload

Edit in your favorite editor — the open file re-renders on save with scroll position preserved, and the file tree stays in sync.

Mermaid, LaTeX & code

Diagrams, math, and syntax highlighting render out of the box, fully offline. YAML frontmatter shows as a clean table.

Find everything

⌘P fuzzy quick-open across all roots, ⇧⌘F live file filter, and a native ⌘F in-page find with match highlighting.

Outline & progress

A collapsible outline pane with scrollspy, a reading progress bar, plus word count and reading time in the status bar.

Liquid Glass chrome

Native SwiftUI shell with Apple's Liquid Glass on macOS 26 Tahoe (translucent fallback on 13–15). Light, dark, or system — plus Standard, Editorial, and Terminal reading themes.

Export to PDF

⌘E turns the rendered document into a PDF. Code blocks get copy buttons; images zoom in a click-to-open lightbox.

Private by design

All rendering assets are bundled. The only network access is the update check — and the SSH hosts you add yourself.

Install in seconds

Homebrew

Tap once, install, and let the built-in Sparkle updater handle upgrades.

brew tap jnahian/reader.md https://github.com/jnahian/reader.md
brew install --cask reader-md

Direct download

Grab the DMG and drag Reader.md to Applications. First launch: right-click → Open (the app is signed but not notarized).

Download Reader.md.dmg

Keyboard-first

Quick open⌘P
Open file⌘O
Find in page⌘F
Filter files⇧⌘F
Find next / previous⌘G / ⇧⌘G
Back / forward⌘[ / ⌘]
Toggle sidebar⌘\
Toggle outline⇧⌘O
Text size⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0
Export PDF⌘E
Reload⌘R
Shortcuts help⌘/

See the full list →

Open source, open ears

Star the repo

Reader.md is free and MIT-licensed. A star helps others find it.

Star on GitHub →

Share feedback

Found a bug or wish it did something more? Open an issue — every report gets read.

Report an issue →

Contribute

PRs welcome — the contributing guide covers setup, conventions, and the PR flow.

Read the guide →