OKMD

Markdown, nicely set

Markdown files are plain text, so most things that open them show you plain text — or bury the document in a sidebar, a file tree and a row of panes. OKMD does neither. It opens the file and sets it properly: serif headings, real code blocks, tables that line up. That is the whole idea.

It is free, open source, and Mac-only. macOS 12 or later on Apple silicon. It is signed and notarized, so it just opens.

One interaction

There is a single control, top centre: Preview or Raw, also ⌘E. Preview is the typeset document. Raw is the markdown behind it. Nothing else to configure, and no mode to get lost in.

The preview is editable

Most readers make you switch to a source pane to fix a typo. In OKMD you type directly into the formatted document and the markdown underneath updates to match. Task-list checkboxes are live too — tick one in the preview and the - [x] is written into the file. Save with ⌘S and you get clean markdown back, not HTML.

Screenshots

A travel note in Preview: a serif heading, a table of train times with the columns lined up, an indented quotation and two task-list checkboxes — Preview: serif headings, a table that lines up, live checkboxes.

The same note in Raw: its markdown source in a monospaced face, pipe table and all — The same file in Raw, one ⌘E away.

A note about a backup script in dark mode, with a fenced shell block highlighted — Dark, and a shell block highlighted.

What it does

A window per document — with native macOS tabs, so Window ▸ Merge All Windows works the way it does everywhere else.
Opens where you left off — an empty window shows your recent files first, then New and Open.
Syntax highlighting — fenced code blocks are highlighted in three dozen languages, the ones people actually paste: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Swift, SQL, shell and the rest.
Drag and drop — drop a .md file on the window to open it.
Light and dark — follows the system, with a palette built for long reading rather than maximum contrast.

Nothing behind it

OKMD has no network code in it at all. No account, no sync, no telemetry, no update check, no cloud. The syntax highlighter and markdown parser are bundled into the app, so it renders the same on a plane as it does at your desk. The only thing it ever writes outside your documents is the list of files you opened recently.

Open source

The whole thing is about six hundred lines of JavaScript, MIT licensed, and readable in one sitting on GitHub.

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