md-viewer 0.1.1

Fast, lightweight markdown viewer for Linux with tabs, file explorer, and live reload
md-viewer-0.1.1 is not a library.

md-viewer

Crates.io AUR Snap License: MIT GitHub stars

A fast, lightweight markdown viewer for Linux built with Rust and egui. Designed for distraction-free reading with excellent typography and syntax highlighting.

Dark Mode

Features

Rendering

  • GitHub Flavored Markdown - Full GFM support including tables, task lists, and footnotes
  • Syntax Highlighting - 200+ languages via syntect with beautiful color schemes
  • Images & SVG - Embedded image support (PNG, JPEG, GIF, SVG)
  • 60 FPS Rendering - Smooth scrolling with viewport-based lazy rendering
  • Typography - 1.5x line height for optimal readability (WCAG 2.1 compliant)

Navigation

  • Tab System - Open multiple documents with tab bar (Ctrl+Click links to open in new tab)
  • File Explorer - Hierarchical sidebar showing markdown files in the directory
  • Outline Sidebar - Click-to-navigate table of contents from document headers
  • Per-Tab History - Back/forward navigation within each tab (Alt+Left/Right)
  • Internal Links - Navigate between markdown files with relative links

View

  • Dark & Light Themes - Toggle with Ctrl+D
  • Zoom - 50% to 300% zoom (Ctrl++/-/0 or Ctrl+Scroll)
  • Live Reload - Auto-refresh on file changes when watching is enabled

Usability

  • Drag and Drop - Drop markdown files onto the window to open
  • Native Dialogs - System file picker integration
  • Session Persistence - Remembers open tabs, theme, zoom, and sidebar state
  • Cross-Platform - Works on X11 and Wayland

Screenshots

Dark Mode

File explorer, document outline, and tabbed browsing

Dark Mode

Light Mode with Syntax Highlighting

Code blocks with 200+ language support via syntect

Light Mode

Dark Mode with Code

Consistent syntax highlighting across themes

Syntax Highlighting

Keyboard Shortcuts

Tab Management

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+T New tab (open file dialog)
Ctrl+W Close current tab
Ctrl+Tab Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Previous tab
Ctrl+1-9 Switch to tab 1-9

Navigation

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+O Open file dialog
Alt+Left Navigate back in history
Alt+Right Navigate forward in history
Click link Navigate in current tab
Ctrl+Click link Open link in new tab

View

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+D Toggle dark/light mode
Ctrl+Shift+E Toggle file explorer
Ctrl+Shift+O Toggle outline sidebar
Ctrl++ / Ctrl+= Zoom in
Ctrl+- Zoom out
Ctrl+0 Reset zoom to 100%
Ctrl+Scroll Zoom with mouse wheel

File Operations

Shortcut Action
F5 Toggle file watching
Ctrl+Q Quit application

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

# Using yay
yay -S md-viewer-git

# Using paru
paru -S md-viewer-git

Snap Store

sudo snap install md-viewer

Cargo (crates.io)

cargo install md-viewer

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aydiler/md-viewer
cd md-viewer

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# Install to ~/.local/bin (optional)
make install

System Dependencies (Arch Linux)

sudo pacman -S --needed \
    base-devel clang pkg-config \
    libxcb libxkbcommon openssl \
    gtk3 fontconfig dbus zenity \
    xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

Usage

# Open a file
md-viewer README.md

# Open with live reload (auto-refresh on file changes)
md-viewer README.md --watch
md-viewer README.md -w

Technical Details

  • Binary size: ~8.7 MB (includes syntax highlighting, image support, X11+Wayland)
  • Startup time: < 200ms
  • Rendering: 60 FPS with viewport-based clipping
  • Memory: Uses mimalloc for improved allocation performance
  • Platform: Linux (X11 and Wayland via glow backend)

Built With

License

MIT