<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/banner.png" alt="Banner">
</div>
<h1 align="center">🗒️mdv</h1>
<p align="center">
<b>Fast, themeable Markdown viewer for the terminal</b><br>
<i>Render, tweak, and monitor Markdown without leaving your shell</i>
</p>
> [!TIP]
> **Russian version:** [README-RU.md](README-RU.md)
> [!NOTE]
> mdv is a terminal Markdown viewer focused on precise rendering inside ANSI-capable terminals. It offers:
>
> - **Terminal-first rendering** - Syntax highlighted output, optional HTML export, and careful handling of inline formatting.
> - **Reusable layouts** - Control width, wrapping strategy, heading indentation, and table behavior to match your workspace.
> - **Link presentation control** - Switch between clickable, inline, or tabular links and choose how long URLs are truncated.
> - **Rich theming** - Built-in color schemes plus on-the-fly overrides for UI and syntax palettes.
> - **Live monitoring** - Watch files with `--monitor` to refresh the view whenever the source changes.
> - **Script friendly CLI** - Read from stdin, jump to sections with `--from`, and share configuration files across machines.
> [!IMPORTANT]
>
> ## Required dependencies:
>
> - Rust toolchain
> - Terminal with ANSI color support for the best experience
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/overview.webp" alt="Overview" width="900px">
</div>
## Installation
### Install from crates.io
```bash
cargo install mdv
```
This installs the latest published release from crates.io into your Cargo bin directory.
### Install from source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/WhoSowSee/mdv.git mdv
cd mdv
cargo install --path .
```
The command above builds mdv and places the binary into the Cargo bin directory (usually `~/.cargo/bin`).
### Run locally without installing
```bash
cargo build --release
./target/release/mdv README.md
```
Use the `mdv` binary from `target/release` directly or add it to your PATH.
## Usage
```text
mdv [OPTIONS] [FILE]
```
Also, mdv supports reading from standard input (stdin) and working in pipelines
```text
mdv [OPTIONS] -
### Output and workflow
- `-H, --html` prints HTML instead of terminal formatting.
- `-A, --no-colors` strips ANSI styling regardless of the selected theme.
- `-C, --hide-comments` removes Markdown comments from the rendered output.
- `-i, --theme-info [FILE]` shows the active palette; when `FILE` is provided it renders the file along with palette information.
- `-f, --from <TEXT>` starts rendering from the first match of `<TEXT>`. Adding `:<lines>` limits the number of lines (for example `--from "Install:20"`).
- `-r, --reverse` renders the document starting from the end while keeping block formatting intact.
- `-m, --monitor` watches the source file and re-renders when it changes.
- `-F, --config-file <CONFIG_PATH>` reads configuration from the provided file.
- `-n, --no-config` skips loading configuration files (uses CLI options and defaults only).
### Theming
- `-t, --theme <NAME>` chooses a built-in theme (default `terminal`).
- `-T, --code-theme <NAME>` sets the syntax highlight palette (default `terminal`).
- `-s, --style-code-block <simple|pretty>` switches between a single gutter and a boxed frame for code blocks (default `pretty`).
- `-y, --custom-theme <key=value;...>` overrides UI colors on top of the selected theme.
- `-Y, --custom-code-theme <key=value;...>` overrides syntax colors using the same format as `--custom-theme`.
### Callouts
- `--callout-style <pretty|simple>[:show-icons;fold-icons;label-inside;uppercase]` sets the callout layout and label behavior.
`label-inside` is only supported with `pretty`, `fold-icons` requires `show-icons`.
- `--custom-callout <name:icon=...,color=...;...>` overrides or adds callout labels.
`icon` and `color` are optional; color formats match `--custom-theme`.
- Icons require Nerd Fonts in the terminal to render correctly.
### Layout and wrapping
- `-c, --cols <N>` enforces the output width. When omitted mdv uses the detected terminal width or a fallback of 80 columns.
- `-b, --tab-length <N>` replaces tab characters with `N` spaces (default 4).
- `-W, --wrap <char|word|none>` selects the text wrapping mode (default `char`).
- `-w, --table-wrap <fit|wrap|none>` chooses how wide tables are handled (default `fit`).
- `-d, --heading-layout <level|center|flat|none>` controls heading indentation (default `level`).
- `-I, --smart-indent` smooths indentation jumps between heading levels in `level` mode.
- `-K, --code-wrap-indent <none|base|double>` sets the hanging indent applied to wrapped code block lines (default `double`).
### Content visibility
- `-L, --no-code-language` hides the language label above code blocks when metadata is available.
- `-e, --show-empty-elements` keeps normally hidden empty lists, block quotes, and code blocks in the output.
- `-g, --no-code-guessing` disables heuristic detection of code block languages (unknown blocks remain plain text).
### Links
- `-u, --link-style <clickable|fclickable|inline|inlinetable|endtable|hide>` changes how links are displayed (default `clickable`).
- `-l, --link-truncation <wrap|cut|none>` determines how long links are shortened (default `wrap`).
### Footnotes
- `--footnote-style <endnotes|attached>` places footnotes at the end of the document or after each paragraph.
- `--missing-footnote-style <show|hide>` controls placeholder entries for missing, invalid, or empty footnote definitions.
`show` renders a placeholder message in the footnote block
`hide` omits those entries entirely.
### Information
- `-h, --help` shows the help text.
- `-V, --version` prints the current version.
## Configuration
mdv merges settings from several sources in the following order of precedence:
1. CLI options (highest priority).
2. Environment variable `MDV_CONFIG_PATH` or the `--config-file` flag.
3. User-level configuration under `~/.config/mdv/` (`~\.config\mdv\` on Windows).
Configuration files must be written in YAML (`.yaml` or `.yml`). See `docs/examples/config.yaml` for a complete template including inline documentation:
```yaml
# docs/examples/config.yaml
theme: 'monokai'
code_theme: 'monokai'
wrap: 'char'
table_wrap: 'fit'
heading_layout: 'level'
smart_indent: true
code_wrap_indent: 'double'
link_style: 'inlinetable'
link_truncation: 'wrap'
```
## Environment variables
- `MDV_CONFIG_PATH` - custom path to configuration file.
- `MDV_NO_COLOR` - accepts `True` or `False` and enforces color usage regardless of CLI arguments or theme settings.
## Themes
Built-in themes include:
<details>
<summary><code>terminal</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_terminal_1.webp" alt="Theme Terminal preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_terminal_2.webp" alt="Theme Terminal preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_terminal_3.webp" alt="Theme Terminal preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>monokai</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_monokai_1.webp" alt="Theme Monokai preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_monokai_2.webp" alt="Theme Monokai preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_monokai_3.webp" alt="Theme Monokai preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>solarized-dark</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_solarized-dark_1.webp" alt="Theme Solarized Dark preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_solarized-dark_2.webp" alt="Theme Solarized Dark preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_solarized-dark_3.webp" alt="Theme Solarized Dark preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>nord</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_nord_1.webp" alt="Theme Nord preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_nord_2.webp" alt="Theme Nord preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_nord_3.webp" alt="Theme Nord preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>tokyonight</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_tokyonight_1.webp" alt="Theme Tokyonight preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_tokyonight_2.webp" alt="Theme Tokyonight preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_tokyonight_3.webp" alt="Theme Tokyonight preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>kanagawa</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_kanagawa_1.webp" alt="Theme Kanagawa preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_kanagawa_2.webp" alt="Theme Kanagawa preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_kanagawa_3.webp" alt="Theme Kanagawa preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>gruvbox</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_gruvbox_1.webp" alt="Theme Gruvbox preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_gruvbox_2.webp" alt="Theme Gruvbox preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_gruvbox_3.webp" alt="Theme Gruvbox preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>material-ocean</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_material-ocean_1.webp" alt="Theme Material Ocean preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_material-ocean_2.webp" alt="Theme Material Ocean preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_material-ocean_3.webp" alt="Theme Material Ocean preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
<details>
<summary><code>catppucin</code></summary>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_catppucin_1.webp" alt="Theme Catppucin preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_catppucin_2.webp" alt="Theme Catppucin preview" width="900px">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="docs/images/theme_catppucin_3.webp" alt="Theme Catppucin preview" width="900px">
</div>
</details>
Switch between them with `--theme` or set a default in your configuration file.
Use `--custom-theme` to override UI colors and `--custom-code-theme` to fine-tune syntax highlighting. Overrides accept `key=value` pairs separated by semicolons, where keys match palette fields (for example `text`, `h1`, `border`, `keyword`, `function`). Color values can be hex codes (`#rrggbb`), comma-separated RGB (`187,154,247`), named ANSI colors (`red`, `darkgrey`), or 256-color indexes (`ansi(42)`).
Run `mdv --theme-info` to preview the active palette. Add a path (`mdv --theme-info README.md`) to inspect how colors apply to a document. Starting from `examples/config.yaml` you can build your own theme variants and keep them in version control.
## Star History
[](https://star-history.com/#WhoSowSee/mdv&Date)
## License
Product is MIT-licensed. For more information check the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file