QuickMD

This project is a simple tool that solves a simple problem: I'd like to preview markdown files as they'll show up on Github, so I don't have to push my READMEs before I can tell whether they're formatted well enough. It ends up looking like this:

It's a Rust app that launches a GtkWebkit window that renders the compiled HTML of the given markdown file. It monitors this file for any changes and reloads. It uses a stylesheet that's literally copied off Github's markdown stylesheet.

Note: I have no idea if I'm allowed to use Github's stylesheet. The relevant file is in res/style/github.css, and if I am told I shouldn't be using it I'll go ahead and scrub it from git history.

Installation

You'll need to have Rust and the cargo tool. The easiest way to get that done is through rustup.rs.

You'll also need the GTK+, GLib and webkit2gtk development files to be installed on your system. The Gtk-rs requirements page should be a good guide.

After that, you can build and install the app from crates.io using:

cargo install quickmd

Make sure that ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH so you can call the quickmd executable.

Usage

Running the app is as simple as:

quickmd <markdown-file>

Pressing escape will close the window. Running it with --help should provide more info on the available options:

USAGE:
    quickmd [FLAGS] <input-file.md>

FLAGS:
    -d, --debug       Activate debug logging
    -h, --help        Prints help information
    -V, --version     Prints version information
        --no-watch    Disables watching file for changes

ARGS:
    <input-file.md>    Markdown file to render

Configuration

You can change the CSS of the preview HTML by writing CSS in one of these files:

• ~/.quickmd.css
• ~/.config/quickmd.css

The built-in CSS that is used is stored in /res/style.