md_reader

A fast, native desktop markdown reader and editor built with egui and the help of Claude. Open a folder and browse your notes with live preview, syntax-highlighted code blocks, and a persistent session that remembers where you left off.

Features

• Three view modes — Preview, Edit, and Split (side-by-side)
• Live preview — rendered markdown updates as you type in Split/Edit mode
• Syntax highlighting — code blocks highlighted via syntect
• File-tree sidebar — browse folders, open multiple files as tabs
• Document outline — collapsible heading tree with auto-scroll tracking
• Full-text search — Ctrl+F with case-sensitive and whole-word options
• Four themes — Light (Manuscript), Coal, Navy, Ayu
• Zoom — Ctrl+Scroll to scale content independently of the UI
• File watching — auto-reloads files edited externally
• Session persistence — restores open tabs, view mode, theme, and zoom on restart
• Unsaved-changes guard — prompts before closing a modified file

Preview

Split mode (light theme)	Preview mode (coal theme)

Split mode (ayu theme)	Split mode (navy theme)

Installation

cargo install md_reader

Requirements: a C compiler and system libraries for your platform (standard Rust toolchain setup). On Linux, you may need libxcb / libwayland dev packages depending on your desktop environment.

Usage

# Open the current directory
md_reader

# Open a specific folder
md_reader path/to/notes/

# Open a specific file (also loads its parent directory into the sidebar)
md_reader path/to/file.md

Keyboard Shortcuts

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/bauj/md_reader
cd md_reader
cargo build --release
./target/release/md_reader

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Fonts

All fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. License texts are included in assets/fonts/licenses/.