Markdown editors and viewers
2020-05-08 — 2026-04-28
Wherein the requirement for mathematical equation rendering is established as a criterion for editor selection, note-taking applications are found to serve double duty, and various tools are enumerated.
The main point, IMO, of the Markdown format was that it’s supposed to be easy to read and not require a specialized editor. Nonetheless, people inevitably end up wanting one, because we want to integrate document syncing, maths preview, image linking, or note-taking, etc.
There are many, both integrated into normal text editors and more specialized editors; see, e.g., this review for an overview of some interesting ones. In particular, some of the note-taking systems use Markdown as the back-end storage format and thus double as Markdown editors.
I generally want to have Markdown that incorporates mathematical equations, which is a slightly niche requirement. I have a strong preference for editors that support this feature.
1 VS Code
My own workflow is based on VS code these days, and I use it as much as possible for my Markdown editing as well. It has built-in Markdown preview, although it has various friction points for mathematics.
2 Typora
Typora is another one I’ve seen that seems popular. It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It looks pretty and highly polished. It also has hipster support, e.g. via Mathpix.
3 neutrinote
neutriNote - the original Markdown + Math note app. Programmatically extensible. Sync-ready note storage. Non-commerical. No lock-ins. Only 3 MB footprint & highly optimized. Designed for plaintext purists.
It works on Android.
4 Mist
Matt Webb’s hack. See Intro post:
Say hi to mist
.mdonly- share by URL
- real-time multiplayer editing
- comments
- suggest changes.
5 Markdeep
markdeep is a well-designed Markdown renderer with good integration with other JavaScript-Markdown outputs.
Markdeep docs look like a PDF in a browser and work like native ASCII docs in your editor. There’s no plugin, exporting, or server. It supports every operating system and editor.
Markdeep supports style sheets, diagrams, calendars, citations, equations, and more, plus all common markdown features. It seamlessly integrates with your entire text-mode toolchain: IDE code editor, version control, GitHub, Jira, browser, terminal/CLI tools, and agentic tools. You can read locally as file:// or http://localhost, and host online with both static (like github.io) and dynamic servers.
6 Command-line Markdown viewers
7 macOS QuickLook
Markdown’s claim to readability does not survive the test of raw Finder previews: macOS ships no QuickLook renderer for Markdown, so hitting Space on a .md file yields a wall of hash signs and asterisks.
The setup is the same for all options: install the app, launch it once to register the extension with the system, then enable it under System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Quick Look. After that, Space (or ⌘Y) in Finder renders properly.
Free options: * QLMarkdown (sbarex) supports .qmd, .mdx, and several other variants, with MathJax, Mermaid, syntax highlighting, and customizable themes. * PreviewMarkdown (smittytone) is lighter, with YAML front matter support, useful if the files are heading through Hugo or Jekyll. * showmd is newer and specifically targets the case where most of the .md files are AI/agent configs: it renders YAML frontmatter as a collapsible table and XML-style tags (<userStyle>, <system_prompt>) as labelled blocks rather than raw angle brackets — installable via Homebrew. Among the paid App Store options, Markdown Preview – Quick Look adds GFM, KaTeX, and Mermaid, and Peekdown targets GitHub-exact rendering with Obsidian vault support (callouts, wikilinks, embeds).
One gotcha: if a previously-installed Markdown editor registered itself as the owner of the Markdown UTI, Finder routes preview requests there instead of the new extension, and we get raw text. Fix: right-click a .md → Get Info → Open With → pick the preferred app and “Change All”, then log out and back in to flush the QuickLook cache.
For .qmd files: QLMarkdown renders maths via MathJax, which is pleasant. It does not understand Quarto-specific syntax — citations ([@key]), fenced divs (:::{.callout}), cross-references — so the preview is approximate rather than exact. Good enough for navigating a file, not for checking rendered layout.
8 RStudio
RStudio has a neatly integrated Markdown editor, especially for RMarkdown documents. I no longer use RStudio or RMarkdown.
9 Note-taking apps
Notational Velocity, Joplin, Turtl, and Zettlr are all note-taking apps that happen to work in Markdown and thus include Markdown editors.