markviewz

Markviewz

A lightweight, native macOS markdown viewer built for the AI-assisted development workflow.

The Problem

CLI-based AI assistants (Claude Code, Codex, Aider, etc.) generate and work with .md files constantly — README files, documentation, changelogs, specs, reports. But reading raw markdown in the terminal is painful, and most markdown apps are heavyweight editors when all you need is a viewer.

The Solution

Markviewz is a read-only markdown viewer that stays out of your way. Open a file from the terminal, read it with proper formatting, get back to work.

markviewz README.md

That's it. No editing, no bloat, no Electron. Just a native Mac app that renders your markdown beautifully.

Features

• GitHub-flavored markdown — tables, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks
• YAML frontmatter — collapsed by default, click to expand
• Dark mode — follows system automatically
• Local images — relative image paths just work
• Print support — Cmd+P to print or export to PDF
• Multiple open methods — CLI, Cmd+O, drag-and-drop, Finder, open -a
• Single instance — opening a new file reuses the running app and brings it to front
• GitHub-style typography — clean, readable CSS

Install

Claude Code Plugin (recommended)

If you use Claude Code, install Markviewz as a plugin to get the /markviewz skill:

/plugin marketplace add daveremy/claude-plugins
/plugin install markviewz@daveremy-plugins

Or install directly from this repo's marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add daveremy/Markviewz
/plugin install markviewz@markviewz

Then ask Claude to "show me the README" or use /markviewz README.md. If the binary isn't installed yet, Claude will guide you through the install.

Gemini CLI Extension

If you use Gemini CLI, install the extension:

gemini extensions install https://github.com/daveremy/Markviewz.git

Codex CLI Skill

If you use Codex CLI, ask Codex to install the skill:

install the markviewz skill from daveremy/Markviewz at path codex/markviewz

npm

Requires macOS 14+ and Swift 5.9+.

npx -y markviewz

This clones the repo, builds a release binary, creates Markviewz.app in /Applications, and installs a markviewz CLI wrapper.

Manual Install

git clone https://github.com/daveremy/Markviewz.git
cd Markviewz
./install.sh

Usage

# From Claude Code
/markviewz README.md

# From the terminal (reuses running instance)
markviewz notes.md

# Or use macOS open command
open -a Markviewz spec.md

# Launch and use Cmd+O to browse
markviewz

You can also drag and drop .md files onto the window.

Building from Source

swift build              # debug build
swift build -c release   # optimized release build
swift test               # run tests (when available)

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute, our git workflow, and coding standards.

License

MIT