Markdown Quick Look for Mac
press Space, read it
Included free. No setup, no configuration, no Pro tier involved.
There is no step two
The preview extension ships inside TypeFire.app and macOS registers it when you install.
- 01
Install TypeFire
The Quick Look extension is bundled inside the app. You do not install it separately and there is no toggle to find.
- 02
Select any .md file in Finder
A README, a set of notes, an export from Obsidian or Bear. Anywhere on disk.
- 03
Press Space
It renders. Headings are headings, lists are lists, tables are tables, code blocks are monospaced, and links are links. Light and dark follow your system appearance.
Markdown is where notes live now
Obsidian, Bear, Ulysses, iA Writer, every README, and most static site content. All of it is .md files sitting in folders.
Finding the right file without opening an app
Arrow through a folder of notes pressing Space and read each one rendered. Far faster than launching an editor for every candidate.
READMEs that read like READMEs
Cloned repositories are full of Markdown. Previewing one should not mean reading raw syntax or opening it in a code editor.
Tables that are actually tables
Pipe-delimited Markdown tables are close to unreadable as source. Rendered, they are the fastest thing in the document to scan.
It matches the editor
The preview uses the same styling as TypeFire's own Markdown editor, so what you see in Quick Look is what you get when you open it.
Quick Look questions
Still not answered?
By default you cannot, at least not properly. macOS Quick Look treats a .md file as plain text, so pressing Space shows the raw source with visible hash marks, asterisks, and pipe characters, and tables are unreadable.
Installing TypeFire adds a Quick Look preview extension that renders Markdown instead: headings, lists, tables, code blocks, blockquotes, and links all display formatted. Select the file, press Space, done. There is nothing to configure.
No. The preview extension ships inside TypeFire.app and macOS registers it automatically when the app is installed.
There is no setting, no separate download, and no permission prompt for this specific feature. If a preview ever looks stale after updating TypeFire, log out of macOS and back in once, which forces the system to re-register preview extensions.
No, it is free and always will be. TypeFire Pro is $18 once and unlocks exactly five things: unlimited clips, Selection Prompts, Prompt Chains, notes sync between your Macs, and note version history.
Markdown Quick Look is not one of them, and neither is the text expander, screenshot OCR, your first 10 clips, or the notes vault itself.
The ones you actually meet in notes and READMEs: headings, ordered and unordered lists, nested lists, tables, fenced code blocks, inline code, blockquotes, horizontal rules, bold and italic, and links.
The styling matches TypeFire's own Markdown editor, so a file looks the same in preview as it does when you open it. It follows your system light and dark appearance too.
Yes, because all of them store plain .md files on disk and Quick Look works on the file rather than the app.
An Obsidian vault is a folder of Markdown, so you can arrow through it in Finder pressing Space to read each note rendered without opening Obsidian at all. App-specific syntax extensions, such as Obsidian's double-bracket internal links, render as literal text rather than as clickable links, since they are not standard Markdown.
If you already have something like QLMarkdown installed, macOS picks one preview provider for .md files and the choice is not always predictable.
The simplest fix is to remove the one you do not want. TypeFire's extension lives inside the app bundle, so removing TypeFire removes it cleanly with no leftover files in your Library folder.
Rendered Markdown, one keystroke away
Free, bundled, and working from the moment you install. The rest of the free tier is an unlimited text expander, a clipboard manager and the Notes world.
Free text expander, clipboard manager and markdown notes. $18 once for unlimited clips, notes sync and AI prompts.
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