A free Markdown viewer for Mac.
Press Space to read it.

Out of the box you cannot read one properly. macOS opens .md files in TextEdit or Xcode and shows the raw source: visible hash marks, visible asterisks, and pipe-delimited tables that are close to unreadable.

Install TypeFire and you get three ways to read one instead. Select the file in Finder and press Space to see it rendered.

Double-click it to open in a real Markdown editor, because TypeFire can be set as the default app for .md. Or press Control Command Shift K anywhere in macOS to search every note in your folder and read it over whatever app you are already in. All three are free.

Yes. TypeFire reads and renders Markdown for free, with no trial countdown on it and no account tier that takes it away.

The paid tier is $18 once and unlocks five things: unlimited clipboard history, Selection Prompts, Prompt Chains, notes sync between your Macs, and note version history. Reading, rendering, previewing in Finder, searching and editing Markdown are not among them.

Yes, and this is the fastest way to do it. TypeFire installs a Quick Look extension, so selecting any .md file in Finder and pressing Space renders it: headings, lists, tables, code blocks, blockquotes and links.

You can arrow through a whole folder of notes pressing Space and read each one without launching anything. It follows your system light and dark appearance.

Yes. Markdown reader, Markdown viewer, md viewer and md reader all describe the same thing: an app that draws the formatting instead of showing you the syntax.

There is no technical difference between the terms and no category of app that is one but not the other. What actually differs is how much each one asks of you before it will show you the file.

Some want you to import your notes into a library first, some want a subscription, and some are a full writing app you have to open and learn. TypeFire renders the file in Finder on Space, which asks nothing: no import, no account, and no app on screen.

A viewer renders the file so you can read it.

An editor lets you change it. Most people looking for a viewer want the first thing and do not want to be handed a writing app to get it, which is why the Finder preview matters: it is the closest thing to no app at all.

TypeFire is both, so nothing has to be decided up front. Press Space to read, and open the file only when you want to write.

Yes, and it reads the vault in place. There is no import, no copy, and no conversion, so Obsidian can stay open on the same files at the same time.

Wikilinks resolve, backlinks show what points at a note, and the raw Markdown in the file is left exactly as its author wrote it. This was verified on a 10,012 file test vault with zero files modified, checked with sha256 before and after.

The parts 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, task lists as clickable checkboxes, and links.

Obsidian's ==highlight== syntax renders too, using the same characters, so the file reads identically in both apps.

Yes. Right-click any .md file in Finder, choose Get Info, set Open with to TypeFire and click Change All.

From then on double-clicking a Markdown file anywhere opens it rendered rather than as source in a code editor. Opening a file this way does not import it or move it; TypeFire edits it where it sits.

macOS 12 Monterey or later, built in Swift and Rust rather than Electron.

It is a native Mac app, not a web page in a window, which is why the Finder preview and the system-wide hotkeys are possible at all. There is no iOS, iPadOS, Windows or Android version.