brew tap xronocode/mark && brew install --cask mark@alphaDeveloper ID signed + Apple notarized. No Gatekeeper prompts. Build from source →
⚠️ Alpha — daily-driver quality for writing on Apple Silicon, but it has known gaps.
What works has 2750+ tests and CI. What doesn't is tracked openly.
You run Claude Code. Or Aider. Or Codex. Or your own agents.
They generate beautiful Markdown — plans, specs, reports, Mermaid diagrams, LaTeX math, comparison tables. Then you try to actually read it:
Terminal — tables collapse, diagrams vanish, colors don't exist.
VS Code / Obsidian — 300 MB of RAM before you open a single file. You already have LLMs eating 8–16 GB.
Export to HTML — burns tokens, triples prompt size, needs a browser tab per file.
Sound familiar? That's Markdown fatigue. Everyone building with AI agents in 2026 feels it.
Mark fixes it. 11 megabytes. Opens in under a second. Renders everything. Gets out of your way.
You Mark Your agent
│ │ │
│ "open plan.md" │ │
│ ──────────────────────────▶│ │
│ │ tables, mermaid, math │
│ │ rendered live, inline │
│ read ← ── ── ── ── ── ──│ │
│ │ │
│ edit directly in Mark │ │
│ ──────────────────────────▶│ │
│ │──── file saved ────────────▶│
│ │ │
│ │◀─── agent updates file ─────│
│ │ live reload, no refresh │
│ see changes instantly ◀──│ │
│ │ │
One window. No browser. No context switch. The human-in-the-loop just works.
Add this to your agent's system prompt, CLAUDE.md, .aider.conf.yml, or whatever config your agent reads:
When you produce a plan, spec, report, or any document longer than ~50 lines,
write it to a .md file and open it in the user's editor:
open -a Mark <file>.md # macOS
The user will read and edit directly in Mark (a lightweight WYSIWYG Markdown
editor with live file-watcher reload). When you see the file has changed on
disk, read the updated version — the user left feedback or corrections inline.
Treat the diff as your next instruction.That's it. Your agent writes → Mark renders → you edit → the agent picks up the diff.
Use case: review a plan before the agent executes
You: "Write an implementation plan for the new auth module."
Agent writes plan.md, runs `open -a Mark plan.md`.
You see a beautifully rendered doc with Mermaid diagrams and tables.
You delete step 3, rewrite step 5, add a note: "— use JWT, not sessions".
Save.
Agent detects the change:
"I see you removed step 3 and updated step 5 to use JWT. Proceeding with
the revised plan."
Use case: structured feedback on a report
You: "Analyze our API latency data and give me a report."
Agent writes report.md with tables, charts, and recommendations.
Opens in Mark — you see everything rendered inline.
You add a line at the bottom:
"— Good analysis. But ignore the /health endpoint, it skews the p99.
Re-run without it."
Agent reads the update, re-runs the analysis, appends the new results
to the same file. Mark live-reloads. You see the diff without switching
windows.
Use case: knowledge base your agent maintains
Add to your agent config:
Maintain a living knowledge base in docs/kb.md.
After each significant decision, append a dated entry.
The user may reorganize or annotate entries in Mark —
respect their edits as authoritative.
Open docs/kb.md in Mark once. Leave it open.
Every time the agent appends, Mark live-reloads.
You curate, the agent accumulates. One file, two authors.
Use case: spec review with Mermaid diagrams
You: "Design the data flow for the new ingestion pipeline."
Agent writes spec.md:
## Data Flow
```mermaid
graph LR
A[S3 Upload] --> B[Lambda Trigger]
B --> C{Validate}
C -->|pass| D[Transform]
C -->|fail| E[Dead Letter Queue]
D --> F[Write to Postgres]
```
In the terminal this is raw text. In Mark it's a rendered diagram.
You drag the DLQ branch, add a retry step, save.
The agent sees your edit and adjusts the implementation.
| Mark | Mark Text | Typora | Obsidian | iA Writer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App size | 11 MB | 200 MB | 100 MB | 300 MB | 30 MB |
| RAM at idle | 61 MB | 400 MB | 200 MB | 250 MB | 50 MB |
| True inline WYSIWYG | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial |
| Mermaid + KaTeX + Vega | All three | Yes | Partial | Plugins | No |
| Live file-watcher reload | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Themes | 33 | 6 | CSS | CSS | 3 |
| Open source | MIT | MIT | No | No | No |
| Price | Free | Free | $15 | $50/yr | $50 |
| Native macOS | WKWebView | Chromium | Chromium | Chromium | AppKit |
No Chromium. No Node.js. No Electron. Just your system WebView doing what it was designed to do.
The 2025–2026 wave brought a crop of tools built specifically for AI-agent workflows. Here's how Mark compares:
| Tool | What it is | Where Mark differs |
|---|---|---|
| glow / mdcat | Terminal-based MD renderers | No images, no Mermaid, no editing. Great for quick glances — not for 200-line specs with diagrams. |
| leaf | Rust TUI viewer with watch mode | Still a terminal. No inline WYSIWYG, no rich rendering. |
| Ferrite | Rust + egui editor | Split-view, not inline WYSIWYG. Different UX paradigm. |
| Marky | Tauri CLI viewer (marky plan.md) |
Viewer only, no editing. Mark does both. |
| Ritemark | MD editor + built-in terminal | Electron-based, heavier footprint. |
| Obsidian | Knowledge base with plugins | 300 MB, plugin ecosystem needed for basics. Overkill for reading agent output. |
Mark sits in a specific gap: native + lightweight + full WYSIWYG + file-watcher + edit-in-place. If you need a vault or a second brain, use Obsidian. If you need to read and edit what your agents write without burning RAM — that's Mark.
This project is its own proof of concept.
The entire Tauri rewrite — 30+ Rust modules, 2700+ tests, typed IPC, native menu, spellchecker, auto-updater — was architected and shipped by one developer with AI agents using the GRACE methodology (Graph-RAG Anchored Code Engineering).
Structured plans. Module contracts. Knowledge graphs. Agents executing against verifiable specs.
One person. AI agents. A native desktop app that rivals what teams of five ship.
Mark is the tool that was missing from the workflow that built it.
The essentials — true inline WYSIWYG (muya engine), multi-tab editing, folder sidebar, find in file & folder
The rendering — Mermaid v11 diagrams, KaTeX math, Vega charts — all inline, no preview pane
The native feel — system WKWebView, macOS menu bar, NSSpellChecker, real Cmd+shortcuts, Developer ID signed + notarized
The agent workflow — file-watcher live reload, dirty-tab protection (Save/Discard/Cancel), preview mode on Finder open, welcome screen with recent files & session restore
The trust — no telemetry, no cloud, no account, no plugin marketplace. Files are files. 2620 tests. MIT licensed.
Daily-driver quality for routine Markdown on Apple Silicon.
Editing
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| True inline WYSIWYG (muya engine) | ✅ |
| Multi-tab editing | ✅ |
| Open Folder + sidebar file tree | ✅ |
| Mermaid v11 / KaTeX / Vega inline rendering | ✅ |
| Inline diff view (CodeMirror MergeView) | ✅ |
| Find in file (Cmd+F) | 🔶 Beta |
| Find in folder (in-process ripgrep) | 🔶 Beta |
| Search context lines + include/exclude globs | Planned |
File handling
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Save / Save As / Open | ✅ |
| Dirty-tab close prompt (Save / Discard / Cancel) | ✅ |
| External-edit live reload (file-watcher) | ✅ |
| Auto-detect file encoding (UTF-8, windows-1251, Shift_JIS, …) | ✅ |
| v1 preferences migration (5-store, idempotent) | ✅ |
| Recent documents | ✅ |
| Preserve source encoding on save | Planned |
| Manual encoding picker | Planned |
| File move / rename commands | ✅ |
| Print (Cmd+P → system dialog) | ✅ |
| Export as HTML | ✅ |
| Line ending control (LF / CRLF) | ✅ |
Appearance & UX
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| 33 themes + custom CSS | ✅ |
| Live theme sync across windows | ✅ |
| Preview mode on Finder double-click | ✅ |
Set as default .md handler |
✅ |
| System font enumeration | ✅ |
| Welcome screen with recent files + session restore | ✅ |
| Trackpad pinch-to-zoom | ✅ |
| Window geometry persistence | ✅ |
| Monospace font filter for code editor | Planned |
Native macOS
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| System WKWebView (no Chromium) | ✅ |
| Native menu bar + Cmd+shortcuts | ✅ |
| Spell-check via NSSpellChecker | ✅ |
| Screenshot capture (macOS screencapture) | ✅ |
| Developer ID signed + Apple notarized | ✅ |
| Global shortcuts (Cmd+Shift+M show window) | 🔶 In progress |
| Auto-update via Homebrew cask (ed25519 signed) | ✅ |
CLI & integration
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| CLI flags (--preview, --watch, --diff, --new-window) | ✅ |
open -a Mark file.md from terminal / agents |
✅ |
mark --watch file.md live-reload for agents |
✅ |
mark --diff file.md auto-open diff view |
✅ |
Auto-detect .before sidecar → diff view |
✅ |
| Save All (menu + command palette) | ✅ |
| Pandoc export (HTML, PDF) | ✅ Requires Pandoc |
| Image upload (PicGo, smms, aliyun) | Planned |
Platform
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| macOS Apple Silicon | ✅ |
| macOS Intel | Untested |
| Linux | Planned |
| Windows | Planned |
| Multi-window support | Planned |
Alpha is alpha. What works has 2750+ tests and CI. What doesn't is tracked openly with a target milestone.
One command:
brew tap xronocode/mark && brew install --cask mark@alphaDeveloper ID signed + Apple notarized. No Gatekeeper warnings.
Electron stable channel (frozen at v1.2.3, security fixes only)
brew tap xronocode/mark && brew install --cask markBoth casks coexist. When v2.0 stable ships, mark rolls forward to Tauri.
Build from source
Rust 1.79+ · Node 20 LTS · Xcode CLI Tools
git clone https://github.com/xronocode/mark.git && cd mark/reborn-mark
npm ci
npm run tauri dev # hot-reload
npm run tauri build # releasenpm test # 2758 renderer tests
cd src-tauri && cargo test --bin mark # 445 Rust tests
npm run test:e2e # PlaywrightMark wouldn't exist without the people who built the foundation:
- @Jocs — creator of Mark Text (54k+ ⭐). The muya WYSIWYG engine, the theme system, and the entire UX paradigm that makes inline Markdown editing feel right. Everything Mark does starts with his work.
- @Tkaixiang — maintainer of the community fork that kept Mark Text alive with critical security fixes (CVE-2023-2318), crash fixes, and the Mermaid v11 upgrade. Mark's Electron stable channel is downstream of his fork.
- The Mark Text community — 54,000+ stargazers, hundreds of contributors, and years of issues and PRs that shaped what a good Markdown editor should be.
- The Tauri team — for building a framework that makes 11 MB native apps possible without Chromium.
Mark is what Mark Text looks like without Electron, without the bloat, and with an AI-agent workflow in mind. We stand on the shoulders of giants — and we say thank you.
PRs welcome. Fork → branch from main → run tests → open a PR. CI gates merge on macOS + Linux. For larger changes, open an issue first.
Mark is built on personal time.
If it saves you from reading agent specs in raw terminal — or from yet another 400 MB Electron install:
⭐ Star the repo · File issues · Send a PR