Press Space on a .md file in Finder and Quick Look shows it rendered: headings, code, tables, Mermaid diagrams. Open it in the app and the preview stays live, reloading whenever your editor or coding agent saves.
MacMD Viewer is a $19.99 one-time Mac app for reading Markdown, and its Quick Look extension ships with the app — there is no separate plugin to install. The QuickLook panel renders Mermaid diagrams inline, as the app does. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Select the file and press Space. macOS alone shows .md files as plain text; an app that ships a Quick Look extension renders them. Free ones do: QLMarkdown, Imark, Markdown Preview, and Obsidian since 1.14.4.
VS Code and Cursor open a rendered preview beside the source with ⇧⌘V. Handy while you write, cramped when you only read.
A dedicated app opens the file full-size, with an outline, and reloads it each time the file is saved — the way to follow what a coding agent writes.
If you only glance at a Markdown file now and then, a free Quick Look extension is enough. MacMD Viewer is for people who read Markdown all day: it is maintained by a person who answers and ships fixes, its rendering is built for reading, and after a one-time setup it opens the Markdown that Claude Code, Cursor or Windsurf write.
Install MacMD Viewer via direct download, Homebrew (brew install --cask macmd-viewer), or Setapp. The QuickLook extension is included automatically.
Open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Quick Look (on macOS 14: Privacy & Security > Extensions > QuickLook). Make sure "MacMD Viewer" is checked.
Navigate to any Markdown file in Finder, on your Desktop, or in Spotlight results.
The standard macOS QuickLook panel opens with your Markdown rendered: headings, code blocks, tables, Mermaid diagrams, all formatted.
Replaces the default plain-text preview for .md files system-wide. Works alongside other QuickLook extensions.
QuickLook is the built-in macOS feature that lets you preview any file by selecting it in Finder and pressing the Space bar. It works for images, PDFs, videos, and — with MacMD Viewer installed — Markdown (.md) files.
Install MacMD Viewer on macOS, enable its QuickLook extension in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Quick Look (on macOS 14: Privacy & Security > Extensions > QuickLook), then select any .md file in Finder and press Space. The file renders with headings, code blocks, tables, and Mermaid diagrams.
The QuickLook extension ships with MacMD Viewer ($19.99 one-time). Once you've bought the app, the extension is included — no additional charge, no subscription.
Yes. The QuickLook extension renders Mermaid diagrams (flowcharts, sequence, class, ER, Gantt) inline in the preview, same as the main app.
Yes. Since v1.3, MacMD Viewer ships twelve document themes (Default, GitHub, and Serif in light and dark variants, plus Sepia, Solarized Light, Dracula, Nord, Tokyo Night, and Atom One Dark), and Finder previews follow the theme you pick in the app — background, typography, and code highlighting included. Note that Finder may keep older previews cached until macOS refreshes them.
MacMD Viewer and its QuickLook extension support macOS 14 Sonoma and later on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Yes — that's the point. Press Space on a .md file and it previews instantly. Press Space again or Esc to close. No app launch required.
Several do. QLMarkdown is a free Quick Look extension and nothing else; the free viewers Imark and Markdown Preview ship one, MDHero added one in 0.2.10, and Obsidian has had a Quick Look preview since 1.14.4 (October 2026). Typora does not. MacMD Viewer's extension follows the document theme you pick in the app.
That usually means the QuickLook extension isn't enabled yet. Open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Quick Look (on macOS 14: Privacy & Security > Extensions > QuickLook) and make sure MacMD Viewer is checked. If it still shows plain text, log out and back in — or run qlmanage -r in Terminal — to reload macOS Quick Look generators.
One purchase includes the app, the QuickLook extension, and all future updates. Native SwiftUI, ~10 MB, macOS 14+.
14-day money-back guarantee · One-time purchase, no subscription
MacMD Viewer