The AI-native Markdown app

Markdown,
finally beautiful.

Your AI agents write Markdown all day. Ashlr MD turns those raw .md files into clean, readable documents you can open, edit, export, and actually understand — with a ⌘K command palette, an agent-activity drawer, inline AI, and free, private, on-device AI built in. On macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Download free Star on GitHub →
Free & open source (MIT) macOS · Windows · Linux No account, no telemetry
✦
On-device AIFree & private
⤓
Export PDF · DOCXOne click, offline
PLAN.md
ReadEditSource
✓ PLAN · 2/4

Launch Plan

Generated by Claude Code · 2 min read

💡
Note — this plan was generated by an AI agent. Review before shipping.
  • ✓Scaffold the project
  • ✓Build the renderer
  • Wire up export
  • Ship it
bashCopy
# install from GitHub Releases, then open
mdopen PLAN.md
Theme
Built for the agentic era · works beautifully with Claude Code · Codex · Cursor · and every tool that hands you a .md
The problem

Your system opens Markdown wrong.

Double-click a .md and you get Preview (a blank page), TextEdit, or Notepad — raw syntax walls none of them were built for the documents AI agents actually produce.

Today · TextEdit
# Launch Plan > [!NOTE] > This plan was generated by an AI agent. - [x] Scaffold the project - [ ] Wire up export ```bash mdopen PLAN.md ```
With Ashlr MD

Launch Plan

💡
Note — generated by an AI agent.

✓ Scaffold the project

Wire up export

mdopen PLAN.md

Everything you need

A real app for your .md files.

Open, read, edit, and share Markdown — beautifully, instantly, keyboard-first, on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Instant, beautiful rendering

GitHub-flavored Markdown, syntax-highlighted code, Mermaid diagrams, math, tables, footnotes — rendered the moment you double-click.

Edit without the syntax

A Typora-style WYSIWYG editor for everyone, plus a lossless source mode for power users. Saves are instant and safe.

Export anywhere

One click to a polished PDF, a Word doc, or a self-contained HTML page. Fully offline. No Pandoc, no accounts.

Smart agent output

Callouts, interactive checkboxes that save back to the file, and automatic plan / diff / multi-file detection with badges — agent docs come alive.

⌘K command palette

Fuzzy, keyboard-first access to every action and your recent files. Open, save, export, switch themes, jump to AI — without lifting your hands.

Agent activity, live (⌘B)

Point the activity drawer at the folder your AI agent writes to and new Markdown files appear the instant they land. Click to open — never dig through buried .md again.

Inline AI rewrite (⌘I)

Right where you're editing: Rewrite, Fix grammar, Make concise, or Expand a selection. And when a file changes on disk, ask the AI to explain the changes.

Outline navigation (⌘⇧O)

An auto table-of-contents with scrollspy lets you jump around long documents and always know where you are.

Three gorgeous themes

Paper, Sepia, and Midnight — switch live, and everything from code to diagrams follows along. Beautiful in light and dark.

Native & instant

Built on Tauri — a tiny native binary that launches in a blink. No Electron bloat, no spinning beachballs.

Free · private · on-device

AI that never leaves your device.

Summarize, explain, rewrite, or translate any document — locally and free. On macOS 26+ (Apple Silicon): Apple's on-device models, zero setup. On Windows & Linux: Ollama, or bring your own key. Nothing uploaded by default.

  • ✓
    Genuinely free. Apple on-device models on Mac (zero setup) or Ollama on Windows & Linux — zero cost either way.
  • ✓
    Genuinely private. Your documents never touch a server on any platform. The green badge proves it.
  • ✓
    Tiered fallback. Apple Foundation Models (macOS only) → Ollama → your own cloud key → optional hosted. You always control where inference runs.
  • ✓
    Everywhere you work. Select text to Explain / Summarize / Rewrite / Translate, rewrite inline in the editor with ⌘I, or chat with the whole document.
On device
AI AssistantOn-device · free · private
Summarize this plan in one line
A four-step launch plan — scaffolding and the renderer are done; export wiring and shipping remain.
Agent-native

Your agents can drive it.

Ashlr MD speaks the language of coding agents. Open a file from the terminal, a URL, or let Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor read and edit the live document over MCP.

  • ›
    mdopen file.md — open from any terminal or script.
  • ↗
    mdopener:// — deep-link straight to a document.
  • ⚙
    MCP server — agents open, read, edit & export the current doc. One-click setup in Settings.
  • ◉
    Agent activity drawer (⌘B) — watch your agent's output folder and open new docs the moment they appear.
# open a file in Ashlr MD from anywhere
$ mdopen PLAN.md

# let Claude Code drive the app
$ claude mcp add mdopener mdopener-mcp
✓ connected · 5 tools available

# now, inside Claude Code:
"open README.md, add a Summary
 section, and export it as PDF"
Make it yours

Three themes. Zero config.

Pick a mood and the whole document — text, code, diagrams, chrome — follows. Try them live in the preview above.

Paper
Paper clean light
Sepia
Sepia warm reading
Midnight
Midnight true dark
Keyboard-first

Every action, a keystroke away.

Drive the whole app from the keyboard — or just press ⌘K and search for anything.

Command palette⌘K
AI assistant⌘L
Inline AI rewrite (in editor)⌘I
Agent activity drawer⌘B
Outline / table of contents⌘⇧O
Cycle theme⌘⇧L
Read / Edit / Source⌘1 ⌘2 ⌘3
Switch · close tabs⌘⇧] ⌘⇧[ ⌘W
Open · Save · Export⌘O ⌘S ⌘E

Shown with ⌘ on macOS — Ctrl on Windows & Linux.

M

Open Markdown.
Instantly beautiful.

Free, open source, and local-first — on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Make Ashlr MD your default .md handler and never dread a Markdown file again.

Download — macOS · Windows · Linux View source →