QLMarkdownViewer

A macOS Quick Look extension that renders Markdown files (.md, .markdown) as styled HTML when you press Space in Finder.

Features

• GitHub-flavored Markdown rendering
• Automatic light/dark mode support
• Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code
• Fenced code blocks with language detection
• Tables, task lists, blockquotes
• Links, images, horizontal rules
• No runtime dependencies -- built with Swift and Command Line Tools (no Xcode required)

Requirements

• macOS 12+
• Swift (via Xcode Command Line Tools)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/YendiGB/QLMarkdownViewer.git
cd QLMarkdownViewer
make install

After installation:

1. Open the app once from ~/Applications/QLMarkdownViewer.app
2. The Quick Look extension registers automatically
3. Select any .md or .markdown file in Finder and press Space

If the extension doesn't activate, enable it in: System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Quick Look

Uninstall

make uninstall

Build Only

make build

The built app will be at build/QLMarkdownViewer.app.

Architecture

This is a macOS Quick Look Preview Extension (.appex) embedded in a minimal host app:

• Host app -- minimal macOS app that exists only to deliver the extension
• Preview extension -- data-based Quick Look extension that converts Markdown to HTML
• MarkdownParser -- regex-based GFM Markdown-to-HTML converter
• CSS -- GitHub-flavored stylesheet with automatic light/dark mode

License

MIT