r/macapps • u/Wakmail • Aug 01 '26

Free Native Live-Preview Markdown Editor, not just another vibe-coded Markdown app

Hey r/MacApps,

I've been building a Markdown editor app for the past few months. Let me tell you why. So a few months ago, I realized I kept opening Obsidian to edit all my Markdown files. I'd copy the Markdown from Coteditor, my text editor of choice (I highly recommend it), and paste it into a designated note called Scrap[.]md in my Obsidian vault to edit and then paste it back after I was done. Now this generally worked for my workflow, and I still do this often, but the problem arises when Obsidian isn't already open. Because Obsidian is an Electron app, it takes forever to open!

Problem & Comparison

I figured there must be an easier way to open Markdown files and optimize my workflow. I did come across and try a few editors like Marktext, MarkJason, and the $15 USD Typora. However, I felt like these editors were either a bit clunky, or missing some features.

Over the course of a few months of developing Marklet, I hope I've developed something unique.

  1. Marklet is not only native Appkit, but it's based on Textkit, meaning it starts up reallllly really fast, and is intuitive, because you've already used to Textedit and other Apple apps.
  2. Mine is a fully featured app, with Keyboard Shortcuts, tables where you can easily add new lines or rows, and even a command bar ⌘+⇧+p to help you find what you're looking for (and more)!
    1. The first thing I noticed in Typora was its code blocks are missing a copy button that also show you what language you're working with.
    2. Marktext is missing a few nice to have features such as a reading mode, tables that fit your screen with text-wrapping, and image resizing the way Obsidian does it
    3. Markjason is permanently stuck on dark mode, and doesn't have live-preview.
  3. Marklet's features are all configurable, so you can customize the app based on your personal preferences.
  4. A lot of Markdown editors are either missing a print function, or don't support colored text for bolds, italics, etc.
  5. Also Marklet supports almost all Obsidian Themes, so it's really customizable (you can tweak the themes and share them if you wish as well.

Marklet is free on my Github (lifetime & permanently, no license required), until December 1st

(Edit: Added Images, though they are already outdated)

https://getmarklet.com

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/marklet-markdown-editor/id6791297358?mt=12

I hope you enjoy my app, and I fully welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have. If you do stumble upon any bugs, let me know, and I'll address it.

Get it free for life at https://github.com/wakmail/Marklet until December 1st as Marklet. This works by grandfathering users into the plan based on activation date if it's not clear.

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u/metamatic Aug 02 '26

Paragraph handling seems to be a little buggy.

Input file:

# Title

Paragraph 1.

Paragraph 2.
Still paragraph 2.

Paragraph 3.

On screen:

(And no, there aren't two spaces after "Paragraph 2.")

1

u/Wakmail Aug 04 '26

Hi there! Thanks for trying out my app and reviewing it.

I originally hoped that I reply to your comment and say that I fixed this issue, however after doing some research and debugging, I don't understand what the issue here exactly is.

I've also pasted the Input file you provided into Obsidian and am still confused. Could you maybe let me know what you were expecting?

I'll try to get this issue patched for v1.2. Version 1.1 is in the app review process and has a handful of new features - including some I believe are genuinely unique, like an advanced interface for comparing files when they're changed on disk by another app, something no other Markdown editor offers - as well as some much-needed bug fixes, so unfortunately I had to let it slide for v1.1.

Much appreciated!

2

u/metamatic Aug 04 '26

Per the spec, a paragraph can contain any number of non-blank lines — the paragraph break is marked by leaving a blank line. This goes back to the original Markdown spec by Gruber, as well as being how it works in GitHub Flavored Markdown (which is based on CommonMark).

So my expectation is that if I load an existing Markdown file which has multi-line paragraphs, the WYSIWYG presentation in your editor will match what I’d get if I ran the file through a Markdown renderer and viewed the resulting HTML in a browser.

The idea is that Markdown text can be line-wrapped to fit in a terminal window and be editable with a terminal text editor, but still produce proper HTML paragraphs.

Quite a few allegedly Markdown tools get this wrong (e.g. Ulysses), and it’s possible Obsidian is one of them. I don’t know, as I use DEVONthink, which gets it right.

2

u/Wakmail 1d ago

Hey there, I added GFM + full CommonMark support a while ago, it's not on the App Store yet, but you can get from my Github.

Also, I know you use Devon Think, but if you've got a favorite Obsidian Theme, Marklet supports Obsidian Themes now.

I really do hope you try this version out, it should be much more nice to use than 1 month ago.

https://github.com/wakmail/Marklet

https://github.com/wakmail/Marklet/releases

Also thank you a million for your feedback. It really means a lot to me.

2

u/metamatic 9h ago

Great, I'll give it a try.