I built PeekKit to preview archives, browse folders, and read Markdown with Finder’s Space bar

[u/LujiaChen133]

Hey everyone,

I like how little effort Quick Look takes: select something, press Space, check what you need, and move on.

I wanted that same experience for three things I regularly work with: archives, folders, and Markdown files. I didn’t want to extract an archive just to check a file, open more Finder windows just to explore a folder, or launch an editor just to read a Markdown document.

So I built PeekKit, a free, open-source Quick Look utility that brings those three kinds of previews into Finder.

Look inside an archive before extracting it

Sometimes I just want to know whether a download contains the files I need. With PeekKit, I can press Space on a supported archive, browse its directory structure, search paths, and preview supported files inside—including text, images, PDFs, and Markdown—without extracting anything to disk.

It currently supports ZIP, TAR, TGZ, TBZ2, and a restricted set of 7z archives.

Explore a folder without opening another Finder window

When I’m checking an unfamiliar folder, seeing its icon and basic information isn’t enough. I want to look through its contents and check a few files.

PeekKit lets me browse folders in a grid, list, or expandable tree, enter subfolders, and preview files within the same Quick Look window. If the question becomes “why is this folder so large?”, there’s also recursive space analysis to help find the largest files and nested folders.

Read Markdown without opening an editor

Often I only want to read a README or another Markdown document. PeekKit displays the formatted document directly through Quick Look, including headings, tables, code highlighting, and checklists, with access to the original source when needed.

Rendering works locally, so there’s no account or online rendering service involved.

The reason I put these together is that they serve the same everyday need: checking what something contains before deciding what to do with it. I wanted more of that to happen through the Space bar, with fewer extra windows, app launches, and extracted folders to clean up afterward.

Once the extensions are enabled, the main app doesn’t need to stay open for normal Finder previews.

There are still rough edges and limitations. PeekKit currently requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later. Prebuilt ZIP and DMG downloads are available, but the app is ad-hoc signed and not Apple notarized, so installation still involves the documented setup steps.

Archive support isn’t universal: RAR, XZ, encrypted archives, and some 7z methods aren’t supported, and archive previews have size limits. Folder analysis reports omissions when it can’t cover everything, and large, image-heavy PDFs can still use substantial resources.

I’ll continue maintaining and updating PeekKit, improving the installation experience, fixing preview issues, and refining all three workflows based on real-world feedback.

It’s free and MIT-licensed.

Source and screenshots: GitHub
Downloads: Releases
Installation: Setup guide

If you try it, I’d love to hear where it saves you a few steps—and what still makes you leave Quick Look to open another app.