StuckInTheMD

A lightweight, cross-platform Markdown editor with live preview.

Built with modern C++20, a small native core, and your operating system's built-in webview (no bundled Chromium/Electron).

Project site: mrchriz.github.io/StuckInTheMD (GitHub Pages)

Features

• Live preview — edit Markdown on the left, formatted HTML on the right
• Drag and drop — drop .md or text files onto the window to open
• Save / Save As — native file dialogs
• Auto-save — optional, every 2 seconds when the file has a path
• External changes — reloads automatically when the file changes on disk; if you have unsaved edits, asks whether to reload
• Print — system print dialog via a print-optimized page
• Export PDF — saves via Edge/Chrome or wkhtmltopdf when installed; otherwise opens the print dialog (choose Save as PDF there)
• Focus mode — cycle Split / Editor-only / Preview-only; F11 hides the toolbar
• Cross-platform — Windows, macOS, Linux
• CI — GitHub Actions builds and tests on Linux, macOS, and Windows

Download

Pre-built installers are published on GitHub Releases.

Platform	Download
Windows (x64)	Latest installer (~2.5 MB)
macOS / Linux	Build from source (see below)

On Windows 10, install the WebView2 runtime if the app window does not appear.

New releases: run scripts/run-tests.ps1 (or run-tests.sh), wait for CI on main to pass, bump the version in CMakeLists.txt, then tag vX.Y.Z and push. The release workflow runs the same tests again before uploading the Windows installer.

Dependencies

Build dependencies (md4c, webview, doctest) are fetched by scripts/bootstrap-third-party.sh, which CI runs automatically. tinyfiledialogs is vendored under third_party/tinyfiledialogs/. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for licenses.

At runtime, the app uses what your OS already provides:

Platform	Runtime
Windows 11	WebView2 (built-in)
Windows 10	WebView2 runtime
macOS	WebKit (built-in)
Linux	GTK 3/4 + WebKitGTK (common on desktop distros)

Optional: install Edge, Chrome, or wkhtmltopdf for one-click PDF export without the print dialog.

Application icon

Icons live in assets/icon/. Windows uses stuckinthemd.ico automatically. On macOS, run bash scripts/build-macos-icon.sh once (or let CI build it) to produce stuckinthemd.icns for the .app bundle.

Open/Save file dialogs are parented to the main window so they stay modal, use the app icon, and do not get a separate taskbar button.

Theme: Toolbar button cycles System → Dark → Light (shortcut Ctrl+Shift+D). Choice is remembered in local storage; preview matches the active appearance.

Bootstrap (required after clone)

Before your first build, run:

bash scripts/bootstrap-third-party.sh

Version is set in CMakeLists.txt (project(StuckInTheMD VERSION …)). It appears in the window title, toolbar badge, and Windows installer filename.

Build

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config Release

Windows (Visual Studio)

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release
.\build\Release\stuckinthemd.exe
.\build\Release\stuckinthemd.exe notes.md

Windows installer

Creates a single dist\StuckInTheMD-<version>-setup.exe (~few MB) that embeds one stuckinthemd.exe (static MSVC runtime, no extra DLLs). Preview uses the OS WebView2 engine (preinstalled on Windows 11; see below for Windows 10).

1. Install Inno Setup 6.
2. Build the app, then compile the installer:

.\scripts\build-windows-installer.ps1

During setup, “Make StuckInTheMD the default app for Markdown files” is enabled by default. That registers .md and .markdown to open with StuckInTheMD. On some Windows versions you may still confirm under Settings → Apps → Default apps.

Or, after a CMake build with Inno Setup on PATH:

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DSTUCKINTHEMD_BUILD_WINDOWS_INSTALLER=ON
cmake --build build --config Release --target stuckinthemd_installer

Windows 10: install the WebView2 runtime if the app window does not appear (one-time, shared by other apps).

The installer lists Leftoverbits.co.uk as publisher. Removing SmartScreen’s “Unknown publisher” warning requires an Authenticode code-signing certificate; see ; SignTool= in packaging/windows/stuckinthemd.iss.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt install build-essential cmake libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev
cmake -S . -B build && cmake --build build
./build/stuckinthemd

macOS

cmake -S . -B build && cmake --build build
./build/stuckinthemd

Tests

cmake -S . -B build -DSTUCKINTHEMD_BUILD_TESTS=ON
cmake --build build
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+O	Open
(toolbar)	Recent dropdown — last 10 opened file paths
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save As
Ctrl+P	Print
Ctrl+\	Cycle view: Split → Editor → Preview
F11	Toggle distraction-free (hide toolbar)

License

Application code: MIT. Third-party libraries are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Windows installs also place THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in the application directory.