LMD

LMD is a local-first Markdown note app for macOS, built with Tauri, React, CodeMirror, and Rust. It focuses on fast note taking, source/preview writing, workspace knowledge organization, and AI-assisted drafting without moving your Markdown files into a proprietary database.

MIT licensed.

Highlights

• Native macOS desktop app powered by Tauri
• Local Markdown files, workspace folders, recent files, tabs, and closable documents
• Source, reading, and split views controlled from the macOS View menu
• Native Insert, Format, and View menus for Markdown operations and layout controls
• On-demand document search via Edit -> 在文档中查找 or Cmd+F
• Markdown preview with Front Matter hiding, KaTeX math, Mermaid, PlantUML blocks, callouts, footnotes, [TOC], task lists, tables, and highlighted code
• Knowledge workspace protocol with notes/, sources/, wiki/, and wiki/inbox/
• Wiki links, backlinks, block IDs, block references, tags, linting, and source context
• AI assistant chat with DeepSeek, MiniMax, Kimi, 智谱 GLM, Ollama, LM Studio, or an external command
• Streaming AI responses in the chat UI and save-to-wiki draft workflows
• HTML, PDF, and DOCX export
• Git status, diff, and commit support for workspace folders
• Rust backend tests and Playwright browser E2E tests

Features

Editing

• CodeMirror 6 Markdown source editor
• Document tabs with close buttons and right-click menu actions
• Tab right-click actions for rename and close
• Unsaved tabs are marked with *
• Cmd+F opens a temporary find bar instead of occupying permanent toolbar space
• Long Markdown documents scroll correctly in source and reading views
• Large-file read-only paging for Markdown files over 5 MB
• External file metadata polling for missing or modified files

Markdown Rendering

• YAML Front Matter is hidden in preview and export output
• GFM-style tables, task lists, strikethrough, images, links, and autolinks
• ==highlight== text marks
• Footnotes with return links
• Obsidian-style callouts such as > [!NOTE]
• [TOC] automatic document table of contents
• KaTeX block and inline math
• Mermaid diagrams
• PlantUML / puml blocks with dedicated rendering style
• Syntax-highlighted code blocks with copy buttons in preview
• Block anchors such as ^block-id
• Wiki-style links such as [[note]] and [[note#^block-id]]

macOS Menus

LMD moves editing controls out of the document canvas and into native menus.

• Insert
  • links, annotations, code blocks, math blocks, footnotes
  • tables, formatted tables, rows, columns, CSV tables
  • unordered, ordered, and task lists
  • block IDs and block references
  • attachments and folding actions
• Format
  • headings H1-H6
  • bold, italic, highlight, strikethrough
  • inline math, comments, code blocks
• View
  • source mode, reading mode, vertical split, horizontal split
  • left/right sidebar visibility
  • feature area visibility
  • navigation, zoom, reload, and developer tools
• Edit
  • 在文档中查找 with Cmd+F

The checked state in the View menu is synchronized from the actual app state.

Workspace and Knowledge

Open a folder as a workspace, then use Knowledge -> 初始化知识库 from the macOS menu or the command palette. LMD creates:

notes/
sources/
wiki/
wiki/inbox/
.lmd/knowledge/
.lmd/knowledge/lmd.db
AGENTS.md
wiki/index.md
wiki/log.md

Workspace capabilities include:

• folder scanning for Markdown files
• recent files and removable recent entries
• SQLite-backed knowledge indexing in .lmd/knowledge/lmd.db
• workspace search with path:, #tag, and block:^id queries through the local index
• backlinks, outgoing links, unresolved links, block references, aliases, tags, and front matter
• knowledge lint reports
• tag rename across front matter and body #tag references
• document history snapshots in .lmd/history
• Git status, diff, and commit actions

AI drafts saved from the assistant are written to:

<workspace>/wiki/inbox/<draft-title>.md

The app also refreshes the workspace and updates knowledge index/log files when relevant.

AI Assistant

LMD supports multiple OpenAI-compatible and local assistant providers:

• DeepSeek
• MiniMax
• Kimi / Moonshot
• 智谱 GLM / Z.ai
• Ollama
• LM Studio
• external command

Assistant features:

• chat with loading and streaming UI feedback
• current-note and workspace context loading
• quick actions such as summarize, polish, extract todos, generate title, generate outline, and continue writing
• save AI draft to wiki/inbox/
• save AI chat as a wiki draft
• macOS Keychain API key storage, with localStorage fallback for browser preview

Environment variable fallbacks:

• DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
• MINIMAX_API_KEY
• MOONSHOT_API_KEY
• ZAI_API_KEY
• OLLAMA_BASE_URL
• LM_STUDIO_BASE_URL

The external command provider is hidden under advanced settings. It runs a local executable and sends one JSON object to stdin:

{
  "provider": "external_command",
  "model": "command-json-v1",
  "task": "summarize",
  "prompt": "Optional user instruction",
  "currentContent": "# Current note",
  "context": {
    "currentPath": "/absolute/path/to/current.md",
    "currentRelativePath": "notes/current.md",
    "items": []
  }
}

The command must write an assistant draft JSON object to stdout:

{
  "title": "Topic summary",
  "content": "# Topic summary\n\n## Summary\n\nDraft text."
}

Export

LMD can export the current Markdown document as:

• HTML
• PDF
• DOCX

DOCX export depends on a local pandoc installation.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React, TypeScript, Vite
• Editor: CodeMirror 6
• Desktop runtime: Tauri v2
• Backend: Rust
• Markdown rendering: markdown-it, markdown-it-task-lists, markdown-it-texmath, KaTeX, Mermaid, highlight.js
• UI testing: Playwright

Project Layout

src/           React UI, preview renderer, hooks, components
src-tauri/     Rust backend, file IO, export, workspace, assistant, git
tests/e2e/     Playwright browser-based UI tests
docs/          QA notes, screenshots, and design notes

Quick Start

Requirements:

• Node.js
• npm
• Rust toolchain
• Tauri prerequisites for your platform
• Optional: pandoc for DOCX export

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run the macOS desktop app in development:

npm run tauri:dev

Run only the frontend browser preview:

npm run dev

The browser preview mocks native Tauri calls in tests and cannot perform real local file operations by itself.

Test and Build

Frontend build:

npm run build

Rust tests:

cd src-tauri
cargo test

Browser E2E:

npm run test:e2e

Desktop bundle:

npm run tauri build

Current macOS release outputs:

• src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/LMD.app
• src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/LMD_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg

Testing Strategy

LMD uses three layers of verification:

1. Rust tests
   • real file save/open/export flows
   • metadata changes
   • workspace scanning and SQLite-backed search
   • knowledge workspace operations, alias links, and index creation
   • assistant provider validation
   • Git parsing and workspace status
2. Playwright browser tests
   • editing, preview, split view, and source scrolling
   • tab open/close/rename behavior
   • search, settings, workspace, knowledge, assistant, and export flows
3. Tauri build verification
   • ensures .app and .dmg bundles still build locally

More detail:

• QA checklist
• Tauri WebView automation notes

Platform Notes

• LMD is currently developed and verified primarily on macOS.
• Native Tauri WebDriver automation is not available on macOS because Tauri desktop WebDriver support does not currently cover WKWebView.
• The repository therefore uses Rust real file-flow tests, Playwright browser tests with mocked Tauri commands, and real Tauri bundle verification.

Known Limits

• Preview and HTML export intentionally disable raw HTML input.
• PDF export is lightweight and not a full layout engine.
• DOCX export requires pandoc.
• Release builds are not signed or notarized yet.
• Native Tauri WebDriver coverage would need Linux or Windows CI.
• The UI is evolving quickly; screenshots should be refreshed when menu, workspace, or assistant layouts change.

Status

LMD is usable, testable, and buildable, but still early.

High-priority remaining work:

• code signing and notarization
• release artifact refresh for public launch
• optional native Tauri WebDriver coverage on supported CI platforms
• further export layout improvements
• deeper knowledge graph and semantic search features

Contributing

• Contributing guide
• Roadmap
• Security policy
• Code of conduct
• Changelog