A free, elegant Markdown editor for humans and AI agents — with real-time sync for AI-generated changes.
Language / 语言: English · 中文 · Website
Markdown has become the de facto standard for writing, note-taking, documentation, and collaboration in the age of AI. Yet many computers still don't have a free, beautiful, capable Markdown reader/editor.
That's why I built ColaMD — an open-source, free, lightweight, and elegant Markdown editor.
First and foremost, it is a simple, focused, capable Markdown editor: true WYSIWYG editing, themes, rich-text copy, smart line breaks, PDF export, and support for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
At the same time, ColaMD is friendly to AI agents. When Claude Code, Codex, Cola, or another agent edits an open .md file, ColaMD syncs the changes in real time. No closing the file, reopening it, or manual refresh.
Since launching a few months ago, we have received enthusiastic feedback from the community. Thank you to everyone who has submitted Issues and Pull Requests, tested ColaMD, shared feedback, or joined the discussions. ColaMD is still growing — download it, try it, and tell us what you want it to become.
Our goal is clear: make ColaMD the best free Markdown editor, and make it a reliable foundation for Markdown workflows in the age of AI.
If ColaMD is useful to you, please give the project a ⭐ Star.
Download | Features | Development
- Live Agent Sync — Changes made by Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or other AI agents appear in the editor in real time.
- Agent Activity Indicator — A subtle titlebar dot shows when an agent is writing and when it has finished.
- True WYSIWYG Editing — Type Markdown and see rich text directly. No split-pane preview.
- Same-Directory File List — Discover and switch between Markdown files in the current folder. Files created or removed by your agent appear automatically.
- Task Lists — Click checkboxes to complete tasks, or use the keyboard shortcut.
- Highlights & LaTeX — Write
==highlighted text==and render mathematical formulas with KaTeX. - Search — Find anything in the current document with ⌘/Ctrl+F.
- Smart Line Breaks — Single newlines render as line breaks, matching how people and AI tools write Markdown.
- Rich Text Copy — Copy content with formatting preserved into WeChat, email, and other rich-text editors.
- Themes — Four built-in themes, downloadable themes, and custom CSS imports.
- PDF Export — Turn your Markdown document into a PDF when you need a finished copy.
- Minimal by Design — No toolbar, no permanent sidebar, no distractions.
- Cross-Platform — Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Built-in syntax reference, interactive task lists, code blocks, quotes, tables, and smart line breaks.
ColaMD does not ask you to change your habits. It works well alongside Obsidian, Typora, VS Code, and other Markdown apps — all sharing the same .md files, with each tool doing what it does best.
Check Releases for the latest builds.
| Platform | Format |
|---|---|
| macOS | .dmg |
| Windows | .exe |
| Linux | .AppImage / .deb |
ColaMD is intentionally simple:
- No cross-directory file tree or workspace (same-directory Markdown file list only)
- No cloud sync or collaboration
- No AI features built in — it's a viewer/editor for AI-generated content
- No plugin system
One thing, done well.
ColaMD supports custom CSS themes. Download themes from the themes/ folder, or create your own and import via Theme > Import Theme.
Imported themes are saved to ~/.colamd/themes/ and persist across sessions.
git clone https://github.com/marswaveai/colamd.git
cd colamd
npm install
npm run devnpm run dist:mac
npm run dist:win
npm run dist:linux- Electron — Cross-platform desktop
- Milkdown — WYSIWYG Markdown (ProseMirror-based)
- TypeScript — Strict mode
- electron-vite — Fast builds
ColaMD will evolve alongside the agent ecosystem:
- v1.1 — Live file reload, file associations, drag & drop, themes
- v1.2 — New icon
- v1.3 — Agent activity indicator, Cmd+click links, rich text copy, smart line breaks, PDF export, theme persistence
- v1.6 — Robust live sync: atomic-save (rename) detection, watcher self-recovery, spellcheck off
- v1.6.1 — Editable task lists (click / ⌘+Enter), ==highlight== syntax, Markdown cheatsheet
- v1.6.2 — Remove HTML export
- v1.7 — Same-directory file list: switch files in place, live updates when agents create/remove files; search (⌘F) + LaTeX (⌘⇧E) from community PR #14
- v1.7.1 — Task checkbox click fix, centered SVG checkmark, titlebar file-panel toggle button
- v1.7.2 — Playable demo page: Help → 新功能演示 (⌘⇧D), a real directory showcasing each release's features
- v1.7.3 — Demo page becomes a cumulative changelog: resources/demo/changelog.md records every release, opening straight into it (current)
- Future — More templates, bidirectional sync, cross-directory file browsing
MIT — Free forever.
Built by marswave.ai for a simpler Markdown future.