MacDown2 0.2.2

MacDown2 0.2.2

A maintenance release. Nothing changes for copies installed with Homebrew or from the dmg: this fix only matters when you build MacDown2 from source.

Fixed

• A Debug build from source (make app) no longer crashes when you switch tabs while the editor has keyboard focus (#75). What tripped was a debug-only check that was too strict; release builds never ran it.

Install: brew install --cask xuanji86/tap/macdown2, or download the dmg below. The app is not notarized, so a manual download needs the one-time "Open Anyway" step (see the README).

Source code: https://github.com/xuanji86/MacDown2.0/tree/v0.2.2 (GPL-3.0)

MacDown2 0.2.1

MacDown2 0.2.1

A fix for a hang when switching tabs, plus editing in the preview, deep links and pasted images.

Fixed

• Switching tabs could hang the app for good when one of the documents was longer than the window (seen on macOS 26 and 27). Switching is instant again, whatever the documents' lengths and wherever they were scrolled.
• Switching tabs now closes the find bar of the document that left: Replace All could otherwise change the next document at the wrong places.
• Spelling corrections still on their way no longer land in the document you switched to.
• A closed window now releases everything it held.

Editing in the preview

• Click into text in the preview and type: the Markdown source changes with it, input methods included. Markdown syntax you type there is escaped, so it stays text.
• Selecting in the editor highlights the same text in the preview, and selecting in the preview highlights it in the editor.
• In a task list, clicking the item's text places the caret; only the checkbox ticks it.

Editor

• Paste a screenshot or an image: it is saved next to the document in images/ and linked as ![image](images/…).
• Settings ▸ Editor ▸ Scroll past the end (off by default).
• Your own editor themes: JSON files in ~/Library/Application Support/MacDown2/Themes/ appear in the theme list and update when changed.

Links and Quarto

• macdown2://open?path=…&line=… opens a file at a line, and macdown2://workspace?path=… opens a folder as a workspace (for scripts, browsers and other apps).
• Quarto: Pandoc's blank-line rules are followed, and code cells in Python, R and YAML are highlighted.

Install: brew install --cask xuanji86/tap/macdown2, or download the dmg below. The app is not notarized, so a manual download needs the one-time "Open Anyway" step (see the README).

Source code: https://github.com/xuanji86/MacDown2.0/tree/v0.2.1 (GPL-3.0)

MacDown2 0.2.0

MacDown2 0.2.0

A much faster preview, and a website.

Faster preview

• The preview now re-renders only the sections you changed and patches them into the page. On an Apple M5 Pro a keystroke updates a 1 MB document in about 7.5 ms (was about 65 ms), a document with 200 formulas in about 4 ms, and 300 code blocks in about 4 ms. MacDown 0.7.3 takes 78.5, 495 and 48 ms for the same documents.
• No more 150 ms wait after you stop typing: the preview renders on the next display frame.
• Formulas, highlighted code and Mermaid diagrams that didn't change are reused instead of drawn again.
• Fixed: the preview could randomly rebuild the whole page instead of patching it, losing its scroll state and hover.
• Fixed: certain GitHub alert (> [!WARNING]) layouts shifted the source-line mapping of everything below, and one could hang the preview.

Interface

• The active tab's name is readable again when a dark editor theme is used in light mode.

Website

• https://xuanji86.github.io/MacDown2.0/ — the project page, in English and Chinese.

Install: brew install --cask xuanji86/tap/macdown2, or download the dmg below. The app is not notarized, so a manual download needs the one-time "Open Anyway" step (see the README).

Source code: https://github.com/xuanji86/MacDown2.0/tree/v0.2.0 (GPL-3.0)

MacDown2 0.1.0

MacDown2 0.1.0

The first public release of MacDown2.0, a native Markdown editor for macOS 26 rebuilt from zero in Swift and SwiftUI, in the spirit of MacDown.

Writing

• The classic two panes: a dark editor (tree-sitter highlighting, MacDown's shortcuts and toolbar) beside a live preview that scrolls in sync.
• Tick a task box in the preview and the Markdown source changes with it.
• GFM, footnotes, GitHub alerts, KaTeX math, highlight.js code, Mermaid diagrams, YAML/TOML front matter, CJK-aware emphasis.
• Quarto .qmd files get an approximate preview (built-in extension, code is never executed).

Workspace

• Open a folder as a workspace: Finder-style file tree, tabs, full-text search (⇧⌘F) and an outline in the sidebar.
• Click the active tab's name to rename, tag or move the file.
• Files changed by other programs reload by themselves; UTF-8, UTF-16, GB18030, Shift_JIS, Windows-1252 and Mac Roman are read and written faithfully.

Output

• Export to single-file HTML or paginated PDF, print, or copy as HTML; all sanitized.
• macdown2 command-line tool: open files and folders, or render HTML / PDF without starting the app.
• Quick Look previews in Finder.

And English and Simplified Chinese UI, 7 editor and 8 preview themes, five Dock icon styles, and Sparkle updates from this release on.

Requires macOS 26 or later; one universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel.

Install: brew install --cask xuanji86/tap/macdown2, or download the dmg below. The app is not notarized, so a manual download needs the one-time "Open Anyway" step (see the README).

Source code: https://github.com/xuanji86/MacDown2.0/tree/v0.1.0 (GPL-3.0)