---
title: "Markdown reader: read .md files in the Mac app"
description: "tmux-ide open notes.md shows a Markdown file in a native, read-only reader pane in the Mac app, with live reload, find and safe links and images."
canonical: https://tmux-ide.com/docs/markdown-reader
last_updated: 2026-11-11T12:37:25.000Z
---
# Markdown reader

> tmux-ide open notes.md shows a Markdown file in a native, read-only reader pane in the Mac app, with live reload, find and safe links and images.

`tmux-ide open notes.md` opens a Markdown file in a pane next to the one you ran
it from. In the Mac app the pane shows a native reader. In a plain terminal the
same pane shows the terminal rendering of `tmux-ide show`.

```sh
tmux-ide open notes.md
tmux-ide open docs/release-notes.md --split down
```

The reader is read-only. Closing, zooming and splitting work as on any pane,
because the reader is a tmux pane underneath.

## What it shows

* Headings, paragraphs, lists, task lists, quotes, GitHub alerts (Note, Tip,
  Warning), rules, tables and code blocks.
* Code blocks are monospace, with a copy button. There is no syntax
  highlighting yet.
* Raw HTML in the file is shown as text. It is never interpreted.

## Live reload

While the pane is visible the reader picks up changes to the file. If the file
is removed or renamed, the reader says so and keeps the last content until the
file comes back.

## Keys

While the reader is shown, its pane takes these keys:

| Key                        | What it does                     |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| ↑ and ↓                    | Scroll a line                    |
| Space and ⇧Space           | Scroll a page down or up         |
| Page Up and Page Down      | Scroll a page                    |
| Home and End, ⌘↑ and ⌘↓    | Go to the top or the bottom      |
| ⌘F                         | Find in the document             |
| Enter and ⇧Enter (in find) | Next and previous match          |
| Esc                        | Close find, or clear a selection |
| ⌘C                         | Copy the selected text           |

The app's own shortcuts keep working from a reader pane: the ⌘ shortcuts, the
function keys (F1 Home, F5 commands, F6 sessions, F10 sidebar and the rest) and
Ctrl-G. Every other key, paste included, is ignored while the reader is shown,
so nothing you type reaches the `tmux-ide show` process in the pane underneath.

## Find

Press ⌘F in a focused reader to search the document. Matching ignores case.
Enter and ⇧Enter move between matches, and Esc closes the find field.

## Links

* A `#heading` link scrolls to that heading.
* `http://` and `https://` links open in your system browser, unless they carry
  a user name or password (`https://user:pass@host`).
* Other links, such as `mailto:`, `file:` and custom schemes, are not opened.

## Images

* Local images load only from the Markdown file's folder, or from its git
  repository when the file is inside one. Paths that leave that folder or
  repository, including through a symlink, are not loaded.
* PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and SVG images up to 10 MiB each are shown, at most 64
  per document, and at most 64 million decoded pixels for all of a document's
  images together. A picture past that limit shows as a line of text.
* Remote images are never fetched. The reader shows the image's host and a link
  you can open in your browser instead.

## Limits

* Files up to 4 MiB are shown. For a larger file, run `tmux-ide show <file>` in
  a terminal pane.
* Over SSH the file is read by tmux-ide on the remote machine, so the remote
  machine needs tmux-ide 2.9.22 or later.
* From 0.1.16 the Mac app asks daemons for a newer pane-stream capability
  that includes the reader. Until a remote machine's tmux-ide is updated, its
  daemon sends this app no browser favicons and sends terminal graphics
  uncompressed. Everything else works as before.