Guide

Everything the front page pointed at — the full syntax it renders, every shortcut, and how to put your agent on the same page.

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Markdown syntax

What OpenMarkdown renders in live preview and reading mode. Anything it doesn't recognise falls back to a plain code block — your text is never eaten.

You writeYou get
# … / ## … / ###Headings, three levels shown here (through H6)
**bold** · *italic* · ~~strike~~bold, italic, strikethrough
`inline code`Inline code
```lang … ```Fenced code block with syntax highlighting
[text](url)Links
![alt](path)Images — local paths and URLs
- item · 1. itemUnordered and ordered lists
- [ ] / - [x]Task lists — checkboxes stay clickable, even in reading mode
> quoteBlockquotes
---Horizontal rule
| a | b |Tables
--- … --- at topYAML frontmatter, folded
Three views, one file: live preview renders as you type, source shows every marker at one size (great for commit messages and prompts), and reading is the clean rendered page. One button cycles all three.

Keyboard shortcuts

The keys you already know. If you've used VS Code or Vim, most of this is muscle memory.

KeyDoes
⌘PCommand palette — files, then > for commands, @ for headings
⌘⇧PCommand palette, straight into command mode
⌘FFind & replace
⌘B · ⌘IBold · italic
⌘SSave now (it also autosaves when you pause)
⌘Z · ⌘⇧ZUndo · redo
⌃Tab · ⌃⇧TabNext / previous tab
⌘1–⌘8 · ⌘9Jump to the Nth tab · last tab
⌘W · ⌘⇧WClose tab · close window
⌘ + · ⌘ − · ⌘0Zoom in · out · reset

The openmd CLI

Four commands, three flags. Every one of them talks to the app already running on your machine — nothing leaves your disk.

You runIt does
openmd notes.mdOpens the file in OpenMarkdown — open is implied; several files open several tabs
openmd reveal plan.md "Auth"Opens the file and scrolls to the heading — exact match, then case-insensitive, then prefix; without a heading it just opens and activates
openmd statusWhat's open right now — folder, tabs, active file. Never launches the app
openmd mcpRuns the MCP server on stdio, for agents to spawn: claude mcp add openmd -- openmd mcp
--waitBlocks until you close the tab — the EDITOR="openmd --wait" contract git and agents rely on
--source gitLabels the session tab with who's asking
--jsonOne line of machine-readable JSON on stdout, for scripts
Exit codes and the fine print: openmd --help.

Put your agent on the same page

OpenMarkdown talks to your terminal and your agent three ways — a CLI, an MCP server, and a Claude Code plugin. They stack: install once, and your agent can open, reveal, and read the same file you're looking at.

  1. Install the openmd CLI. Open Settings → CLI and click install. It drops an openmd command on your PATH. Now openmd notes.md opens a file from any terminal — the command table has the rest.
  2. Make it your $VISUAL. In Settings, one toggle points $VISUAL at OpenMarkdown. Git commit messages and Claude Code's Ctrl+G now open here — write, hit ⌘+↩, done.
  3. Install the Claude Code plugin. Add the marketplace and install the plugin — or wire the MCP server straight in: claude mcp add openmd -- openmd mcp. Your agent gains four tools — open_file, reveal, get_context, execute_command — and a skill that teaches it when to use them.
Everything runs on plain files, locally. The CLI and MCP server forward to the app on your machine — nothing leaves your disk, and your agent reads exactly the page you see.

Languages

The interface ships in 中文 · 日本語 · English, following your system language with a manual override in Settings.

Missing your language? That's a gap worth closing — start a discussion or open an issue. The door is open to everyone.

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