MDWriter

A professional, native Markdown editor for macOS.

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中文版

MDWriter is a modern, elegant, and powerful Markdown editor for macOS, built with SwiftUI and SwiftData. Inspired by professional writing tools like Ulysses, it provides a focused writing environment with powerful library management and export capabilities.

Built with SwiftUI and SwiftData, MDWriter offers native performance, seamless animations, and a robust database architecture.

✨ Features

✍️ Professional Editor

• Typography First: Carefully tuned line heights, paragraph spacing, and margins for optimal readability (optimized for both English and Chinese/CJK).
• Theme System: Includes 8 professional themes (Pure, Solarized, GitHub, Dracula, Nord, Monokai, Night Owl) to match your environment.
• Typewriter Mode: Keeps your cursor vertically centered, allowing you to focus on the line you're writing.
• MarkX: A custom regex-based highlighting engine providing accurate, high-performance syntax highlighting without the webview overhead.
• Distraction Free: Hidden title bars and a clean UI let you focus solely on your content.

📚 Library & Organization

• SwiftData Integration: A modern, database-driven architecture using SQLite ensures fast search and reliable data integrity.
• Three-Column Layout: Navigate Folders, Document Lists, and the Editor in a fluid, native macOS interface.
• Drag & Drop: Intuitive organization—drag notes between folders, to the Trash, or rearrange your hierarchy.
• Smart Lists: Built-in Inbox and Trash management.

📜 Versions & Backups (New in v1.7)

• Snapshot History: Manually save "Versions" of your document and browse them purely visually. View character counts, creation times, and restore previous states with one click.
• Full Library Backup: Export your entire database (Folders, Notes, Snapshots) to a single .mdwbk file.
• One-Click Restore: Easily migrate your library to a new machine or recover from accidental data loss.

🤖 Apple Intelligence Integration (New in v2.0)

Important

Requirements: macOS 26.0 or later and an Apple Silicon (M-series) Mac. AI features must be enabled in System Settings.

• On-Device AI Assistant: Privacy-focused AI Assistant panel powered by Apple Foundation Models.
• Writing Tools: Polish, summarize, translate, and proofread your text with a single click.
• Smart Metadata: Automatically generate descriptive titles and relevant tags based on your content.
• Privacy First: All processing happens on-device; your data never leaves your machine.

📤 Export & Sharing

• PDF Export: Generate clean, A4-optimized PDFs with styled headers and footers.
• Word (RTF): Export broad-compatibility Rich Text files.
• Standard Markdown: Your data is yours. Export raw .md files at any time.

🌍 Localization

• Native English Support
• Simplified Chinese (简体中文): Fully localized UI, including menus, settings, and tooltips.

🚀 Installation

Download

Download the latest Universal Binary (supports both Apple Silicon and Intel) from the Releases page.

Homebrew

Install via Homebrew tap:

brew tap SteveShi/tap
brew install --cask mdwriter

Build from Source

Requirements:

• macOS 14.0+
• Xcode 15.0+

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/SteveShi/MDWriter.git
   cd MDWriter

2. Generate the Xcode project with XcodeGen:

   xcodegen generate --spec project.yml

3. Open MDWriter.xcodeproj in Xcode.
4. Ensure package dependencies resolve.
5. Build and Run (Cmd + R).

📦 Tech Stack

MDWriter leverages several powerful open-source libraries:

• SwiftUI: For a modern, native macOS user interface.
• SwiftData: For persistent storage and data management.
• swift-markdown: For high-performance Markdown parsing.
• Highlightr: For real-time code and syntax highlighting.
• Sparkle: For seamless app updates.
• WhatsNewKit: To showcase new features after updates.

Prerequisites

• macOS 14.0 or later
• Xcode 15.0 or later

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License Version 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.