PureMark

A clean, native Markdown viewer and editor for Linux built with Wails (Go + WebKit).

Designed for reading notes, studying, and presenting documents with maximum readability.

Features

Viewing & Rendering

• Native file association — Double-click any .md file to open it instantly
• Elegant rendering — Markdown to HTML with clean typography (Inter + JetBrains Mono)
• Syntax highlighting — Code blocks with highlight.js, colors adapt to each theme
• Local images — ![alt](./image.png), img.png and /abs/path.png are resolved against the document folder and served by an internal same-origin handler (no file:// issues)
• Rich text copy — Copy rendered content as text/html + text/plain for pasting into Word, email, etc.
• Find in document — Ctrl+F opens a floating search bar with next/previous navigation in both rendered view and edit mode
• Print support — Optimized @media print CSS with page-break control
• Export as PDF — Native PDF export using system browser (headless), forced light mode
• Export as HTML — Self-contained HTML with inline styles and syntax highlighting

Editing

• Edit mode — Toggle between view and edit with Ctrl+E
• Inline formatting toolbar — Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Headings (H1–H4), Quote, Lists (bullet, numbered, task), Links, Images, Tables, Horizontal rule, Code (inline and block)
• Smart formatting — Place your cursor on a word and apply formatting; it wraps the whole word automatically
• Full undo / redo — Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y with custom undo stack (native undo unreliable in WebKitGTK)
• Unsaved changes protection — Prompts to save before closing if there are pending edits

Multi-Tab

• Tabbed interface — Open multiple files simultaneously
• Per-tab state — Each tab maintains its own content, mode, undo/redo stack, and dirty flag
• Tab bar with scroll — Horizontal scrolling with arrows and mouse wheel when many tabs are open
• Quick open button — + button on the tab bar to open new files
• Drag & Drop — Drop .md files onto the window to open them as new tabs

File Management

• New file — Create untitled documents with Ctrl+N
• Save as — Save to new location with Ctrl+Shift+S
• Export as PDF — Direct PDF generation without print dialog (uses system browser headless)
• Export as HTML — Self-contained HTML files with inline CSS and syntax highlighting
• Fullscreen Zen Mode — Hide all UI except tabs and content for immersive reading (configurable)
• Single instance — Opening multiple files from the file manager stacks them as tabs in the existing window
• External change detection — Files edited by other programs are reloaded silently when clean, or surface a non-modal Reload / Keep my changes banner when dirty

UI & Customization

• 9 color themes — Default, Nord, Solarized, Dracula, Rosé Pine, Catppuccin, Oceanic, Sunset Coral, Emerald
• Light / Dark mode — Per-theme toggle with one click
• Zoom controls — Ctrl++, Ctrl+-, Ctrl+0, Ctrl+Mouse Wheel, and status bar slider
• Frameless window — Clean look with custom title bar and window controls
• Full menu bar — File, Edit, View, Document, Format, Go, Tools, Help
• Document tools — File information dialog, word count, jump to top/bottom, keyboard shortcuts, and About dialog
• Context menu — Right-click for Cut, Copy, Paste, Copy as Rich Text, Select All
• Status bar — File path, line count, file size, modification date, zoom slider, fullscreen toggle
• Multi-language UI — Spanish and English
• Preferences persistence — Theme, color scheme, language, zoom level remembered across sessions

System Integration

• .deb package with automatic desktop entry, icon registration, and MIME type association
• CLI support — Open files directly from terminal: puremark file.md
• Multiple file arguments — puremark file1.md file2.md opens both in tabs

Installation

Option A: .deb package (recommended)

PureMark 1.2.0 is published in two WebKit variants. Pick the package that matches the WebKit version shipped by your distribution:

Package	Distro	WebKit ABI
puremark_1.2.0_amd64.deb	Linux Mint 21, Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12	libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37
puremark_1.2.0_amd64_webkit41.deb	Linux Mint 22, Ubuntu 24.04	libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0

If you are not sure, check which runtime library is available:

apt-cache policy libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0

Use the 4.0 package when your system has libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37. Use the 4.1 package when it has libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0.

Download from Releases and install:

sudo dpkg -i puremark_1.2.0_amd64.deb          # WebKitGTK 4.0
# or
sudo dpkg -i puremark_1.2.0_amd64_webkit41.deb # WebKitGTK 4.1

This will:

• Install the binary to /usr/local/bin/puremark
• Register PureMark as the default viewer for .md files
• Add the application icon and desktop entry

To uninstall:

sudo dpkg -r puremark

Option B: Build from source

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23+
• Node.js 18+
• Wails CLI v2
• WebKit2GTK dev libraries — pick the one your distro ships:

# Mint 21 / Ubuntu 22.04 / Debian 12
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev libgtk-3-dev

# Mint 22 / Ubuntu 24.04
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev

Verify your environment:

wails doctor

Build & Install

git clone https://github.com/soyunomas/puremark.git
cd puremark
make help
make install

make install uses the WebKitGTK 4.0 build by default. On Mint 22 / Ubuntu 24.04 use:

make install-41

This compiles the app, copies the binary to ~/.local/bin/, registers the .desktop file, and associates Markdown files with PureMark.

Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH.

Build .deb locally

make deb      # WebKitGTK 4.0 package
make deb-41   # WebKitGTK 4.1 package
make deb-all  # Both packages

Generated packages are written to the project directory:

• puremark_1.2.0_amd64.deb
• puremark_1.2.0_amd64_webkit41.deb

Usage

From file manager: Double-click any .md file (after installation, PureMark is the default handler).

From terminal:

puremark path/to/file.md
puremark file1.md file2.md   # Opens both in tabs

Without arguments: Opens a welcome screen — use Ctrl+O or File → Open to pick a file.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+O	Open file
Ctrl+S	Save file
Ctrl+F	Find in document
Ctrl+E	Toggle edit mode
Ctrl+W	Close current tab
Ctrl+P	Print
Ctrl+N	New file
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save as
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
Ctrl+B	Bold (edit mode)
Ctrl+I	Italic (edit mode)
Ctrl+A	Select all (content only)
Ctrl+Shift+C	Copy as rich text
Ctrl++ / Ctrl+-	Zoom in / out
Ctrl+0	Reset zoom
Ctrl+Mouse Wheel	Zoom
Enter / Shift+Enter	Next / previous search result when search is open
F11	Toggle fullscreen
Esc	Close menu / modal

Makefile Targets

make help           # Show all available commands

make build          # Build using WebKitGTK 4.0 by default
make build-40       # Build for WebKitGTK 4.0
make build-41       # Build for WebKitGTK 4.1

make dev            # Run development mode using WebKitGTK 4.0 by default
make dev-40         # Development mode with WebKitGTK 4.0
make dev-41         # Development mode with WebKitGTK 4.1

make install        # Build + install locally using WebKitGTK 4.0 by default
make install-40     # Build + install locally using WebKitGTK 4.0
make install-41     # Build + install locally using WebKitGTK 4.1
make install-files  # Install the already-built binary without rebuilding
make uninstall      # Remove local user install

make deb            # Generate the WebKitGTK 4.0 .deb by default
make deb-40         # Generate the WebKitGTK 4.0 .deb
make deb-41         # Generate the WebKitGTK 4.1 .deb
make deb-all        # Generate both .deb variants

make clean          # Remove build artifacts

Tech Stack

• Backend: Go + Wails v2
• Frontend: TypeScript + Marked.js + DOMPurify + highlight.js
• Runtime: WebKit2GTK (Linux)

Project Structure

puremark/
├── app.go              # Go backend (file I/O, dialogs, file stats)
├── main.go             # Wails app entry point
├── frontend/
│   └── src/
│       ├── main.ts     # Frontend logic (UI, tabs, editor, undo stack, i18n)
│       └── style.css   # All styles, themes, syntax highlighting
├── build/
│   └── appicon.png     # App icon
├── puremark.desktop    # Linux desktop entry
├── build-deb.sh        # .deb packaging script
├── install.sh          # Manual install script
├── uninstall.sh        # Manual uninstall script
├── Makefile            # Build automation
└── wails.json          # Wails config

License

MIT