I just wanted to "take a quick look"

Often, when I open a Markdown file, I'm not trying to edit it.

I just want to quickly see what's inside.

For example:

  • GitHub project READMEs
  • Temporary technical docs pulled down
  • Instructions sent by a colleague
  • Notes I organized earlier

But on Windows, double-clicking a .md file usually opens VS Code.

The problem isn't that VS Code is bad — it's too heavy.

Launch, load plugins, restore workspace... by the time it's ready, several seconds have passed.

If you're only reading for a few seconds, that wait feels unnecessary.

Do that often enough, and the wasted time really adds up.

I tried plenty of existing tools

Later I looked around at existing options, roughly in these categories:

Typora

The experience is genuinely nice, and reading is comfortable.

But it's still essentially an editor, not a pure reading tool.

And it's now paid software, which is overkill for "just viewing files."

Obsidian

Very powerful, with great knowledge management.

But its role is "personal knowledge base system," not "open and read."

Opening a temporary Markdown file in it always feels like too much.

Other open-source Markdown editors

Tools like MarkText are decent overall, but they tend to share a few traits:

  • More editing-oriented than reading-oriented
  • Electron-based, relatively large size
  • Average launch speed

For the "open → glance → close" workflow, they're not light enough.

Online Markdown previews

There are plenty of online tools too.

But the issues are real:

  • Need copy-paste
  • Local images easily break
  • Privacy concerns for sensitive content

For frequent daily use, they're not convenient.

The core problem is actually simple

Eventually I realized:

Most Markdown tools on the market are doing "editor enhancement," not "reading experience optimization."

They're building:

  • Knowledge bases
  • AI writing assistants
  • Plugin systems
  • Cloud sync
  • Collaborative editing

But few seriously solve the most basic problem:

Just quickly open and read Markdown files

And that need is actually very common.

So I built a lighter tool: mdview

Later I made a tool myself — mdview.

Its goal is simple:

Make opening Markdown on Windows as direct as opening an image.

No complex concepts, no unnecessary features.

Just "open → read → close."

It does very little, but very focused

Double-click to open .md files

After installation, it can associate with Markdown files.

From then on, double-clicking a .md file enters reading mode, without launching an editor.

The whole program is only about 1.6MB, and launch is nearly instant.

Auto-refresh content

If you're editing the file in VS Code or Cursor at the same time, the reading window updates automatically after saving.

No manual refresh, no re-opening.

Auto outline navigation

For slightly longer Markdown documents, it generates a table of contents automatically.

Click a heading to jump — friendly for READMEs and technical docs.

Essential reading features are kept

For example:

  • Dark / light mode
  • Local images display normally
  • Ctrl + scroll to zoom
  • PDF export
  • Ctrl + E to jump to editor position

These are basic capabilities around the reading experience, with no extra complex configuration.

Fully local

All content is rendered locally.

No account needed, no file uploads.

For company documents or private notes, that's a bit more reassuring.

I deliberately removed many "cool-looking" features

During development, most of my work wasn't adding features — it was removing them.

For example:

  • Cloud sync
  • AI assistant
  • Plugin system
  • Workspace management
  • Online collaboration

None of these were added.

The reason is simple: they don't belong to "reading Markdown" itself.

I wanted it to be like Windows' built-in image viewer:

Open the file, see the content directly, close when done.

Final thoughts

If your use case is similar to mine:

  • Often reading GitHub READMEs
  • Often opening Markdown documents
  • Don't want to launch VS Code every time
  • Want a lightweight reading tool

You might want to try mdview.

It doesn't do much, but its goal is clear: focus only on reading Markdown.

If it can save you those few seconds of startup time, it was worth building.