mdwriter

A fast, native Markdown editor that keeps your files yours.

Write in a clean block editor, save plain .md files to any folder on your machine, and walk away whenever you want — no proprietary database, no sync service, no lock-in.

Why mdwriter

• Plain Markdown on disk. Every note is a .md file in a folder you chose. Open them in any other editor. Sync them with iCloud, Dropbox, git — whatever you already use.
• A block editor that respects the format. Blocks, slash commands, drag-to-reorder. Saves back to clean Markdown you'd be happy to read by hand.
• Frontmatter without writing YAML. A Properties pane edits your frontmatter as real form fields. Toggle to raw mode (Cmd/Ctrl+E) when you want to see the source.
• Find files instantly. Cmd/Ctrl+P fuzzy palette across your whole folder.
• Built-in AI assistant. Chat with Claude Code about the file you're editing, ask it to draft, rewrite, or summarize — it can read and write notes in your folder when you ask.
• External changes welcome. Edit a file in another app and mdwriter picks it up automatically.

Get mdwriter

Download the latest build from the Releases page:

• macOS — mdwriter_*_macOS_Silicon.dmg (Apple Silicon) or mdwriter_*_macOS_Intel.dmg
• Windows — mdwriter_*_x64-setup.exe
• Linux — .AppImage, .deb, or .rpm

Open it and pick any folder of Markdown files (or an empty folder to start fresh). That's it.

First launch

mdwriter isn't signed with a paid Apple or Windows certificate yet, so your OS will warn you the first time. One-time approval:

• macOS — double-click mdwriter.app. On the "could not verify" warning click Done, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to "mdwriter.app was blocked", and click Open Anyway. Normal double-click works after that. (On macOS 14 and earlier, right-click → Open also works.)
• Windows — on the SmartScreen warning, click More info → Run anyway.

Stays up to date

mdwriter checks for updates about ten seconds after launch. If there's a new version, you'll see a banner in the bottom-right of the window — click Restart and install when you're ready. You can also check manually from mdwriter → Check for Updates… (macOS) or Settings → About → Check for Updates (anywhere).

Update payloads are cryptographically signed, so even though the OS isn't yet signing the app, the app verifies every update against a key it trusts.

A few handy shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd/Ctrl+P	Find a file by name
Cmd/Ctrl+E	Toggle between block editor and raw Markdown
Cmd/Ctrl+S	Save (autosave runs every 500ms anyway)

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For developers

mdwriter is built with Tauri 2, React 19, TypeScript, BlockNote, and CodeMirror. Package manager is pnpm.

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev      # run the full desktop app
pnpm dev            # frontend only, in a browser
pnpm test           # frontend unit tests
pnpm tauri build    # production bundle

Releases are cut from the Release GitHub Actions workflow — see docs/RELEASING.md. Architecture notes for contributors live in CLAUDE.md.