Dickory Docs

A Mermaid diagram viewer that actually works — for Markdown on your machine.

Dickory Docs was built because nothing else made it easy to view Mermaid diagrams in local Markdown: no paste into a web playground, no broken renders in generic previewers. Open a folder, pick a .md or .mmd file, and Mermaid diagrams become live SVG — inline or full-screen. Supports ```mermaid fences, untagged ``` blocks with diagram syntax, and whole-file .mmd sources.

Also includes Markdown preview, multi-folder workspaces, and a file explorer — all local-first (Tauri + React + Rust).

Site: camronwood.github.io/dickory-docs

Quick start

Requirements: Node.js 18+, Rust (for Tauri), platform Tauri deps (tauri.app).

git clone https://github.com/camronwood/dickory-docs.git
cd dickory-docs
npm install
make start-all

Vite dev server runs on port 5177; Tauri opens the desktop window.

Install (download): GitHub Releases — pick the .dmg (macOS), .msi (Windows), or .AppImage / .deb (Linux) for your machine.

Linux — which artifact? Run uname -m:

uname -m	Download
x86_64	*_amd64.AppImage or *_amd64.deb
aarch64	*_aarch64.AppImage or *_aarch64.deb

One-time setup: chmod +x the AppImage; on Ubuntu, sudo apt install libfuse2t64 or libfuse2 if the AppImage won’t start. Ubuntu 24.04: AppImage is more reliable than .deb (WebKit 4.0 dependency). Optional installer script: scripts/install-linux.sh.

macOS — which .dmg? Run uname -m in Terminal:

uname -m	Download
arm64	*_aarch64.dmg (native Apple Silicon)
x86_64	*_x64.dmg (Intel Mac)

If you are on Apple Silicon (arm64) and the native build misbehaves, try *_x64.dmg instead — it runs under Rosetta.

macOS builds are unsigned; use Right-click → Open the first time if Gatekeeper warns.

Build installers locally:

npm install
npm run tauri:build
# Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/  (.dmg on macOS, .msi on Windows, etc.)

Or: make build-release on macOS after Tauri prerequisites are installed.

Why Mermaid first

• Inline SVG — mermaid-tagged fences, untagged diagram fences, and .mmd files render in the preview pane, not as raw code.
• Expand to modal — dense flowcharts and sequence diagrams get a full-screen view.
• Retry on errors — bad syntax surfaces clearly instead of failing silently.
• Local files — diagrams never leave your machine; point at any folder on disk.

Also included

• Folder workspaces — persisted under DickoryDocs in your OS config dir (migrates from legacy DocWatson once). MRU tabs for recent roots; ··· or ⌘⇧W / Ctrl+Shift+W to search and switch when you have many folders.
• Markdown preview — sanitised HTML, title in the window chrome.
• File explorer — resizable sidebar, Markdown & .mmd filter (workspace scan, no empty folders), live refresh when files change on disk, create/rename/delete.
• Preview deep link: ?preview=true&workspace={id}&path={relativePath}

Stack

• Desktop: Tauri 1.x + React + TypeScript + Tailwind
• Diagrams: Mermaid 11 + ELK + tidy-tree layouts
• Markdown: marked, DOMPurify
• Backend: Rust (workspace JSON, directory walks, safe path I/O)

Screenshots

See assets/screenshots/ — split editor, preview-only mode, and diagram gallery captures. The marketing site uses the same images.

Docs

See DOCS.md for the documentation index and static site paths.

License

Open source — license TBD in repo (add LICENSE when publishing).