Live Markdown Viewer

Live markdown viewer for AI pair-editing. When you collaborate, the updates render instantly. Works with any AI agent and web browser.

GitHub: wipcomputer/wip-markdown-viewer

npm: @wipcomputer/markdown-viewer

Install

npm install -g @wipcomputer/markdown-viewer

This installs the mdview command globally. Zero runtime dependencies. Pure Node.js.

Quick start

Start the server (binds to 127.0.0.1 only, never exposed to the network):

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3000/ > /dev/null 2>&1 || mdview &

Open a file in your default browser:

# macOS
open "http://127.0.0.1:3000/view?path=/absolute/path/to/file.md"

# Linux
xdg-open "http://127.0.0.1:3000/view?path=/absolute/path/to/file.md"

# Windows
start "http://127.0.0.1:3000/view?path=/absolute/path/to/file.md"

How it works

1. Tell your AI coding tool to install @wipcomputer/markdown-viewer globally
2. Tell your AI to open a .md file in md view
3. AI opens the file in your default browser
4. Every save re-renders the page instantly. No refresh needed.

Open multiple tabs to work on multiple documents at once.

Security

• Server binds to 127.0.0.1 only. It is not accessible from other machines.
• The /view?path= parameter reads files from your local filesystem. Use --root to restrict access to a specific directory tree. Recommended for shared environments.
• Zero npm dependencies. No supply chain risk beyond Node.js itself.

Features

• SSE-powered live reload (works in Safari, Chrome, Firefox)
• Multi-file support (each tab watches its own file)
• GitHub Flavored Markdown (tables, task lists, strikethrough)
• Syntax highlighting (180+ languages)
• Dark mode
• Table of contents
• Mermaid diagrams
• KaTeX math equations

Troubleshooting

Page shows the index instead of my file: The server was started with --root restricting access. Restart without --root.

Safari stalls or shows blank page: Hard refresh (Cmd+Shift+R) or restart the server. Safari caches SSE connections aggressively.

macOS open drops the query string: Use AppleScript instead:

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to open location "http://127.0.0.1:3000/view?path=/your/file.md"'

Notes

• Server runs at http://127.0.0.1:3000 by default. Use mdview --port 8080 to change.
• The server does not survive reboots. The curl check in quick start restarts it if needed.
• Do NOT start the server with a file path argument. Always start bare (mdview). Starting with a path locks the server to that directory.
• Drag and drop any .md file onto the homepage to view it.
• Zero external requests. All dependencies bundled locally.