Introducing mdt

Mar 19, 2026

We’re excited to introduce mdt, a fast, terminal-based markdown viewer and editor built with Rust.

If you work with markdown files and live in the terminal, mdt gives you everything you need without ever opening a GUI application. Point it at a directory and you get a file tree, a fully rendered markdown preview, a built-in editor with vim-style keybindings, and a live split-pane preview that updates as you type.

Why mdt?

There are plenty of ways to edit markdown, but most involve switching context — opening a browser-based preview, launching an Electron app, or piecing together terminal tools. mdt brings it all together in a single, fast binary:

Browse — Collapsible file tree with fuzzy finding and real-time search
Preview — Headings, tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, task lists, blockquotes, all rendered beautifully in your terminal
Edit — Vim-style keybindings with insert/normal modes, :w to save, :q to quit
Live Preview — Split-pane view that updates as you type, with horizontal or vertical layouts

Built with Rust

mdt is built on ratatui for the terminal UI, pulldown-cmark for CommonMark parsing, and syntect for syntax highlighting. The result is a snappy, memory-efficient tool that starts instantly and handles large files smoothly.

Get started

Install from crates.io:

cargo install mdtui

Then open any directory:

mdt ~/notes

Check out the Getting Started guide for a full walkthrough, or browse the documentation to learn about all the features.