editdown

Edit a markdown file in your browser and save it straight back to disk.

npx editdown notes.md

Every other md* CLI on npm renders markdown one way: disk to browser. editdown goes both ways. You get a rich-text editor over your actual file, and Cmd+S writes it back as markdown.

Features

• WYSIWYG editing over the real file, with a one-click toggle to raw source.
• Cmd+S saves to disk. Writes are atomic, so an interrupted save cannot truncate your document.
• Picks up outside edits. Change the file in your editor and the browser reloads it, keeping your scroll position. Never while you have unsaved changes.
• Link tooltips. Hover a link to see its URL, right-click to pin, then edit or unlink it in place. Paste a URL over selected text to link it.
• Copy rich text for pasting into Google Docs, Word, or an email client, with code blocks and lists surviving the trip.
• Images render inline, resolved relative to the markdown file.
• Offline and local. Binds to 127.0.0.1, no CDN, no telemetry, two dependencies.

Usage

editdown                    # edits README.md in the current directory
editdown docs/notes.md      # edits a specific file
editdown notes.md -p 3000   # pick the port (default 8432)
editdown notes.md --no-open # do not open a browser

If the port is taken, editdown walks up to the next free one.

| Shortcut | Action | |---|---| | Cmd/Ctrl+S | Save | | Cmd/Ctrl+B | Bold | | Right-click a link | Pin its tooltip | | Paste a URL over a selection | Turn the selection into a link |

Install

Nothing to install, npx editdown is the intended way to run it. If you want it always on hand:

npm install -g editdown

Requires Node 18+.

Notes

The file must already exist. editdown edits documents, it does not create them, so a typo in the filename gets you an error rather than a stray empty file.

Round-tripping runs your document through HTML and back, which normalizes formatting: list markers become -, headings become ATX (##), emphasis becomes *. The content is preserved, the exact byte-level formatting of untouched sections may not be. Keep your file in git, as you would anyway.

License

MIT