A calm, native Markdown editor for macOS. You write in the rendered document itself — no split raw/preview pane, no toolbar clutter, no settings to wade through. It follows your system light/dark appearance, keeps each note as a plain .md file on your disk, and stays out of your way.
Mallow is for people who just want to write. It deliberately isn't a note database, a wiki, or a plugin platform — it's a focused editor that does the writing essentials beautifully and stops there.
- Markdown is the source of truth — but its syntax never shows. You edit clean, styled text; the
#,**,*,`,>and list markers always collapse away (structure is changed from the Style menu and shortcuts, not by typing raw symbols). What you see is the document, not its markup. - Genuinely minimal — no settings screen. Sensible defaults, zero configuration. It looks the way it should the moment you open it.
- Distraction-free by design. Focus Mode dims everything but the block you're on; Typewriter Scrolling keeps that line centered. The chrome fades while you write.
- First-class Korean, Japanese & English. The editor uses the macOS system IME directly, so Hangul/Kana composition is exactly as smooth as in any native app — and the UI follows your device language.
- Your files, your disk. One note = one
.mdfile. No account, no cloud lock-in, no proprietary format. Point it at an iCloud or Dropbox folder if you want sync — that's it. - Truly native. Not a web view in a window — a real macOS app with native menus, dialogs, and
.mdfile associations.
- Live-preview editing — Mallow parses your markdown as you type; headings, bold/italic/strike/inline-code, links, lists, quotes, tables, task checkboxes, and code blocks are styled in place while the syntax markers stay hidden.
- Format commands — the full Format menu (bold/italic/strikethrough/inline-code ⌘B/⌘I, headings ⌘1–3 / body ⌘0, bullet & numbered lists, quote, code block, divider), plus a Style popover.
- GFM tables & task lists — tables render on a tidy card;
- [ ]/- [x]show as ☐ / ☑ and toggle on click. - Focus Mode (⌃⌘F) — dims every block but the caret's. Typewriter Scrolling (⌃⌘T) keeps the active line centered.
- Multiple windows — New (⌘N) and Open (⌘O / Recent / Finder double-click) open a separate document window; ⌘W closes one and the app quits after the last.
- Files — open / save / save-as with atomic writes and per-window dirty tracking (● in the title); debounced autosave once a document has a file; a discard prompt guards close (⌘W) and quit (⌘Q); external-change reload when you return from editing the file elsewhere; Open Recent and last-session restore (window size/position included).
- Find & Replace (⌘F) — the native find bar with match highlighting and replace.
- Smart typography — curly quotes, en/em dashes, and ellipsis as you type, kept out of code and never touching Hangul/Kana.
- Statistics & Table of Contents (⇧⌘I) — word / character / paragraph counts and read time, a click-to-jump TOC, and a live word-count badge in the status bar.
- Export — HTML (⇧⌘E) saves a self-contained, styled page (math renders as native MathML); PDF exports a clean light-theme document. Copy as Rich Text (⌥⌘C) keeps headings/bold/lists/tables/code when pasting into Slack, email, Docs, or Notion; Paste & Match Style (⇧⌘V) pastes plain text; pasting an http(s) URL over a selection wraps it in a link.
- Text zoom (⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0) and Keep on Top (View ▸ Keep on Top) — both per-window, reset each launch.
- Automatic light & dark theme — follows the macOS appearance and switches live, with the system fonts.
Markdown math is kept as source text in the editor (it renders as MathML in HTML export).
Download the latest Mallow_<version>_aarch64.dmg from the Releases page (Apple Silicon), open it, and drag Mallow into Applications. The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click.
macOS 14+. Mallow builds against a small companion engine checked out as a sibling at ../inkstone; with that in place:
./build.sh # build + run
./build-app.sh # package a .app bundle → .build/Mallow.app
# (auto-signs if a "Developer ID Application" cert is in the keychain)MIT — see LICENSE.