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mdcat

Render Markdown beautifully in your terminal.
Full colour, syntax highlighting, search, and mouse — zero config.

$npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat README.md
mdcat — README.md
[md]README.mdmdcat
╔══════════════════╗║      MDCAT      ║╚══════════════════╝
View markdown files beautifully
in your terminal.
Features
──────────────────────────
Zero configuration
One Dark colour palette
Incremental search /
Mouse wheel scrolling
OSC 8 clickable links
GFM tables & task lists
──────────────────────────────────
┌─ bash ──────────────────┐
$ npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat README.md
└───────────────────────────────────┘
q  /  j k  ↑↓  space  g G42%
$

Everything you need

All GitHub-Flavoured Markdown rendered with care. Nothing to configure.

🎨
One Dark palette

Easy on the eyes in any dark terminal. Consistent colors for every Markdown element.

# Heading
**bold** _italic_ `code`
> blockquote
🔍
Incremental search

Press / to search. Matches highlight live with gold gutter markers. n / N to cycle.

Press /  to enter search
Type to filter in real time
n / N  to jump between hits
⌨️
Keyboard-driven

Familiar vi-style bindings. j/k, space/b, g/G — zero learning curve if you know less.

j / k     scroll line
space / b  page down/up
g / G     top / bottom
🖱️
Mouse wheel

Scroll naturally with your mouse wheel. Three lines per tick using SGR mouse mode.

Scroll ↑   offset -= 3
Scroll ↓   offset += 3
🔗
Clickable links

OSC 8 hyperlinks work in iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm, foot, and Ghostty.

[link text](https://example.com)
→ blue underline, clickable
📦
Zero config

No config files, no env vars, no setup. Pipe or open — it just works.

npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat file.md
curl … | npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat
$

Install

Zero-install with npx, or add it globally. Your choice.

npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat README.md
$

Keyboard shortcuts

vi-style bindings. Familiar if you know less or vim.

q
Quit
j / k
Scroll down / up one line
/
Scroll up / down one line
Space / b
Page down / page up
d / u
Half-page down / up
g / G
Jump to top / bottom
/
Enter search mode
n / N
Next / previous match
Esc
Cancel search or clear matches
Mouse wheel
Scroll up / down three lines

Try it right now

No install required. Just paste this into your terminal.

$npx @dunkinfrunkin/mdcat README.md