Moye

Moye (墨页) is a native macOS Markdown editor for local writing.

It is built with SwiftUI and AppKit. The editing core uses NSTextView for stable text input, selection, undo, and input-method behavior. Live preview is rendered separately with WKWebView.

中文说明 · Disclaimer · License

Status

Moye is an early open-source project. It can already be used for local Markdown editing, but it is not a polished stable release yet.

The project goal is to build a document-first Mac Markdown editor: native menus, local files, reliable editing, live preview, practical export, and a gradual path toward a more Typora-like writing experience.

Download

Download the latest macOS build from GitHub Releases:

https://github.com/moye-source/moye-md/releases

Current package format:

Moye-0.1.3-macOS.zip

The app is currently unsigned and not notarized. macOS may show a Gatekeeper warning the first time you open it. Only run builds you trust. See Disclaimer.

When Moye is launched outside /Applications, it asks to move itself to the Applications folder and relaunch from there.

Opening unsigned builds

Until Moye has Apple Developer ID signing and notarization, macOS may block the app before it can start. If you trust the downloaded build:

1. Try opening it once.
2. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security.
3. Choose Open Anyway for Moye.
4. Launch Moye again. After it starts, it can offer to move itself to /Applications.

For your own local test builds, you can also remove the quarantine flag:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /path/to/Moye.app
open /path/to/Moye.app

Updates

Use Help > Check for Updates... in the app to check whether a newer build is available.

Feature Status

• Native macOS app through Xcode
• Chinese and English UI strings, with Chinese as the default language
• Local Markdown source editing
• NSTextView-based editor core
• Markdown syntax highlighting
• Split, editor-only, and preview-only modes
• Draggable split view between editor and preview
• Live HTML preview
• Source-line based editor/preview scroll sync
• Document outline generated from headings
• Folder sidebar with full file tree browsing
• File name and file content search
• Quick Open
• Unsaved document state
• Undo, redo, cut, copy, paste, select all, find, and replace
• Standard macOS menu commands
• Settings from the app menu with Command-,
• Insert commands for headings, table of contents, code blocks, tables, task lists, and images
• Local image paste and drag/drop into an assets/ folder
• Table row and column editing helpers
• HTML, PDF, plain HTML, PNG, and Pandoc export entries
• Front matter, tables, task lists, footnotes, links, local images, and common inline styles in preview
• MathJax preview for inline and block math
• Mermaid preview for mermaid code fences
• Focus mode, typewriter mode, line numbers, and auto-pair insertion
• Word, character, line, and reading-time statistics
• Manual update checking
• Signed and notarized releases
• Fully automatic in-app updates
• Offline bundled MathJax and Mermaid assets
• A Markdown AST pipeline for more reliable editing tools
• Typora-like source-token hiding mode
• More complete UI automation tests

Requirements

For users:

• macOS 13 or later
• Optional: pandoc for Pandoc-based import/export

For development:

• Xcode with the macOS SDK
• The supported project entry is NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj

Older Swift Package prototype entry points have been removed. Do not use swift run, swift build, or .build/NativeMarkdownEditor.app for real app testing.

Development

Open in Xcode:

open NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj

Choose the NativeMarkdownEditor scheme, then press Run.

Command-line build and test:

xcodebuild -project NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj -scheme NativeMarkdownEditor -destination 'platform=macOS' build
xcodebuild -project NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj -scheme NativeMarkdownEditor -destination 'platform=macOS' test

Build and open a local debug app:

./RunNativeMarkdownEditor.command

Package a release zip:

./scripts/package-macos.sh 0.1.3

Output:

dist/Moye-0.1.3-macOS.zip

Release Flow

GitHub Actions creates a release asset when a tag starting with v is pushed.

git tag v0.1.3
git push origin v0.1.3

The release workflow builds the macOS app, creates Moye-0.1.3-macOS.zip, and uploads it to GitHub Releases.

Project Structure

Sources/NativeMarkdownEditor/
  AppModels.swift                 Shared models and localized strings
  ContentView.swift               Main app layout, sidebar, toolbar, status bar
  DocumentStore.swift             Document state, file operations, commands
  MarkdownEditorView.swift        NSTextView-backed Markdown editor
  MarkdownPreviewView.swift       WKWebView-backed live preview
  MarkdownRenderer.swift          Lightweight Markdown-to-HTML renderer
  MarkdownSyntaxHighlighter.swift Source editor highlighting
  NativeMarkdownEditorApp.swift   App entry point and menu commands

Tests/NativeMarkdownEditorTests/
  MarkdownEditorInputTests.swift  Editor, renderer, file, update, and preview tests

docs/
  branding/                       Name and visual direction
  typora-feature-parity.md        Typora parity tracking

Design Principles

• Native macOS first.
• Menu commands are the main command surface.
• The sidebar is for navigation, not duplicated system actions.
• Text input, selection, undo, and IME behavior should be handled by AppKit where SwiftUI is not precise enough.
• The editor core and HTML preview should stay separated.
• Typora-style editing requires Markdown structure and selection mapping, not simple string replacement.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please keep changes aligned with the native macOS direction:

1. Keep UI behavior consistent with macOS document-app conventions.
2. Prefer SwiftUI for app structure and AppKit where precise text editing is required.
3. Keep renderer, editor, file state, and export logic separated.
4. Add or update tests for behavior changes.
5. Run build and tests before opening a pull request.

xcodebuild -project NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj -scheme NativeMarkdownEditor -destination 'platform=macOS' build
xcodebuild -project NativeMarkdownEditor.xcodeproj -scheme NativeMarkdownEditor -destination 'platform=macOS' test

License

Moye is released under the MIT License.