Introduction

What is leaf?

leaf is a terminal-based Markdown previewer that brings a GUI-like experience to your command line. It renders Markdown files with rich formatting, syntax highlighting, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, and more, all without leaving your terminal.

Key Features

  • Rich Markdown rendering : headers, lists, blockquotes, tables with Unicode borders, syntax highlighting for 40+ languages, GitHub alert callouts, task list checkboxes, text highlighting, and Markdown footnotes.
  • LaTeX & Mermaid : math formulas rendered as Unicode, diagrams as ASCII art.
  • Interactive navigation : vim-like keybindings, mouse support, scrollbar, and full-text search.
  • Table of Contents : sidebar TOC with active section tracking, mouse navigation, and auto-follow while scrolling.
  • File picker : fuzzy finder (Ctrl+P) and directory browser (Shift+P) with configurable width.
  • Watch mode : auto-reload on file changes, preserving scroll position.
  • Editor integration : open files in your preferred editor with Ctrl+E, at the currently visible line via {$line}.
  • Code block interactions : copy content with y/c then Ctrl+Y/Enter, toggle line numbers in code blocks.
  • Mouse capture : toggle mouse capture with Shift+M to let the terminal handle text selection.
  • Inline rendering : render Markdown to stdout with --inline for scripts and previews.
  • Shell completions : Tab completion for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell.
  • Custom themes : 4 built-in themes + create your own with TOML files.
  • Extra file types : open any file; code files get syntax highlighting.
  • Clickable links : Ctrl+Click to open, hover effects in supported terminals.
  • Stdin support : pipe from any CLI tool (claude "..." | leaf).
  • Cross-platform : macOS, Linux, Windows, Android/Termux.

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://leaf.rivolink.mg/install.sh | sh

# Preview a file
leaf README.md

# Watch mode
leaf --watch README.md

# Open file picker
leaf

Next Steps

  • Installation: detailed installation guide for all platforms.
  • Usage: learn the basics of using leaf.
  • Features: explore all features in depth.