Orchid

A calm, native macOS reader for the Markdown your tools generate.

Point it at a folder (or several) and Orchid surfaces every Markdown file inside — beautifully rendered, live-updating, and built for reading. Now also creates, edits, and syntax-highlights code files.

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⬇️ Download & install

Requires macOS on Apple Silicon (M1 / M2 / M3 / M4).

1. Download the latest Orchid-*.dmg from the Releases page.

2. Install — open the downloaded .dmg, then drag the Orchid icon onto the Applications folder shown in the window.

3. Open it the first time (one-time, ~15 seconds):

Orchid is a free, open-source app that isn't paid-signed by Apple, so macOS double-checks with you on the very first launch. This is normal and safe — just:

1. In Applications, double-click Orchid.
2. A box says "Apple could not verify 'Orchid' is free of malware…" → click Done. (Do not click "Move to Bin".)
3. Open the Apple menu → System Settings → Privacy & Security.
4. Scroll to Security — you'll see "Orchid was blocked to protect your Mac." → click Open Anyway.
5. Confirm with Open Anyway (Touch ID / password if asked).

From then on, Orchid opens with a normal double-click. ✨

Rare: it says "damaged" or won't open

If the download's quarantine flag got stuck, open the Terminal app (⌘Space → "Terminal") and paste:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Orchid.app

Press Return, then open Orchid normally. You only ever need this once.

📋 Every version's changes are tracked in CHANGELOG.md.

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Features

Navigate

• Tabs — every open file gets a tab. Single-click browses in one reusable preview tab (so skimming never piles up tabs); double-click (or ⌥-click, or right-click → Open in New Tab) keeps a file in its own tab, and editing pins a preview automatically. ⌘W closes a tab, ⌃Tab cycles, ⌘1–⌘9 jump, drag to reorder, and right-click for Close Others / to the Right / to the Left / All.
• Multiple windows — File → New Window (⌥⌘N) opens an independent window with its own folders and tabs. Two projects, side by side.
• Folder-native — open a folder and the sidebar shows your Markdown (and code/text files), nested structure preserved, noise (node_modules, dotfiles) hidden.
• Multi-folder workspaces — keep several folders open at once, each a collapsible section. Add, close, or remove folders any time. Opening a single file adds it alongside them.
• Pinned files — pin your go-to files to a section at the top of the sidebar (right-click, or the pin that appears on hover).
• Keyboard navigation — with the sidebar focused, ↑/↓ move through files; ⇧↑/⇧↓ and ⇧-click extend a multi-file selection.
• Sort — a compact menu: Name (A–Z) or Recently edited; every file shows a relative timestamp.
• Live — new and changed files appear automatically; a Refresh button re-scans on demand.
• Collapse / expand all — one click in the sidebar toolbar to fold every folder, or open them all back up.
• Find fast — ⌘P fuzzy switcher (matches names and full paths — notes/prd, or terms like no prd) · ⌘⇧F full-text search across folders · ⌘F find-in-file · a scroll-spy table of contents with adjustable text size.

Read

• Rich preview — GFM tables, task lists, syntax-highlighted code, callouts, images, a frontmatter header, KaTeX math, and Mermaid diagrams.
• PDF reading — open a .pdf and read it right in Orchid's own calm viewer (not the grey system one): fit-to-width, zoom, selectable text, and find (⌘F) across the whole document.
• Built for focus — refined typography; resizable panels; collapse the sidebar or contents rail right from the divider (a circular handle appears on hover), or one focus button to hide everything. A Reading / Editing badge always shows your mode.
• Themes — light (Bloom) / dark (Dusk) following the system, 13 accent presets, a bring-your-own custom colour, and adjustable sidebar & index text sizes.

Create & edit

• New files (⌘N) and folders (⌘⇧N) — from the menu or the sidebar +; code files get syntax highlighting; extension-less files default to .txt.
• Manage files — rename, move by dragging onto a folder, copy path / relative path (the menu shows exactly what you'll copy), and delete to Trash with multi-select — all from right-click.
• Light editing — ⌘E toggles a CodeMirror editor with a scroll-synced live preview (the cursor lands ready to type); ⌘S saves. Full cut / copy / paste / undo (keyboard and right-click), and an Edit menu. Unsaved edits live safely in their tab — switching files never loses them, and closing offers to save.
• Export — self-contained HTML or PDF with a customisable header, footer, and page numbers; always rendered light for clean printing and sharing.

Stay current

• In-app updates — Orchid checks for new releases and shows an in-app card when one's out (Check for Updates… in the app menu); one click to download.
• Know your version — shown in Orchid → About Orchid, on the launch screen, and in Settings.
• Resilient — a stray error no longer takes the app down (a crashed view quietly reloads), and crashes are recorded so they can be diagnosed.

Light & dark

Orchid follows your system appearance — Bloom (light) and Dusk (dark) — or pin either.

Dusk — Mermaid diagrams, math, and code, rendered live


Pinned files · multi-folder workspaces · contents rail


13 accent presets + a custom colour

Keyboard shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Open a folder or file	⌘O
Add a folder to the workspace	⇧⌘O
New window	⌥⌘N
Close tab	⌘W
Next / previous tab	⌃Tab / ⌃⇧Tab
Jump to tab n (last: ⌘9)	⌘1–⌘9
Refresh (re-scan)	⌘R
Jump to a file	⌘P
Find in this file	⌘F
Find across all files	⌘⇧F
Preview ⇄ Edit	⌘E
Save	⌘S
Toggle sidebar / contents	⌘. / ⌘⌥.
Keyboard shortcuts	⌘/

Every shortcut is customisable — open Settings (⌘, or the gear in the titlebar), click a command, and press the keys you want. On a Windows-style keyboard you can bind Ctrl-based shortcuts (macOS treats ⌘ and Ctrl as distinct).

Tip: drag a folder or file onto the window, right-click a file to reveal/trash it, or ⌘-click several files to delete them together.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/avnat/orchid.git
cd orchid
npm install
npm run dev      # launch with hot reload
npm run build    # bundle to out/
npm run dist     # package a signed .dmg into dist/

See CONCEPT.md for the design rationale, and the in-app Help → Contributing & Developer Info.

Releases

Builds are produced by GitHub Actions, not by hand:

• Each release is tagged vX.Y.Z. Pushing that tag triggers the release workflow, which builds the macOS (Apple Silicon) .dmg, ad-hoc signs it, and publishes a GitHub Release with the dmg attached.
• The newest stable build is always at /releases/latest — that's the one to download (and the Download badge above links straight to it).
• Every past version stays on the Releases page, so you can always go back to an older build. Build logs live under the Actions tab.
• Release candidates are tagged vX.Y.Z-rc.N and published as prereleases — testable, but never marked "latest" (and skipped by the in-app updater).

Acknowledgements

Orchid stands on the shoulders of remarkable open-source work — every dependency below is MIT- or similarly permissively licensed. Thank you to their authors and maintainers.

• Rendering — react-markdown with the remark / rehype ecosystem turns Markdown into the preview.
• Math — KaTeX. Diagrams — Mermaid.
• Code highlighting — highlight.js (preview) and CodeMirror 6 (editor and code files).
• Desktop shell — Electron, bundled with Vite / electron-vite and packaged by electron-builder.
• State — Zustand. File watching — chokidar. UI — React, TypeScript.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — the project runs a normal issue → branch → PR flow:

1. Open an issue describing the bug or feature (use the Bug / Feature templates).
2. Branch off main (fix/…, feat/…, chore/…), make your change, and run npm run typecheck.
3. Open a pull request linking the issue (Closes #NN). CI (typecheck + build) runs automatically; the maintainer reviews and merges — main is protected, so changes land via PR, not direct pushes.

Keep changes focused and in the style of their neighbours, and don't add company-specific or proprietary content to the sample/docs. Full details in CONTRIBUTING.md; version history in CHANGELOG.md.

License

MIT © 2026 Avnee.

_{Concept by Avnee · Built by Claude 🌸}