Pager and editor

Open the built-in pager

mdv --pager README.md

A bare --pager uses MDV_PAGER when it is set, otherwise the default backend. Select the built-in backend explicitly with:

mdv --pager=builtin README.md

mdv --no-config --theme catppuccin --wrap word --pager=builtin README.md

                                                                                
mdv guide                                                                       
                                                                                
 Read Markdown right in your terminal.                                          
                                                                                
 Installation                                                                   
                                                                                
  Install mdv and open any Markdown document.                                   
                                                                                
    cargo install mdv                                                           
    mdv README.md                                                               
                                                                                
 Themes                                                                         
                                                                                
  Choose a theme for the document and interface.                                
                                                                                
    mdv --theme catppuccin README.md                                            
                                                                                
  Presets                                                                       
                                                                                
   The reader preset provides comfortable reading defaults.                     
 MDV  README.md                                                      0%  ? Help 

# mdv guide

Read Markdown right in your terminal.

## Installation

Install mdv and open any Markdown document.

```sh
cargo install mdv
mdv README.md
```

## Themes

Choose a theme for the document and interface.

```sh
mdv --theme catppuccin README.md
```

### Presets

The reader preset provides comfortable reading defaults.

## Navigation

Use search, the outline and line numbers.

- Find the section you need.
- Select text to copy.
- Return to reading the document.

## Links

Open the [documentation](https://example.org/docs).

Find your way around

The help panel shows the available controls for the current view.

Copy text

Select rendered text, then use c, Ctrl+C or right-click to copy it. Ctrl+A selects the whole rendered document, including content outside the viewport.

Copied text excludes terminal color and hyperlink escape sequences.

Open your editor

Press e to open the current file in your editor. Set MDV_EDITOR or EDITOR to choose the editor command; MDV_EDITOR takes priority.

File actions are available for file-backed documents. A document read from standard input has no source file to open or refresh.

Use an external pager

mdv --pager="less -R" README.md

An external pager receives rendered content and uses its own controls. Color-preserving options such as less -R belong to the external pager command.

Search behavior

Search previews matches while typing.

• Reopening it restores and selects the previous query.
• Esc closes the prompt while retaining the query and previewed position; outside the prompt, Esc clears search highlighting before exiting on a later Esc.
• Explicitly clearing the query prevents it from being restored.
• Drag with the left mouse button to select text, then copy; without a nonempty selection, copy leaves the clipboard unchanged.

Table of contents

t toggles the outline.

• A unique top-level title is omitted; the next two distinct heading levels form sections and subsections.
• J/K or Shift+Down/Up move between sections.
• Alt+Up/Down selects adjacent entries.
• 1 through 9 select or cycle section groups.
• D/U or Alt+Shift+Down/Up scroll the outline independently.
• Clicking selects an entry; the wheel over the outline scrolls it.
• At 72 terminal columns or more the outline reserves space beside the document, otherwise it overlays the document.
• Search and source-line prompts close it.

Reloading and source positions

: accepts a one-based physical Markdown line and highlights the target.

• Esc restores the numbering view selected by l.
• A file-backed document can be refreshed with r; source changes are also watched in the built-in view.
• Reload preserves numbering and outline visibility while clearing obsolete selections and navigation highlights.
• A failed reload keeps the current document.

Editor modes and backend selection

MDV_EDITOR takes precedence over EDITOR.

• Known GUI editors launch asynchronously; terminal editors wait for exit.
• MDV_EDITOR_MODE=tui forces waiting, while gui allows asynchronous launch for unknown commands but is rejected for known terminal editors.
• Invalid quoting, modes or commands report an error without launching.
• After editor return the document can refresh.
• Environment variables describe these controls in full.

The backend is selected in order: an explicit --pager=COMMAND, then MDV_PAGER, then the built-in pager.

• default selects the default backend (currently built-in), and builtin explicitly selects it.
• MDV_PAGER alone does not enable paging for ordinary output.
• Empty, malformed or recursive mdv commands are errors, even when a CLI backend overrides the environment.
• External commands run directly without shell expansion and need their own color-preserving arguments.
• Redirected stdout disables paging.
• --color never disables decorative colors and hyperlinks while retaining navigation, selection, copying and refresh.