Parchment

A beautifully crafted, blazingly fast native macOS markdown viewer that puts reading experience first.

✨ Why Parchment?

Parchment is the markdown viewer for Mac users who appreciate native performance and exceptional design. Built with Swift and AppKit, it launches instantly, renders beautifully, and feels like a true Mac app should feel.

Core Excellence

• Instant Launch - Native Swift/AppKit means no Electron overhead
• Beautiful Typography - Carefully tuned rendering for optimal readability
• Focus Mode - Eliminate distractions with intelligent content dimming and typewriter scrolling
• Smart Navigation - Hierarchical table of contents with smooth scrolling
• Live Preview - See changes instantly as your files update
• Reading Statistics - Word count, reading time, and reading progress

Design Features

• Native Performance - Optimized for smooth 120Hz scrolling on ProMotion displays
• Thoughtful Themes - Hand-crafted light and dark themes with perfect contrast
• Syntax Highlighting - Beautiful code block rendering that matches your theme
• Distraction-Free - Clean interface that gets out of your way
• Quick Look Support - Preview markdown files with spacebar in Finder

🚀 Real-World Performance

• Instant - Sub-100ms launch time
• Lightweight - Under 50MB memory usage for typical documents
• Smooth - Consistent 60-120fps scrolling
• Responsive - No beach balls, no lag, no waiting
• Native - True Mac app performance and efficiency

📦 Installation

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cschuman/Parchment.git
cd Parchment

2. Build with Swift Package Manager:

swift build -c release

3. Run the application:

swift run Parchment

Command Line Usage

# Open a specific markdown file
Parchment path/to/document.md

# Open with the GUI
open -a Parchment document.md

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Open File	⌘O
Export as PDF	⌘E
Toggle Focus Mode	⌘F
Toggle Table of Contents	⌘T
Show Reading Statistics	⌘/
Zoom In	⌘+
Zoom Out	⌘-
Actual Size	⌘0
Navigate to Next Header	→ (three-finger swipe)
Navigate to Previous Header	← (three-finger swipe)

🎯 Perfect For

Documentation Review

• Preview README files with beautiful rendering
• Navigate large docs with the table of contents
• Copy code blocks with syntax highlighting preserved

Focused Reading

• Distraction-free mode for long-form content
• Typewriter scrolling keeps your focus centered
• Reading statistics help track progress

Quick Preview

• Spacebar preview in Finder via Quick Look
• Instant file switching with no lag
• Live updates as files change

🏗️ Clean Architecture

Parchment/
├── App/                    # Application lifecycle
├── Windows/                # Window management
├── ViewControllers/        # View controllers  
├── Views/                  # Custom views
├── Rendering/              # Markdown rendering pipeline
│   ├── MarkdownAttributedStringVisitor.swift
│   └── CodeSyntaxHighlighter.swift
├── Theme/                  # Theme management
├── Navigation/             # TOC and navigation
├── Export/                 # Export functionality
├── Performance/            # Performance monitoring
├── Utilities/              # Helper classes
└── Resources/             # Assets and themes

🔧 Configuration

Preferences are available through ⌘, with options for:

• Appearance: Theme, font size, line spacing
• Editor: Focus mode, typewriter scrolling, syntax highlighting
• General: Default editor, recent files, auto-update
• Advanced: Cache management, performance tuning

🧪 Testing

Run the test suite:

swift test

💎 What Makes Parchment Different

Unlike Electron-based viewers, Parchment is a true native Mac app:

• Launches instantly, no spinner
• Uses native fonts and rendering
• Respects your system preferences
• Works perfectly with Mission Control and Spaces
• Minimal battery impact

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• swift-markdown for markdown parsing
• swift-syntax for syntax highlighting
• The macOS developer community for inspiration

🗺️ Roadmap

Near Term - Polish & Performance

• Enhanced typography with optical sizing
• Smooth spring-physics scrolling
• More beautiful built-in themes
• Faster document loading (<20ms)
• Print styles optimization

Medium Term - Reading Experience

• Reading progress indicators
• Automatic bookmarks
• Export with custom styling
• Better image handling
• PDF export with perfect fidelity

Long Term - Platform Excellence

• Touch Bar support
• Handoff between devices
• Stage Manager optimization
• System text services integration

💬 Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions, please open an issue.

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Built with ❤️ for the macOS community