The open-source WYSIWYG markdown editor you deserve.
InkDown is a beautiful, fast, and resource-efficient markdown editor — a free and open-source alternative to Typora. Write in markdown with a seamless live preview that renders your content as you type. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
InkDown is a free, open-source WYSIWYG markdown editor built with Electron, React, and Tiptap. It renders your markdown live as you type — no split panes, no distractions. If you're looking for a free alternative to Typora, InkDown gives you the same seamless editing experience without any cost or license restrictions.
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) — format your text visually while writing pure markdown under the hood.
| Feature | InkDown | Typora |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | $14.99 one-time |
| Open Source | Yes | No |
| WYSIWYG Editing | Yes | Yes |
| Live Preview | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy / No Telemetry | Yes | Unknown |
| File Explorer Sidebar | Yes | Yes |
| Source Mode | Yes | Yes |
| Export to HTML/PDF | Yes | Yes |
| Dark & Light Themes | Yes | Yes |
- Free & Open Source — No license fees, no subscriptions, no telemetry. Forever.
- Typora Alternative — WYSIWYG markdown editing with real-time rendering, just like Typora.
- Cross-Platform — Native desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Lightweight — Optimized for minimal memory and CPU usage.
- Privacy First — Fully offline, no analytics, your data stays on your device.
- Beautiful UI — Catppuccin-inspired dark theme and a clean light theme.
- WYSIWYG Markdown Editing — Type markdown and see it rendered instantly. No split panes, no context switching.
- Source Mode — Toggle to raw markdown source view with a single shortcut (
Ctrl+/). - Rich Formatting — Headings (1–6), bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlight, blockquotes, ordered/unordered/task lists, tables, images, links, horizontal rules, and more.
- Syntax Highlighting — Code blocks with syntax highlighting for 30+ programming languages.
- Menu Bar — Full menu bar (File, Edit, Paragraph, Format, View, Help) with all editor actions and keyboard shortcuts.
- File Explorer — Built-in sidebar with folder tree navigation for managing your markdown files.
- Dark & Light Themes — Beautiful Catppuccin-inspired dark theme and a clean light theme.
- Focus Mode — Distraction-free writing with
Ctrl+Shift+F.
- Export — Export your documents to HTML or PDF.
- Keyboard Shortcuts — Full set of keyboard shortcuts for power users.
- Context Menu — Right-click context menu with quick formatting actions.
- File Association — Double-click
.mdfiles to open them directly in InkDown. - Resource Efficient — Optimized startup time and minimal resource consumption.
Download the latest release from the Releases page:
| Platform | File |
|---|---|
| Windows | .exe installer or portable version |
| macOS | .dmg disk image |
| Linux | .AppImage or .deb package |
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/BOSSincrypto/inkdown.git
cd inkdown
# Install dependencies (requires pnpm)
pnpm install
# Run in development mode
pnpm run dev
# Build for production
pnpm run electron:buildRequirements: Node.js 18+, pnpm 8+
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New File | Ctrl+N |
| Open File | Ctrl+O |
| Save | Ctrl+S |
| Toggle Source Mode | Ctrl+/ |
| Focus Mode | Ctrl+Shift+F |
| Bold | Ctrl+B |
| Italic | Ctrl+I |
| Underline | Ctrl+U |
| Strikethrough | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Heading 1–6 | Ctrl+1 – Ctrl+6 |
| Code Block | Ctrl+` |
| Export to HTML | Ctrl+E |
- Electron — Cross-platform desktop shell
- React — UI framework
- Tiptap — Headless rich-text editor framework
- TypeScript — Type-safe development
- Vite — Fast build tooling
Is InkDown really free? Yes. InkDown is MIT-licensed and free forever. No subscriptions, no trials, no paywalls.
Is InkDown a Typora alternative? Absolutely. InkDown offers the same WYSIWYG markdown editing experience as Typora but is completely free and open-source.
Does InkDown collect data? No. InkDown is fully offline and does not collect any analytics or telemetry.
Which markdown features are supported? InkDown supports all standard CommonMark and GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown) features: headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, tables, task lists, code blocks with syntax highlighting, blockquotes, images, links, and more.
Can I use InkDown on Linux?
Yes! InkDown is available as an .AppImage and .deb package for Linux.
InkDown is the ideal editor for anyone working with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other LLMs. Markdown is the universal language of AI — use InkDown to write, structure, and manage your AI workflows.
- Prompt Engineering — Structure your prompts with headings, lists, bold text, and code blocks to get better results from LLMs.
- LLM-Ready Documentation — Write docs in markdown that AI agents can parse directly. Markdown is 80–90% more token-efficient than HTML for LLMs.
- Knowledge Base — Build and maintain a personal knowledge base in
.mdfiles that you can feed directly to ChatGPT, Claude, or any RAG pipeline. - Context Preparation — Format and organize context windows for AI assistants before pasting into chat.
- AI Prompt Templates — Create reusable prompt templates with markdown structure: role definitions, instructions, output formats.
- LLM Comments — Use markdown comments (
<!-- LLM: instructions here -->) to embed hidden guidance for AI agents without cluttering human-readable content.
| Use Case | How InkDown Helps |
|---|---|
| Writing ChatGPT prompts | WYSIWYG formatting, clean export, no noise |
| Building Claude project docs | Folder tree + .md files as knowledge base |
| Prompt template library | File explorer to organize prompt collections |
| LLM-ready documentation | Clean markdown output, perfect for llms.txt |
| AI agent context files | Export to clean .md for RAG pipelines |
| Daily notes for AI journaling | Focus mode + offline privacy |
# System Prompt Template
<!-- LLM: You are a helpful assistant. Use the context below. -->
## Role
You are an expert **[role]** specializing in **[domain]**.
## Task
> Describe the task clearly here.
## Context
- Key fact 1
- Key fact 2
## Output Format
Respond with a structured markdown document including:
1. Summary
2. Details
3. Action itemsInkDown renders this beautifully while keeping the raw markdown perfect for LLMs.
Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/my-feature - Commit your changes:
git commit -m 'feat: add my feature' - Push and open a Pull Request
InkDown is licensed under the MIT License. Use it freely in personal and commercial projects.