(M)ark(d)own (T)ree (S)erver
A zero-config CLI tool to preview your local Markdown files in a browser.
npx mdts — and you're done.
🔧 Features
- ⚡ Instant Markdown Preview – Run and view in seconds
- 🌐 Web UI – Clean, tree-based browser interface with three-panel layout
- 🔄 Live Reload – Automatically refreshes on file changes
- 🧘 Zero Setup – No config, no install, no nonsense
- 🎨 Custom Themes – 20+ beautiful application themes and syntax highlighting options
🚀 Quick Start
This starts a local server at http://localhost:8521 and opens your browser. Your current directory becomes a browsable Markdown tree.
💡 Use Cases
- Reviewing AI-generated docs
- Quickly checking README or note folders
- Lightweight local Markdown wiki
See detailed use cases for more examples and workflows.
📦 Requirements
- Node.js
- No installation needed – uses
npx
🛠 Options
npx mdts [directory] [options]
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
[directory] |
Directory to serve (default .) |
./docs |
--glob, -g |
Glob patterns to filter markdown files | -g 'docs/*.md' 'specs/*.md' |
--host, -H |
Host to listen on (default localhost) |
0.0.0.0 |
--port, -p |
Port to serve on (default 8521) |
8000 |
--silent, -s |
Suppress server logs (default false) |
|
--no-open |
Do not open the browser automatically | |
--version, -V |
Output version number | |
--help, -h |
Display help for command |
Examples
# Serve current directory (all markdown files) npx mdts # Serve a specific directory npx mdts ./docs # Filter with glob patterns (only matching files are shown) npx mdts ./project -g 'docs/**/*.md' 'README.md' # Combine options npx mdts ./monorepo -g 'packages/*/README.md' --port 3000 --no-open
📚 Documentation
🔗 Live Demo
Experience mdts in action with real examples and interactive features.
📖 Documentation
- Use Cases
- Markdown Features
- Frontend Features
- Advanced Configuration
- API Reference
- Troubleshooting
- Comparison with other tools
- FAQ
Contributing
Found a bug? Have an idea? Want to send a PR?
See CONTRIBUTING.md for details — we'd love to have your help!
Author
Support
If you find this project useful, please consider:
- ⭐️ Star on GitHub
- 🐦 Share on X
- 🦋 Share on Bluesky
- 🧵 Share on Threads
- 💼 Share on LinkedIn
- 📘 Share on Facebook
- 🟧 Submit to Hacker News
- 💬 Drop it into your Discord server or developer chat
- ✍️ Write about it on your blog or in a newsletter
Every bit of support helps. Thanks!