#Markdown Library Viewer

The Markdown Library Viewer is a small read-only viewer for opening Markdown files in a browser.

It is designed for two simple cases:

open any ordinary .md file and read it as formatted Markdown;
open a Make Markdown Library file and browse its source sections from a left-hand index.

The viewer does not upload your file. The file is read locally by your browser after you choose it.

#Easiest option: use the website viewer

Open the viewer page on the documentation site.

https://markbeachill.github.io/make-markdown-library/viewer/

Then choose your markdown-library.md file from your computer.

The website viewer works because generated libraries include viewer metadata in the Markdown file itself. It does not need the separate JSON index for basic browsing.

#Offline option: download one HTML file

Download this file:

view-markdown-library.html

Then double-click it to open it in your browser.

This is the simplest portable viewer. It does not need Python, Node, Git, Tauri, Electron, or an installer.

#What the viewer expects

For full library navigation, the Markdown file should have been created by Make Markdown Library 0.4.0 or later. New libraries include:

YAML front matter at the top of the file;
a list of source documents for the left-hand index;
hidden mmlib:source-start and mmlib:source-end comments around each source section.

The external markdown-library.index.json file is still useful for rebuilds and metadata, but the viewer does not require it for basic browsing.

#How to use it

Open the viewer.

Click Open Markdown file.

Choose your generated library file, usually:

markdown-library.md

If the file is a library, the source list appears on the left. Click a source to read that section on the right.

If the file is an ordinary Markdown file, the viewer renders the whole file as one document.

#Viewer controls

Control	Purpose
Open Markdown file	Choose a `.md` file from your computer
Search sources	Filter the left-hand source list
Show raw / Show formatted	Switch between formatted Markdown and raw Markdown
Copy section	Copy the currently selected Markdown section

#Limitations

The viewer is read-only. It does not edit Markdown files.

The viewer does not automatically open neighbouring files from your computer. That is a browser security rule. Because new libraries contain the source index inside the Markdown file, the viewer usually only needs the one .md file.

Old libraries created before 0.4.0 may not show a left-hand index. Rebuild the library with a current Make Markdown Library version to add viewer metadata.