leaf Markdown viewer
Ranked 2 of 5 markdown viewers by recommenders
People recommend it for reading Markdown comfortably inside the terminal, with tables, links, syntax highlighting, math and a GUI-like feel.
People recommend it for reading Markdown comfortably inside the terminal, with tables, links, syntax highlighting, math and a GUI-like feel.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
GUI-like reading experience in terminal
“Rich rendering, interactive navigation, and editor integration, all without leaving your terminal.”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “The Search for Markdown Viewer Is Over” “leaf for reading Markdown comfortably in the terminal”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)” “a more GUI-like Markdown reader for the terminal”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “Leaf Makes Markdown Readable Inside the Terminal” Rich rendering of tables and links
“It supports keyboard/mouse navigation, syntax highlighting, tables, checkboxes, clickable links, search, table of contents”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: leaf – a terminal Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience” “Rich rendering, interactive navigation, and editor integration, all without leaving your terminal.”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “The Search for Markdown Viewer Is Over” Math equations display properly
“leaf's math display is better than that of mdterm, IMHO.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: leaf – a terminal Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience” “Glow doesn’t support math equations, but leaf does.”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: leaf – a terminal Markdown previewer with a GUI-like experience” Quick install on macOS, Linux, Windows
“This makes installing and updating leaf easier for macOS, Linux, and Windows users.”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “leaf : a Terminal Markdown Viewer, is now available on Homebrew and Scoop” “quick install and standalone binary”
Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Tolaria – open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases”
Other markdown viewers people recommend
The four most recommended other markdown viewers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glow | 18 | 5 | 78% | 9 | — | Approved |
| leaf Markdown viewerThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
| Marky | 6 | 3 | 67% | 2 | — | — |
| Marked | 5 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Markdown Viewer and Editor | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Rich rendering, interactive navigation, and editor integration, all without leaving your terminal.”
“This makes installing and updating leaf easier for macOS, Linux, and Windows users.”
“It works on Windows and runs directly in the terminal.”
“leaf for reading Markdown comfortably in the terminal”
“the project itself does not look like slop”
“a more GUI-like Markdown reader for the terminal”
“This is perfect! thanks for sharing it”
“If you worry about your life being a disappointment, or you are often distracted / lack focus, read this”
“quick install and standalone binary”
“leaf's math display is better than that of mdterm, IMHO.”
“Glow doesn’t support math equations, but leaf does.”
“The only thing it tells me is that an LLM was probably used extensively in building this project.”
“and I save you from 225 potential supply chain attack crates.”
“It supports keyboard/mouse navigation, syntax highlighting, tables, checkboxes, clickable links, search, table of contents”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.