Markdown editors

Markdown editors

moss watches your folder of .md files and rebuilds the preview the moment they change. Use the built-in moss editor or any markdown editor you like — these pair especially well.

What to look for

Three things make an editor a good moss companion:

The closer an editor follows these, the less friction you feel switching between it and moss.

Obsidian

Obsidian is the markdown editor moss is designed to live alongside. It edits a folder of plain .md files (called a "vault"), and supports the full Obsidian dialect — wikilinks with aliases and heading anchors ([[page|display]], [[page#heading]], [[page#^block]]), embeds for notes/images/audio/video/PDF, callouts with foldable variants, YAML frontmatter exposed as a typed Properties UI, MathJax for math, and Mermaid in code fences.

Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, Android. Pricing: Free, including for commercial use. Optional paid Sync ($4/mo) and Publish ($8/mo). 2026: Active — Bases (database views on Properties), a built-in CLI, image resizing, and a refreshed plugin marketplace shipped through 1.10–1.12.

Point Obsidian at the same folder you publish with moss and you have a complete writing-and-publishing loop with zero extra mapping.

Good fit

iA Writer

iA Writer is the calmest writing surface of the bunch — plain .md files, focus mode, library of named locations. Wikilinks [[page]] with autocomplete and aliases work; embeds use iA Writer's own Content Blocks syntax (a file path on its own line) rather than ![[file]], so moss-side ![[…]] appears as raw text in iA Writer's preview. No native callouts, math, or Mermaid.

Best for writers who want quiet authoring and accept that moss-specific syntax will only render in moss's preview. macOS / Windows / iOS / iPadOS, one-time purchase per platform.

Typora

Typora is true in-place WYSIWYG — markdown renders as you type, no split view. Strong on math (MathJax 4) and diagrams (Mermaid 11.13, including Venn and Ishikawa as of 1.13). GitHub-style callouts can be enabled in preferences. YAML frontmatter is recognized.

The gap is wikilinks: [[page]] is not native and won't autocomplete, so the link graph that moss leans on has to be typed manually. Best as a secondary editor for math- or diagram-heavy pages. macOS / Windows / Linux, $14.99 one-time for three devices.

Tolaria

Tolaria is a newer block-based editor with Notion-style typed properties, a built-in Git client, and native AI-agent integration. Stores plain .md with YAML frontmatter; wikilinks resolve by filename or title. No ![[file]] embed syntax — uses plain markdown image references plus a separate media-previews panel. Math and Mermaid supported. Free, AGPL-3.0, Tauri-based, all major desktop platforms.

Good fit if you want a Notion-feel editor over plain .md files. The lack of ![[…]] means moss-side typed embeds need to be authored as raw text.

Cogito

Cogito is a native macOS editor with source + preview split, wikilinks [[page]], embeds ![[note]], callouts, MathJax, Mermaid, and a multi-provider AI sidebar (Claude / Codex / Amp / OpenCode) that can edit notes with undo. Stores plain .md and .mdx on disk; supports iCloud sync and Obsidian vault import.

Best for Mac writers who want an AI-assisted authoring surface that still saves plain files. Free during public beta.

Logseq OG

Logseq OG edits a folder of plain .md files with an outliner model — every line is a bullet block, and the saved markdown reflects that. Wikilinks [[Page]] are native; embeds use Logseq's own {{embed}} syntax rather than ![[…]]. KaTeX math is native; Mermaid via plugin.

Two caveats: (1) make sure you pick Logseq OG, not the new "Logseq DB" version, which uses a proprietary SQLite store and is not folder-based; (2) the outliner produces bullet-heavy markdown that may need theme tweaks in moss to render the way you want. Free, AGPL-3.0, all major platforms.

VS Code + Foam (or Cursor + Foam)

VS Code becomes a respectable markdown studio once you install Foam (wikilinks with autocomplete, embeds, backlinks, graph view) and an alert-syntax extension for callouts. Cursor is a hard fork of VS Code that ships the same extension API — Foam installs and works unchanged, with an AI panel on top.

Best for writers who already live in their code editor. The chrome (file tree, gutters, command palette) is denser than purpose-built writing apps. macOS / Windows / Linux. VS Code free, Cursor $20/mo Pro.

Zed

Zed is a fast, Rust-built editor with a clean native markdown preview, GitHub-style alert callouts, built-in math, and built-in Mermaid. The gap is wikilinks: [[page]] is not supported in Zed's parser and no extension fills it.

Fine for linear posts; painful if your site leans on [[note]] cross-links and ![[file]] embeds. macOS / Linux / Windows, free.

Newer launches worth watching

The space has moved fast in 2026 — these are the most credible newcomers, mostly indie projects:

Markdown viewers — pair with anything

These are read-only renderers, useful when you edit in a code editor that lacks a polished preview:

Not a great fit

These are excellent apps, but they store notes in their own database rather than a folder of .md files, so moss can't watch them:

Tip — use moss as the live preview

Whichever editor you choose, the workflow is the same: edit .md files in your folder, save, and moss rebuilds the preview window beside you. No build commands, no servers to manage. If you're hopping between Obsidian and a code editor, point both at the same folder — moss doesn't care which one wrote the last save.

Published with moss