Author here.

I write markdown every day: docs, notes, everything. My workflow: write in VSCode, push to private Git repos, pull and read in browser when I need to reference something.

The problem: I spend 10x more time reading docs than editing them, but all existing markdown viewers are designed for rendering single files. No folder browsing, no bookmarks, no way to efficiently navigate between related documents. I kept opening VSCode just to read a README, which felt like overkill.

Built MarkView as a Chrome extension that treats markdown like a reading environment rather than just a renderer.

Key features:

- Folder browser: Navigate entire directories of .md files with tree view

- Persistent bookmarks for frequently accessed folders

- Recent documents tracking with search

- Live auto-refresh while editing (no manual reload needed)

- Reading progress bar, word count, estimated reading time

- Mermaid diagrams with zoom/pan, KaTeX math rendering

- Syntax highlighting for 180+ programming languages

- Export to DOCX/HTML/PDF

- 100% local processing - no external servers, no tracking

Technical approach:

- Manifest V3 Chrome extension

- markdown-it for parsing with GitHub Flavored Markdown

- File System Access API for folder navigation

- highlight.js for syntax, Mermaid for diagrams, KaTeX for math

- Everything runs client-side in the browser

Current limitations:

- Chrome/Edge/Brave only (Chromium-based browsers)

Built this primarily for myself, recently packaged it for others who might have similar workflows. Not perfect, but it solves my daily reading workflow.

Links:

- Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/cfopbpknalachedpcdd...

- Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/kpobglkjea...

- Website: https://getmarkview.com

Happy to answer questions about the extension.