DocsReader

The human window into an agent-managed markdown corpus. Your AI agents write docs, memory, and tasks through the bundled MCP server; you read the same plain files in a clean native app. It also works as a fast reader for any folder of markdown - macOS, Linux, Windows.

Latest Release Downloads Notarization Apple Notarized

Download for macOS Download for Windows Download for Linux

Linux AppImage works on most distros; for .deb or .rpm see Releases. Or install via Homebrew or one-liner.

DocsReader

How it works

Everything is plain markdown on disk - no database, greppable, versionable with git. A workspace is a folder of markdown (your default ~/notes, or a project's <project>/notes) with three namespaces:

Namespace Lives in Holds
Docs research/ in-progress/ done/ archived/ Research, plans, decisions. The folder IS the status - moving the file IS the status change. Phase subfolders (research/v2-launch/) group work.
Memory memory/ Short topic-addressed facts, one entry per topic, rewritten wholesale.
Tasks tasks/ Backlog.md-shaped files: task-N ids, status in frontmatter, an acceptance-criteria checklist.

Agents write through the MCP server; open docs reload live as they write. A docsreader://onboarding resource teaches agents the model, and tool errors carry recovery hints so they self-correct instead of stalling.

Connect your AI agents

Settings → AI agents → Connect detects installed clients (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Codex) and registers the bundled docsreader-mcp with each in one click. Prefer the terminal? For Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user docsreader -- docsreader-mcp

Other clients, binary paths, the full tool reference, and the docsreader:// resources are in docs/MCP.md.

Claude Code plugin

If you use Claude Code, the bundled plugin surfaces DocsReader tasks in the terminal - a /docsreader:board printout, a /docsreader:sync command, a live task-count statusline, and an auto-sync hook:

/plugin marketplace add anbturki/docsreader
/plugin install docsreader@docsreader

Needs docsreader-mcp on your PATH and jq. Full setup in the plugin README.

Features
Rich rendering GitHub-flavored Markdown, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, Shiki highlighting across twelve themes
Interactive checklists Toggle any checkbox from the rendered view; the change writes back to the file
Five lenses Tree, Recent, Tags, Pinned, and Tasks over one library, on a rail the sidebar collapses to
Split view Two docs side-by-side or stacked, each with its own tabs and scroll
Full-text search Search names, tags, and the text inside documents, from the toolbar's search or the magnifier in the sidebar header; narrow to files, contents, or tags
Open with Double-click a .md in Finder or "Open With DocsReader" to jump straight to a file or folder
Tasks board or list Tasks open full-window as a board of To Do / In Progress / Done columns, or as grouped rows; switch from the toolbar, drag a card to change its status, and see acceptance-criteria progress, all consistent with the MCP
Agent-aware Open docs reload live as agents write; on-disk changes surface a diff; git status shows in the tree
Quiet and local Minimal chrome, no telemetry, signed updates, notarized on macOS

Full list with screenshots in docs/FEATURES.md. Found a bug or want a feature? Open an issue.

Screenshots
Split view, dark Tasks board with drag-to-advance
Side-by-side diff with word-level highlighting Light theme

More views in docs/FEATURES.md.

Install

Method Command
macOS (Homebrew) brew install --cask anbturki/tap/docsreader
macOS / Linux (curl) curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anbturki/docsreader/main/install.sh | bash
Manual Download from Releases

Manual downloads: DocsReader_*_universal.dmg (macOS Intel + Apple Silicon), DocsReader_*_amd64.AppImage or .deb (Linux), DocsReader_*_x64-setup.exe (Windows).

macOS requirement: macOS 11 Big Sur or later, with Safari 16.4 or later installed. The app renders in the system WebView, so the installed Safari version decides which CSS features are available. macOS 13.3 Ventura and later ship Safari 16.4 or newer; on Big Sur and Monterey, install the latest Safari from Software Update first.

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