leaf - Features Demo#

leaf is a terminal-based Markdown previewer with syntax highlighting, LaTeX rendering, theme support, and interactive navigation.

Interactive Features#

Watch Mode#

leaf can monitor your file for changes and automatically reload the preview. The status bar shows a "reloaded" flash indicator when the file is updated. Scroll position is preserved across reloads.

Press w or Ctrl+W to toggle watch mode
Press r or Ctrl+R to manually reload the file
Use --watch flag on startup: leaf --watch file.md

Source: demo-watch-mode.md

Watch Mode

Open in Editor#

Quickly open the current file in your preferred external editor without leaving leaf. When you return, the file is automatically reloaded with the latest changes.

Press Ctrl+E to open in the configured editor
Press Shift+E to pick an editor (nano, vim, code, subl, emacs)
Use --editor flag on startup: leaf --editor vim file.md

Source: demo-open-editor.md

Open in Editor

File Picker#

Browse and open Markdown files without leaving leaf. Two modes are available: a fuzzy finder for quick search by filename, and a directory browser for navigating the file tree.

Press Ctrl+P for fuzzy file picker
Press Shift+P for directory browser
Use --picker flag on startup: leaf --picker

Source: demo-file-picker.md

File Picker

Table of Contents#

A sidebar displays the document's heading structure for quick navigation. leaf intelligently normalizes heading levels and highlights the currently visible section.

Press t to toggle the TOC sidebar
Press 1-9 to jump directly to a heading

Source: demo-toc-sidebar.md

Table of Contents

Search#

Full-text search with visual highlighting of all matches. Navigate between results with match counter feedback in the status bar.

Press / or Ctrl+F to start searching
Press n to jump to next match
Press Shift+N to jump to previous match

Source: demo-search.md

And also:

Auto-update: run leaf --update to check and install the latest version from GitHub with SHA256 verification
Stdin support: pipe Markdown directly with echo '# Hello' | leaf (up to 8 MB)
Status bar: displays filename, watch indicator, search status, and scroll percentage
Help modal: press ? to view all keyboard shortcuts organized by category

Markdown Rendering#

LaTeX / Math#

leaf renders mathematical formulas directly in the terminal — a rare feature for a terminal viewer. Inline math with $...$ and display math with $$...$$ are converted to Unicode symbols.

Supported: fractions, superscripts, subscripts, Greek letters, roots, and more. Code blocks with latex or tex language are also rendered.

Source: demo-latex-render.md

$LaTeX Rendering$

Code Blocks with Syntax Highlighting#

Fenced code blocks are displayed in a decorative frame with language label and line numbers. Syntax highlighting supports 40+ languages (Rust, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, C/C++, Java, and more) via the syntect library.

Code blocks adapt to the terminal width with intelligent wrapping.

Source: demo-code-syntax.md

Code Blocks

Tables#

Markdown tables are rendered with Unicode box-drawing borders and column alignment (left, center, right). Cells support inline code and LaTeX math. Tables adapt to the available terminal width.

Source: demo-table-render.md

Tables

Theme Picker#

Choose from 4 built-in themes with live preview as you navigate. Each theme applies to the UI, Markdown elements, and syntax highlighting simultaneously.

Press Shift+T to open the theme picker
Available themes: Arctic, Forest, Ocean Dark, Solarized Dark
Press Esc to cancel and restore the original theme

Source: demo-theme-picker.md

Theme Picker

Navigate documents with keyboard shortcuts or mouse. The scrollbar on the right supports click and drag for quick positioning.

j/k or arrow keys: scroll line by line
d/u or PageDown/PageUp: scroll by page
g/Shift+G or Home/End: jump to top/bottom
Mouse wheel: scroll 3 lines per tick
Scrollbar: click and drag for fast navigation

Source: demo-navigation.md

Navigation