What is a Markdown live preview?

Markdown is written as plain text but read as formatted output — and the gap between the two is where mistakes hide. A live preview closes that gap: you type Markdown in the left pane and the rendered result appears on the right on every keystroke, using a CommonMark renderer. Split view keeps source and output side by side while you write; Preview Only hides the editor to show the document full-width, the way a reader will see it.

Rendering happens entirely in your browser. Drafts never touch a server, so unreleased release notes, internal docs, and half-finished blog posts stay on your machine.

When to use it

Use it while drafting anything destined for a Markdown consumer: a README, a GitHub issue or PR description, a wiki page, a static-site blog post. The instant feedback catches the classic silent failures — a heading that doesn't render because there's no space after the #, a list that collapses into a paragraph because a blank line is missing, a link with the brackets and parentheses swapped — before you commit or publish.

It's also a clean scratchpad for reviewing Markdown someone sent you: paste it, switch to Preview Only, and read the document as intended instead of mentally parsing asterisks. When the draft is worth discussing, share a permalink instead of pasting walls of text into chat.

Example

Start from the built-in sample: it demonstrates headings, bold and italic text, links, a bulleted list, a fenced JavaScript code block, and a blockquote, each rendering live as you edit. Replace it with your own draft — say, release notes with a ## Breaking changes section and a fenced diff block — and watch the structure appear as you type. When it reads right, use "Copy link to this result" to get a URL that opens the tool with your exact draft and view mode restored, so a reviewer sees precisely what you see.