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Command Line Utility

The mk command-line tool provides easy access to Marked’s features from the terminal, enabling workflow automation and integration with shell scripts and other command-line tools.

Installation

The recommended way to install mk is with Homebrew: 

brew tap ttscoff/thelab
brew install ttscoff/thelab/mk

If you do not use Homebrew, download and install the signed package:

⇩ Download
Signed PKG installer for mk. Double-click to launch Installer and follow the prompts.

After downloading mk.pkg, double-click it and follow the installer prompts.

Basic Usage

Opening Files

Open a markdown file in Marked from the command line: 

mk file.md
mk ~/Documents/notes.md
mk --raise document.md  # Open and raise window above all others

Streaming Content from STDIN

Stream content directly to Marked’s Streaming Preview: 

echo "# Hello World" | mk
---|---|
cat notes.md | mk
mk -  # Explicitly use STDIN

The Streaming Preview window will open and display the content in real-time as it’s piped from other commands.

Command Reference

File Operations

mk [file] — Open a markdown file in Marked

mk [file] --raise — Open file and raise the window above all others

STDIN and Streaming

mk or mk - — Read from STDIN and open Streaming Preview

mk --stream — Open Streaming Preview window without reading STDIN

Preview Management

mk --refresh — Refresh the frontmost preview window

mk --refresh all — Refresh all open preview windows

mk --refresh file.md — Refresh the preview for a specific file (if open)

Preferences

mk --pref — Open Marked preferences (General page)

mk --pref Advanced — Open preferences to a specific page

mk --defaults KEY=VALUE [KEY=VALUE...] — Set user preferences (multiple pairs allowed) 

mk --defaults syntaxHighlight=1 includeMathJax=0 processor=multimarkdown

Style Management

mk --style NAME — Set preview style for open windows

mk --add-style FILE — Add a CSS file as a custom style to Marked 

mk --add-style ~/Styles/custom.css

JavaScript Execution

mk --dojs "JAVASCRIPT_COMMAND" — Run JavaScript in frontmost window

mk --dojs "SCRIPT" all — Run JavaScript in all windows

mk --dojs "SCRIPT" file.md — Run JavaScript in specific file(s) 

mk --dojs "window.scrollTo(0,0)"
mk --dojs "alert('Hello')" all

Content Extraction and Import

mk --extract URL — Extract content from URL and open in Marked 

mk --extract https://example.com/article

mk --importurl [URL] — Open Import URL window (optionally with URL)

mk --stylestealer [URL] — Open Style Stealer HUD (optionally with URL)

Utility Commands

mk --paste — Create new document from clipboard

mk --preview TEXT — Preview text directly in a new document

mk --dingus — Open Markdown Dingus for testing processors

mk --help or mk -h — Show usage information

mk --version or mk -v — Show version information

Examples 

# Open a file
mk document.md

# Stream markdown from a file

cat notes.md | mk
# Process and preview

grep -i "important" notes.md | mk
# Refresh all previews
mk --refresh all

# Add a custom style
mk --add-style ~/Documents/MyTheme.css

# Set preferences
mk --defaults syntaxHighlight=1 processor=multimarkdown

# Run JavaScript in all windows
mk --dojs "window.scrollTo(0,0)" all

# Extract content from a webpage
mk --extract https://blog.example.com/article

# Preview text directly
mk --preview "## Hello\n\nThis is **markdown** text!"

Integration

Shell Aliases

Add to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile: 

alias mko='mk --raise'      # Open with raise
alias mkr='mk --refresh all' # Refresh all

Scripts

Use mk in shell scripts for automation: 

#!/bin/bash
# Watch a file and stream changes to Marked
fswatch -o document.md | while read; do
---|---|
  cat document.md | mk
done

Workflows

Combine with other tools: 

# Convert clipboard to markdown and preview

pbpaste | markdown | mk
# Search and preview
grep -r "TODO" . | head -20 | mk

Open Source

The mk command-line tool is open source and available on GitHub:

https://github.com/ttscoff/mk

You can:

  • View the source code
  • Contribute improvements
  • Report issues
  • Build from source if needed

The tool is written in Swift and can be compiled using Xcode. See the README for build instructions.

Version

Check your installed mk version with: 

mk --version

Related Features

Next up: Workflow Integration ▶

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