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Render Markdown on the CLI, with Pizzazz 💅

Glow is a terminal-based markdown reader designed from the ground up to bring out the beauty—and power—of the CLI. Discover markdown files, read documentation directly on the command line.

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Glow terminal interface showing markdown rendering

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Quick Start

Get up and running with Glow in minutes

1

Install Glow

Install Glow using your preferred package manager:
brew install glow
2

Launch the TUI

Simply run glow without arguments to start the interactive file browser:
glow
Glow will find and display all markdown files in your current directory and subdirectories.
3

Render a markdown file

To render a specific markdown file with beautiful styling:
glow README.md
You can also read from stdin, fetch from URLs, or grab README files directly from GitHub:
# From stdin
echo "# Hello Glow" | glow -

# From GitHub
glow github.com/charmbracelet/glow

# From HTTP
glow https://example.com/doc.md

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Features

Everything you need for beautiful markdown rendering in your terminal

Interactive TUI

Browse and read local markdown files with a beautiful terminal user interface. Navigate with keyboard shortcuts and search through your documentation.

CLI Mode

Render markdown from files, URLs, or stdin directly to your terminal with gorgeous syntax highlighting and formatting.

Custom Styling

Choose from built-in light and dark themes, or create your own custom JSON stylesheets to match your terminal aesthetic.

Multiple Sources

Read markdown from local files, GitHub/GitLab repositories, HTTP URLs, or piped stdin input with automatic source detection.

Git Aware

Automatically discovers markdown files in Git repositories while respecting your .gitignore rules for clean file listings.

Configurable

Persistent configuration file support lets you set your preferred styles, width, pager options, and more.

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Explore by Topic

Dive deeper into Glow’s capabilities

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TUI Mode

Learn how to use the interactive terminal user interface to browse and read markdown files with keyboard navigation.

Explore TUI mode
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CLI Mode

Render markdown files directly to your terminal with command-line flags for styling, paging, and word wrapping.

Learn CLI usage
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Styling & Themes

Customize the look of your markdown with built-in themes or create your own custom stylesheets with JSON.

Customize styles
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Command Reference

Complete reference documentation for all Glow commands, flags, and configuration options.

View reference

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Ready to get started?

Install Glow and start rendering beautiful markdown in your terminal today. Join thousands of developers who use Glow for reading documentation on the command line.

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