Building a Markdown editor for Mac, iOS and web

I've spent the last 10 months building Beauty: a local, powerful greco-roman Markdown editor where the page looks finished while you type. It runs on the Mac, iPhone and in the browser, and the browser version opens without an account: https://app.markdown.beautyI was frustrated with writing apps, and like most I used Apple Notes. After 2+ years immersed in Cursor, Codex and CC, I wished some interactions existed in a text editor.The Markdown renders in place as you write it, including tables (which you can drag and resize without lining up pipes), KaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams. A lot of thought went into typography and the writing experience.Your notes on the Mac are plain .md files in a folder with images next to them, so they open in anything else too. Each note keeps 200 versions. If you share a note with a link it syncs peer to peer over WebRTC while someone has it open, and the server that connects you only ever sees a random room id.Most of the ~1,000 commits went into the editor itself. It's a contenteditable, and I don't let the browser restructure the document at all, which was a lot more work than I expected. Building this to be performant and cross-platform required some novel approaches, which I'll later open source. The editor is free with no account or ads, and there's an optional subscription for sync through your own iCloud.https://www.markdown.beauty

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FL score

78

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

high confidence

Competition

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A cross-platform Markdown editor that renders content live with advanced features and local file storage.

The pain

Existing Markdown editors are either clunky, lack live rendering, or force proprietary storage and accounts.

The gap

No widely used Markdown editor combines live in-place rendering, local file compatibility, and peer-to-peer sharing without accounts.

Build angle

The founder has built a performant, cross-platform editor with novel technical solutions and plans to open source parts.

Strengths

  • Strong technical execution with novel contenteditable handling
  • Cross-platform support including Mac, iOS, and web
  • Local file storage with standard .md files and images
  • Peer-to-peer sharing without server data exposure
  • Free to use with optional iCloud sync subscription

Risks

  • Niche market with many existing Markdown tools and entrenched competitors
  • Unclear if enough users will pay for sync to sustain business
  • Growth may be limited without strong network effects or viral hooks
  • Complexity of maintaining cross-platform parity and performance

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