glow
Terminal-based markdown reader with TUI for browsing and CLI for rendering markdown files with syntax highlighting and paging.
Glow is a terminal-based markdown reader that renders markdown files directly in the command line with syntax highlighting and formatting. It operates in two modes: a text user interface (TUI) for browsing markdown files interactively, and a CLI mode for rendering specific files or content from various sources.
The TUI mode launches when running glow without arguments, automatically discovering markdown files in the current directory or Git repository. It includes a high-performance pager with less-style navigation keybindings and hotkey help accessible via ?. The CLI mode accepts markdown from files, stdin, GitHub/GitLab repositories, or HTTP URLs, supporting commands like glow README.md or glow github.com/user/repo.
Glow provides customization options including word wrapping with the -w flag, style selection between dark/light themes or custom JSON stylesheets, and pager integration. Configuration can be managed through a glow.yml file with settings for style, mouse support, line numbers, and output formatting. The tool is cross-platform with extensive package manager support including Homebrew, apt, pacman, and Windows package managers.
Installation
# via Homebrew
brew install glow
# via Go
go install github.com/charmbracelet/glow/v2@latest
# via APT
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings && curl -fsSL https://repo.charm.sh/apt/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/charm.gpg && echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/charm.gpg] https://repo.charm.sh/apt/ * *" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/charm.list && sudo apt update && sudo apt install glow
