Show HN: AgentEd – local-first visual Markdown editor with token counts

A visual Markdown editor with YAML frontmatter editing and live token estimates.

Create and refine notes, AI instructions, project context, and knowledge documents with intuitive visual editing. Open and save ordinary .md files in your own folders — no vault to set up, no account required.

Free · Open source · Local files · No account · No telemetry · Windows installer under 5 MB

Website · Download · Installation help · Feedback

Download · Features · Installation · Keyboard shortcuts · Known limitations · Build from source · Contributing

Markdown is a plain-text format for headings, lists, links, and more. You may have encountered it while working with AI assistants. AgentEd lets you edit these files visually, without memorising the formatting syntax.

AgentEd helps you prepare documents for use with AI tools; it does not include an AI chat or run agents.

AgentEd 1.0.0 is available for Windows x64 and macOS on Apple Silicon, with an experimental package for Linux x86-64.

Download the latest release for installers, release notes, and SHA-256 checksums. Earlier versions are on the releases page.

Windows is the primary development and testing platform. The macOS build is for Apple Silicon Macs; Intel-based Macs are not supported. The Linux package has been tested on Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME and Wayland.

The Windows installer is under 5 MB. This refers to the installer download, not the total installed footprint or any required runtime.

The Windows installer is not digitally signed, and the macOS app is not notarized by Apple. Security warnings may appear during installation or first launch. See Installation below or the illustrated installation guide.

AgentEd is free and open source, built by one person. If it makes your work easier, support its development on Ko-fi — see Support AgentEd below.

Visual formatting: headings, lists, checklists, links, and tables, with a floating toolbar and Markdown input shortcuts. Add or remove table rows and columns from the menu.

Portable Markdown and explicit saving: work with ordinary .md files and choose when to save. If a file changes on disk, choose whether to reload, overwrite, or save elsewhere. Documented format exceptions are listed in REQUIREMENTS.md.

Images: paste, drop, or insert images into a local assets/ folder beside your document; add image descriptions for accessibility.

Code blocks: select a language, copy a block with its Copy button, or use a plain-text block with soft wrapping.

Footnotes: insert a reference and its note together, then hover over the reference to read it.

YAML frontmatter and templates: edit document metadata in the Metadata panel; start with a blank document or one with metadata.

Live estimates and counts: see a token estimate alongside word and character counts. Token counting runs offline using gpt-tokenizer with cl100k_base; other models, chat formatting, and attachments can produce different totals.

Find and replace: match case, whole words, or regular expressions.

Files panel: browse the document’s adjacent file structure in a side panel.

Appearance: light, dark, automatic mode, and curated palettes.

Multiple windows: work with one document in each independent window.

Spell check: optional and off by default.

For AI instructions and everyday notes

Keep reusable AI instructions together

Write goals, preferences, and boundaries in Markdown, with YAML metadata alongside the document.

Combine written instructions, illustrations, and practical details in one document.

When sharing a document that uses local images, include its referenced assets/ folder so the images remain available.

Download from the official release linked above and check the filename and version. Each release provides SHA-256 checksums for verifying that your download matches the published file. A matching checksum does not by itself establish that software is safe.

The steps below apply to warnings about an unrecognised or unverified application. If your security software identifies a specific threat, stop and report the exact message and release version.

Show Windows installation steps Run AgentEd_1.0.0_x64-setup.exe.

The installer is not digitally signed. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen displays Windows protected your PC, and you have verified the source and choose to continue, select More info → Run anyway, if that option is available.

Unknown publisher may also appear in a separate Windows permission prompt, including User Account Control (UAC). This is not the SmartScreen dialog and does not have the same buttons. It means Windows cannot verify the publisher’s identity.

Managed computers or other Windows security settings may prevent installation. Do not disable antivirus protection or SmartScreen to proceed.

Signing is planned for a future release. See the illustrated installation guide.

Show macOS installation steps The macOS build is for Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and later). It is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks it the first time it opens. These steps were checked with AgentEd 1.0.0 on macOS 26.6 and 27.

macOS asks again after replacing or reinstalling AgentEd, every time, with the same steps.

The Open Anyway option is available for about an hour after the blocked attempt.

These instructions apply to the unverified-app warning, not to a warning that identifies malware or says the app will damage your computer.

On macOS, a document opened from Finder opens in a window of its own. File → New Window (Cmd+Shift+N) opens an empty window.

Show Linux installation and removal steps Linux builds are experimental. They have been tested on Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME and Wayland in a VirtualBox virtual machine, and on no other distribution.

The .deb package is for x86-64 systems. It requires glibc 2.34 or later and WebKitGTK 4.1. APT checks the declared dependencies and installs missing packages when they are available from your configured repositories.

Download the package, check its SHA-256 checksum, then run this command from the folder containing it:

sudo apt install ./AgentEd_1.0.0_amd64.deb

AgentEd then appears among your applications. On the tested stock Ubuntu setup, it also becomes the application used to open Markdown files. You can choose another application using Open With in Files.

Each file you open gets a window of its own. If AgentEd cannot open a file type, such as .txt, it explains why.

sudo apt remove agent-ed

Your documents are not touched. AgentEd’s settings remain in:

You can remove those folders separately if you also want to delete the application’s saved settings.

Windows macOS Action

Ctrl+B / Ctrl+I / Ctrl+U Cmd+B / Cmd+I / Cmd+U Bold / Italic / Underline

Ctrl+K Cmd+K Insert link, or edit/remove the link at the caret

Ctrl + click Cmd + click Open a link in the system browser

Ctrl+E Cmd+E Inline code

Ctrl+Shift+K Cmd+Shift+K Code block

Ctrl+Alt+1 … Ctrl+Alt+6 Cmd+Option+1 … Cmd+Option+6 Heading level 1–6

Ctrl+Alt+0 Cmd+Option+0 Body text

Ctrl+Shift+S Cmd+Shift+S Strikethrough

Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z or Cmd+Y Undo / Redo

Ctrl+A Cmd+A Select all

Ctrl+S Cmd+S Save; Save As is in the File menu

Ctrl+O Cmd+O Open

Ctrl+V / Ctrl+Shift+V Cmd+V / Cmd+Shift+V Paste, interpreting Markdown / Paste as plain text

Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H Cmd+F / Cmd+Option+F Find / Replace

Ctrl+Alt+F Cmd+Option+R Insert footnote

Ctrl+Shift+E Cmd+Shift+E Open/close the Files panel

F3 Fn+F3 Find next

Shift+F3 Fn+Shift+F3 Find previous

Shift+Enter Shift+Enter Line break inside a paragraph

Tab / Shift+Tab Tab / Shift+Tab Indent/dedent in lists; move between table cells

On macOS, Cmd+H hides AgentEd rather than opening Replace.

Further format behaviour and exceptions are documented in REQUIREMENTS.md.

AgentEd is in active development. The 1.0 line focuses on visual editing of local Markdown files.

Windows and macOS releases are available, with Windows as the primary development and testing platform. Linux builds remain experimental.

The product definition and documented exceptions live in REQUIREMENTS.md.

Node.js 24 is recommended and is used in CI. See the engines field in package.json for the accepted version range.

You also need the Rust toolchain, available through rustup, and the Tauri platform prerequisites.

git clone https://github.com/cgxopen/AgentEd.git cd AgentEd npm install npm run tauri dev

The Tauri CLI is included in the project’s development dependencies.

npm run tauri build

Before opening a pull request, run the verification checklist: the linters, type check, tests, and web build.

Contributions are welcome — please read CONTRIBUTING.md first. For larger changes, open an issue to discuss the direction before starting work.

Everything in this repository — code, documentation, commits, pull requests, and issues — is in English.

AgentEd is free and open source. If it makes your work easier, you can support its development on Ko-fi.

Support goes to the author, who publishes AgentEd in his own name, and helps fund ongoing development and maintenance, including:

Contributions are optional. How money given to the project is handled is described in CONTRIBUTING.md.

The AgentEd application does not collect or process payment information. Contributions are processed through Ko-fi and its payment providers under their applicable policies. See Ko-fi’s privacy policy.

The MIT license covers the code, not the AgentEd name or logo: a fork is welcome, under a name of its own.

Built by Cătălin Vasile using Claude Code.

For bugs and feature requests, open an issue. For security vulnerabilities, follow SECURITY.md rather than opening a public issue.

For other enquiries, email contact@agentedapp.com.

AgentEd began on 29 March 2026. This repository opened a new phase in August 2026.