brew / rank 2098

Install mdcat with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, scoop

Show markdown documents on text terminals. Version 2.14.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-27. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#mdcat.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install mdcat

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%

sudo port install mdcat

MacPorts ports tree · textproc/mdcat/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#mdcat

nixpkgs package indexes · mdcat · source: raw.githubusercontent.com

Windows

Scoopverified · 92%

scoop install main/mdcat

Scoop official bucket manifest trees · bucket/mdcat.json · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Show markdown documents on text terminals

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

mdcat

history

Project history and usage

mdcat is a Rust command-line renderer for Markdown/CommonMark documents in text terminals. It sits in the same user niche as cat, less, glow, and mdless, but emphasizes modern terminal features such as OSC 8 links, syntax highlighting, inline image protocols, math rendering, and terminal-specific navigation marks.

Project history

The mdcat crate was first published on crates.io in January 2018. Its current README credits Sebastian Wiesner and Mouhieddine Sabir in the copyright notice and says the project is now maintained by BIRSAx2.

The upstream changelog shows an active 2.x line through 2024 and 2026: version 2.4.0 added limited table support in September 2024, version 2.7.0 moved remote resource handling to curl in November 2024, version 2.8.0 transferred maintenance to BIRSAx2 in June 2026, and version 2.9.0 added footnote and math rendering shortly afterward.

Adoption history

mdcat moved from a Rust crate into mainstream package-manager culture. The input facts list packages in Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, and Scoop, while the Homebrew formula reported stable version 2.9.1 and installation analytics in 2026.

Crates.io reported about 190,000 total downloads and a 2026 newest version of 2.9.1, which makes mdcat one of the better-known Rust terminal Markdown viewers rather than a one-off sample program.

How it is used

Typical use is direct terminal viewing, for example `mdcat README.md`, with optional use as `mdless` when installed or linked that way for paging. Packagers are expected to consider shell completions and a man page built from `mdcat.1.adoc`.

The README documents best results in terminals with modern graphics and link protocols, including iTerm2, kitty, WezTerm, Ghostty, foot, and Sixel-capable xterm setups. It also documents a troubleshooting path through the `MDCAT_LOG` environment variable rather than a persistent configuration file.

Why package nerds care

mdcat is interesting to package maintainers because it is a terminal UI tool whose quality depends on optional terminal capabilities and native libraries, especially libcurl and image-rendering support. That gives formulas and distro packages more surface area than a plain text filter.

It is also a useful marker for the Rust CLI wave: a small binary distributed through Cargo, Homebrew, Nix-style systems, and other package managers, with release artifacts and generated shell completions as package extras.

Timeline

2018: mdcat crate first published on crates.io.
2024: The 2.x series added table support, shell completion generation, Ghostty image support, and curl-backed remote resources.
2026: Version 2.8.0 moved maintenance to BIRSAx2.
2026: Version 2.9.0 added footnote and math rendering.

Related projects

The README positions mdcat near terminal pagers and Markdown viewers, and documents `mdless` compatibility by allowing the binary to be linked or copied as `mdless` for automatic pagination.
Its implementation relies on terminal ecosystem pieces such as syntect for code highlighting, resvg for SVG rendering, OSC 8 hyperlinks, and iTerm2, kitty, WezTerm, and Sixel graphics protocols.

Sources

https://crates.io/crates/mdcat
https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/mdcat
https://github.com/BIRSAx2/mdcat#readme
https://github.com/BIRSAx2/mdcat/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
source_facts.package-manager

security posture

No protected-tool coverage found yet

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for mdcat. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`mdcat`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version2.14.0

manager updated2026-07-27

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:mdcat
Version	2.14.0
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://github.com/BIRSAx2/mdcat
Repository	https://github.com/BIRSAx2/mdcat
Last updated	2026-07-27T13:02:59Z
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

mdcat

nix profile install nixpkgs#mdcat

normalized package name match
Matched by: Mdcat

nixpkgs package indexes · raw.githubusercontent.com · nixpkgs package indexes: mdcat from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix

MacPorts95%

mdcat

sudo port install mdcat

normalized package name match
Matched by: Mdcat

MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: textproc/mdcat/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

Scoop95%

main/mdcat

scoop install main/mdcat

normalized package name match
Matched by: Mdcat

Scoop official bucket manifest trees · api.github.com · Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/mdcat.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/mdcat.yml

Used sources

cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
pkg.so package database
pkgdb category and tag curation