February 10, 2026
Vim keys, hot takes, no pics?!
Markdown CLI viewer with VI keybindings
Rust-made Markdown viewer sparks Vim wars and “show me pics” chants
TLDR: mdvi is a new Rust-based tool to read Markdown in the terminal with Vim-like keys, and it’s stirring debate. Commenters want screenshots and inline images, point to rival tools that already do it (or even edit), and reignite the classic “why not just use vi?” showdown.
New terminal toy alert: mdvi is a Rust-built, full-screen Markdown viewer that navigates like Vim (those zippy j/k keys) and promises clean text, fast scrolling, and live reload. And the crowd? Instantly split into teams: “finally, a smooth reader” vs. “we already have this.”
One of the loudest chants: “Pics or it didn’t happen.” User juancn begged for a screenshot and noted it’s text-only—no inline images—so your cat GIFs are just links. Cue llimllib flexing their mdriver tool that can display images using a terminal trick called the “kitty protocol,” plus stream AI output live. Meanwhile, verdverm waved the Charm Glamour flag—“same vibe, basic vi keys, already here”—and maxsimb dropped mark, a similar viewer that also lets you edit.
Then came the classic heckle: “Isn’t vi good enough?” from kalterdev, lighting up the age-old editor wars. Fans of mdvi praised the simple, single-purpose feel and Rust speed; skeptics argued we don’t need Yet Another Viewer. The vibe became a snackable tech soap opera: image support FOMO, feature shootouts, and the eternal question—do we need a new tool or just use what we’ve got? Either way, mdvi just turned Markdown reading into a main-stage debate.
Key Points
- •mdvi is a Rust-based, full-screen terminal Markdown viewer with Vim-style navigation.
- •It renders Markdown via pulldown-cmark and supports headings, lists, tables, footnotes, code blocks, links, and emphasis.
- •Features include live reload on file changes and starting at a specific line with the --line option.
- •Installation is available via Homebrew (tap) or Cargo, with examples for running and usage syntax.
- •Navigation includes j/k, Ctrl-d/u, PageUp/Down, Ctrl-f/b, g/G, search (/ with n/N), reload (r), help (?), and quit (q).