The editor
Flywrite's editor is built for markdown: clean, calm, and paper-like. Open any file from the file tree and start typing.
Rendered and Source modes
Markdown files have two views, and one keystroke switches between them
(⌘E, or the Rendered / Source buttons at the top of
the editor):
- Rendered — your markdown reads like the finished piece: styled headings, dimmed syntax. This is the everyday writing view.
- Source — the raw markdown, for when you want to see exactly what's in the file.
The formatting toolbar
Select any text in a markdown file and a small toolbar appears above your selection: bold, italic, headings, links, images, code, lists (bulleted, numbered, and checklists), and blockquotes. No syntax to memorize — though typing markdown by hand always works too.
Toolbar buttons highlight when the selected text already has that formatting — click a highlighted button to remove it.
The usual keyboard shortcuts work as well: ⌘B bold,
⌘I italic, ⌘K to insert a link, and
⌘⇧7 / ⌘⇧8 / ⌘⇧9 for bullet, numbered,
and checkbox lists — the full list is in
Keyboard shortcuts.
Links and arrows
In Rendered view, a markdown link shows just its styled text — the brackets and URL stay out of the way. Click a link to see where it points: a small popover shows the URL, opens it in your browser with a click, and has buttons to edit the address in place or remove the link and keep the text. Selecting across a link reveals its raw markdown for direct editing.
To add one, select some text and press ⌘K. The address box opens
straight away, ready for you to paste or type the URL.
Typing -> or <- in Rendered view displays as
a real arrow; the original characters reappear whenever your selection
touches them.
Images
Put pictures right in your writing, three ways: paste an image (a screenshot, or an image copied from anywhere), drag image files from Finder into the editor, or select some text and click Img in the formatting toolbar to browse for one. However it arrives, the image file is saved into your project and a markdown reference is inserted at your cursor — in Rendered view the picture displays right in the document.
Click onto an image (or select across it) to reveal its markdown for editing —
the alt text and path are plain markdown, so your files stay portable to any
other markdown tool. Images refresh automatically when the file changes on
disk, and a small placeholder appears if the file goes missing. Web images
(https:// URLs) display too.
Where images are stored is up to you, in Settings → General: one top-level images folder for the whole project (the default), or an images folder next to each document — and the folder name is yours to change. Flywrite creates the folder the first time you add an image and reuses a folder that already exists.
Pasting
Pasting always inserts unformatted text. Copying from rich sources — a web page, an email, a doc — converts the content to markdown, so links, emphasis, headings, and lists survive as markdown syntax rather than pasted styling. Pasting an image inserts the picture itself (see Images above).
Saving
Flywrite autosaves as you write, and ⌘S saves instantly. A save just
writes the file on disk — nothing else to manage. For restorable snapshots of your
whole project, use checkpoints.
Your files on disk are the source of truth. If an open file is changed outside Flywrite — by a Claude Code agent, another editor, or git — the editor picks up the change on its own, keeping your place in the document. If you have unsaved edits when that happens, nothing is overwritten in either direction: a banner appears so you can reload the file from disk or keep your version.
Finding things
⌘F— find & replace in the current file.⌘P— jump to any file in the project by name.⌘⇧P— the command palette, where every command lives.
These are the defaults — every shortcut in Flywrite can be changed in Settings → Keyboard. See Keyboard shortcuts.
More than markdown
Markdown is where Flywrite shines, but the editor happily opens other files too — HTML, code files (CSS, JavaScript, and more), and plain text docs, each styled appropriately. Handy when a project mixes a draft with its supporting files.
Media files open in a viewer: images (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG) display as pictures with zoom controls — − / + step the zoom, the level readout snaps back to fit, and the view scrolls when the image is bigger than the window. Videos (MP4, MOV) and audio files (MP3, WAV, and more) get playback controls. If a file changes on disk — say an agent regenerates an image — the viewer refreshes on its own.
Display settings for one file
Click the sliders icon at the editor's top right to adjust page width, fonts, text size, and line wrap for just the current file. App-wide defaults live in Appearance & themes.