thiefmd.app

What It Is

ThiefMD is an open-source Markdown and Fountain editor combined with a file manager. Inspired by Ulysses, it focuses on organizing, previewing, compiling, and publishing large Markdown writing projects. It builds its “library” on top of the user’s own file system rather than tying it to a cloud account. Syncing can be handled through the user’s preferred cloud drive, sync tool, or Git, but the main documentation explicitly states that ThiefMD does not include built-in sync or built-in Git support.

Core Features and Ecosystem

Feature-wise, ThiefMD covers folder import, Markdown/Fountain syntax highlighting, file and folder organization, search across individual files or the entire library, live preview, export preview, focus mode, full-screen editing, typewriter scrolling, and other writing-focused conveniences. It includes built-in BibTeX citation support, making it suitable for academic drafts. It also incorporates write-good logic to flag issues such as passive voice, wordiness, and overly complex sentences. Its multi-format capabilities are a highlight: powered by Pandoc, it can compile and export files or folders to PDF, ePub, docx, LaTeX, and more, while also importing and converting from formats such as docx, ePub, and HTML into Markdown. For publishing, the site mentions integrations with Ghost, WordPress, Medium, Forem, and WriteFreely, as well as support for custom Export Styles.

Pricing and Support

The collected page content does not disclose pricing, subscriptions, one-time purchase options, or commercial plans beyond sponsorship, so pricing information is insufficient. Its open-source nature provides good transparency, but the website does not specify an SLA, enterprise support, or customer service channels. Support appears to rely mainly on documentation, the blog, discussion forums, and the GitHub community.

Pros, Cons, and Best Fit

Its strengths are a local-file-first approach, open-source transparency, and strong format conversion capabilities, making it especially suitable for novels, screenplays, academic reports, blog posts, and long-form multi-file writing projects. Its drawbacks are the lack of built-in sync, Git, team collaboration, and cloud features. For non-technical users, configuring Pandoc, export styles, and publishing connections may involve a learning curve. ThiefMD is better suited to individual writers who value control over their text files and are willing to maintain a local writing library, rather than teams that need collaboration features and commercial support.

Access from China

The main content does not provide information about access from mainland China, mirrors, download speed, or payment methods, so china_access can only be assessed as unknown. If access to GitHub or external blogging services is unstable, downloads, updates, or publishing integrations may be affected. Alternatives to consider include Typora, Obsidian, MarkText, Zettlr, VS Code Markdown plugins, or Ulysses.