MiaoYan

A lightweight native Mac app for local Markdown notes, written in Swift, with a focused three-column layout and no data collection.

8.7k stars, 522 forks Swift On GitHub since April 2020

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is MiaoYan?

MiaoYan keeps notes as Markdown files in a folder you choose and syncs them through iCloud Drive or another sync service, with no data collection. The layout has three columns for folders, notes and the editor, with dark mode and a deliberate lack of plugins to maintain. Built with Swift, it is lighter than editors based on web technology, and it handles preview, presentation mode and export. Its name means "words beyond words" in Chinese.

Good fit if

  • You use a Mac and want a fast, simple Markdown notes app.
  • You want notes as files you can move to any other tool.

Look elsewhere if

  • You need Windows or Linux: MarkText or Zettlr.
  • You want another native macOS Markdown app with more options: FSNotes.

Before you adopt it

MiaoYan is MIT-licensed and free. It is the side project of developer Tw93, who writes nearly all of the code.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 30 October 2026. Report a correction

MiaoYan health: is it still maintained?

75 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    298 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 1 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    2 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 79% of them.
    6 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, V4.6.0, on 26 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 97% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 5 days.
    15 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

MiaoYan license: is it open source?

MiaoYan uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. April 2020First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

How to run MiaoYan yourself

Docker
No Docker files in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
Builds for macOS in GitHub releases
Interface languages
3 languages

Install instructions: miaoyan.app or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to MiaoYan

  • FSNotesFast Markdown note-taking app for Mac and iPhone 66 health · MIT · 7.6k stars
  • MarkTextA simple and elegant markdown editor, available for Linux, macOS and Windows. 85 health · MIT · 63.4k stars
  • FoamA personal knowledge management and sharing system for VSCode 68 health · MIT · 17.5k stars
  • QOwnNotesQOwnNotes is a plain-text file notepad and todo-list manager with Markdown support and Nextcloud / ownCloud… 79 health · GPL-2.0 · 5.9k stars
  • flatnotesA self-hosted, database-less note taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage. 41 health · MIT · 3.3k stars

All 34 projects in Notes & knowledge bases

Questions about MiaoYan

Is MiaoYan open source?

Yes. MiaoYan is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is MiaoYan still maintained?

Its health score is 75 of 100 (actively developed). It had 298 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 1 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 26 October 2026.

How do I run MiaoYan?

You can run it as an app for macOS. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to MiaoYan?

Close alternatives in the Notes & knowledge bases category include FSNotes, MarkText, Foam.