Editions

Mark ships in two editions built from the same code:

• Mac App Store: reviewed by Apple, sandboxed, installed and updated through the App Store.
• Homebrew / direct download: the macOS build signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, plus the Windows build. Updates through the in-app updater or brew upgrade --cask mark.

The editor is the same in both: rendering, themes, live reload, Split View, the copy formats, print and PDF export, Share, and diffs against a .before file.

What differs

	Homebrew / direct download	Mac App Store
The editor and everything not listed below	Yes	Yes
Share button (macOS share sheet)	Yes	Yes
Diff against a .before file	Yes	Yes
Pandoc export (DOCX, ODT, EPUB… when pandoc is installed)	Yes	No
Insert screenshot	Yes (macOS)	No
Set Mark as the default Markdown app	Yes (macOS)	No
Diff against the last git commit	Yes	No
Local live server for agents (localhost HTTP endpoint)	Yes	No
In-app updater	Yes	No, updates come from the App Store
Help › Support Mark… (Ko-fi)	Yes	No
Reviewed by Apple and sandboxed	No (notarized on macOS)	Yes
Windows builds	Yes	No

Why the difference?

The App Store sandbox does not let an app run other programs (git, pandoc, screencapture) or open a local server. Those features are left out of the App Store build rather than shown in a disabled state.

When the App Store catches up

The App Store edition updates only after Apple reviews each build, so it can sit a few releases behind the download. The App Store currently serves 2.1.17; its next update brings 2.5.0 in one step — four releases of changes at once:

1. 2.1.17App Store today
2. 2.3.0Oct 14
3. 2.3.1Oct 17
4. 2.4.0Oct 18
5. 2.5.0Next App Store update

2.1.17On the App Store now

The WYSIWYG editor with live reload, themes, diagrams and math, link completion, the Problems panel, Go to Heading, print and PDF export.

2.3.0The first release without the beta label

• ◫Split View — the Markdown source beside the page.
• ❝Callouts — GitHub alerts and Obsidian callouts as blocks.
• ✎Copy as Structured Text — for email and chat.
• ↯Large files ~10× faster — 4,100 lines in about 3 s.

2.3.1A calmer, native Mark

• ◐Paper, Ink, Docs and macOS themes, a slim title bar, an outline beside the page.
• ⌂A home screen — recent files and folders, the Guide, your agent.
• ◔Diagrams and math in the theme's colours, full screen for any of them.
• ▤Only your notes — folders list Markdown files, Recent and Pinned on top.

2.4.0A new diagram engine

• ◔Pele renders mermaid blocks — same syntax, faster and lighter.
• ◐Instant recolouring when the theme switches.
• ✳32 diagram types — Venn, treemap, radar, swimlane and more.
• ⤓A much lighter app — diagram code down from 2.6 MB to 0.26 MB.

2.5.0Diagrams leave as pictures

• ⧉Copy as image, save as PNG or SVG for any diagram or chart.
• ◐A look for each diagram — Auto, the author's palette, Light or Dark.
• ⎙Print and PDF, each direct — ⌘P opens the print panel; PDF saves straight to a file.
• ▣Copy images back out of the document to the clipboard.

Everything in these releases reaches the App Store edition except the desktop-only features in the table above. The full notes are in the changelog.

Installing

• Mac App Store: Mark on the Mac App Store
• Homebrew: brew install --cask xronocode/mark/mark
• Windows: the x64-setup.exe installer from GitHub Releases

See Installation for details.