Add view_mode config option to open files with system default viewer#10
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kooler merged 3 commits intokooler:mainfrom Apr 20, 2026
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Adds a `view_mode` setting under `[behavior]` in config.toml. When set to `"system"`, pressing F3 (View) opens the file using the OS default application (xdg-open on Linux, open on macOS, explorer on Windows) instead of the terminal pager. Useful for images, videos, PDFs, and other binary/non-text formats. Defaults to `"pager"` for unchanged backward-compatible behaviour. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
fileActionCmd's "preview" case called viewFileCmd directly, bypassing the view_mode config. Now routes through openSystemDefaultCmd when view_mode = "system", consistent with the F3 View behaviour. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Summary
view_modesetting under[behavior]inconfig.tomlwith two values:"pager"(default) — existing behaviour, opens in$PAGER/less"system"— opens the file using the OS default application (xdg-openon Linux,openon macOS,exploreron Windows)"pager"so nothing changes unless the user opts inMotivation
The F3 (View) key currently always opens files in a terminal pager, which is useless — or even broken — for binary and non-text formats like images, videos, PDFs, or office documents. With
view_mode = "system", pressing F3 hands the file off to whatever the OS has registered for that extension, so an image opens in an image viewer, a PDF in a PDF reader, and so on, without leaving mdc.Usage:
Notes
This feature was developed with assistance from Claude Code (Anthropic's AI coding tool). I found it genuinely useful for my own workflow but wanted to be transparent — feel free to reject this PR if AI-assisted contributions are a concern for the project.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code