The desktop app

The desktop app is sfora for macOS. It opens Markdown files on your Mac in tabs, with no account needed, and it holds your workspace in the same window once you sign in. It also brings the sfora command to your terminal.

Install the desktop app

The app runs on a Mac with Apple silicon. The downloads page lists the macOS version it needs.

Open a Markdown file

With no file open, the window says Your files, open in Sfora. Click Open a Markdown file, or open a .md, .markdown or .mdx file from Finder with Sfora. You don't need an account for this, and your files stay where you keep them.

Above the file you see its name and "On this Mac" with its path. Pick how to look at it:

• Read shows it as a page, with an outline beside it.
• Edit is the rich editor.
• Code shows the exact Markdown.

Press ⌘CtrlS or click Save to save. The bar at the bottom says Unsaved changes or Saved on this Mac. Save as writes a copy somewhere else.

Paste or drop a file into the editor to add it to the document. It is saved in an assets folder next to the file, up to 20 MB.

Work in tabs

Each file opens in a tab at the top of the window. A file you open from the sidebar first opens as a preview, with its name in italics, and the next file you open takes its place. Double-click the tab, or click Keep open, to keep it.

A dot on a tab means it has unsaved changes. To close a tab, click its ×. Reopen brings back the last one you closed.

Keep folders in the sidebar

When you're signed in, the sidebar has On this Mac. Click its folder button (Add local folder) and pick a folder. Its Markdown files show in the sidebar; hidden folders and symbolic links are skipped. To put a folder under one of your projects, pick the project in the menu under the folder. To take a folder out of the sidebar, click its ×; the files stay on your Mac.

Sign in to your workspace

Click Workspace at the left of the tabs. The app says Approve in your browser… and your browser opens. Approve the sign-in there, and your workspace opens in the window. Your files stay open in their tabs; click Workspace to go back to it.

Share a file to a project

Sharing sends a copy. Your file on the Mac isn't changed, and its frontmatter isn't sent. Connected copies lists what you shared from this file: click Open cloud copy to see it, or Review update to send your newer changes to it.

Use sfora in your terminal

The app includes the sfora command, so you don't need Node.

The command works with the app closed. To open files in the app from the terminal:

sfora desktop notes.md

Keyboard shortcuts

Availability

The app is for Macs with Apple silicon. Opening and editing local files needs no account. Sharing to a project needs you to be signed in and a member of that project.

Troubleshooting

Share to a project says "No accessible projects"

You aren't a member of any project yet. Join a project, or create one, and try again.

"This file changed on disk"

Another program changed the file while you had edits. Click Save a copy to keep yours in a new file, or Use disk version to load the other.

The terminal says sfora isn't found

Open CLI in the app. If it says to add the command's folder to your PATH, add ~/.sfora/bin to it and open a new terminal window.

The app offers to restore unsaved Markdown

It found changes you hadn't saved when it last closed. Click Restore to get them back, or Discard.

Last updated on October 6, 2026