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The desktop app is in beta and subject to change.
The Mintlify desktop app runs your dashboard and editor on your computer. Work in tabs or multiple windows with access to the same content and settings you access in the browser. The desktop app updates content the same way the editor does. You can also open Markdown files from your computer to edit them or copy them into a project. To preview your whole site locally, use the CLI.
The desktop app with three tabs open on different pages.The desktop app with three tabs open on different pages.

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Install

Requires macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon.
  1. Download the desktop app from mintlify.com/desktop.
  2. Open the file.
  3. Drag Mintlify to your Applications folder.
You can also install from the terminal.
Install the desktop app
The script installs to /Applications, or to ~/Applications if you can’t write to /Applications.

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Sign in

The desktop app signs you in with the Mintlify account you already use in your default browser.
  1. Open the desktop app. The desktop app shows a Log in to Mintlify screen.
  2. Click Continue in browser. Your default browser opens a Mintlify consent page that shows your account and organization.
  3. Click Approve. To sign in to another organization, click Use a different organization first.
  4. Return to the desktop app. The desktop app signs you in.
The desktop app and your browser share the same session. Signing out of one signs you out of the other.

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Sign in without your browser

Browser sign-in isn’t available for some organizations, such as organizations that set a maximum session lifetime. If the consent page says desktop login is not available, sign in inside the desktop app instead:
  1. On the Log in to Mintlify screen, click Log in here instead.
  2. Sign in the same way you sign in to your dashboard in your browser.

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Tabs and windows

Open each page you’re working on in its own tab or window. Tabs and windows reopen where you left them when you restart the app. Right-click a tab to duplicate it, copy its link, or close other tabs. Middle-click a tab to close it. To show tabs in a sidebar instead of across the top of the window, change the tab layout in Settings.

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Each tab has its own session

A new tab opens signed in to the same account and organization as the tab you opened it from. After that, each tab keeps its own session:
  • Switching organizations in one tab doesn’t change your other tabs, so you can work in different organizations side by side.
  • Signing out or signing in to a different account only affects that tab.
To sign out everywhere, use Clear all data in Settings. Tabs only load the Mintlify dashboard and the services it uses for signing in, accessing credits for AI features, and connecting Git providers. Links to any other site open in your default browser. Links that start with mintlify:// open in the desktop app. Share them in Slack, add them to your docs, or paste them in your browser’s address bar. The app opens the page in a new tab of your current window and brings the window to the front. To write a mintlify:// link, replace https://app.mintlify.com/ in a dashboard URL with mintlify://. For example, this link opens the same page as https://app.mintlify.com/acme/docs/editor:
The app ignores mintlify:// links that would leave the Mintlify dashboard. To open mintlify:// links in your default browser instead, turn off Open Mintlify links in the app in Settings.

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Open dashboard pages from your browser

After you sign in to the desktop app through your browser, that browser opens dashboard pages in the app by default. When you open a dashboard link from outside the dashboard, such as from Slack or email, the browser shows a Redirecting to Mintlify Desktop… page and the page opens in the desktop app. Links you follow within the dashboard stay in your browser. If your browser asks for permission to open Mintlify, allow it. To skip the prompt next time, choose to always allow Mintlify links. To open a single link in your browser, click Or continue in browser on the redirect page. To stop opening dashboard pages in the app, click Stop opening Mintlify Desktop automatically on the redirect page, or turn off Always open in desktop app in your Profile settings. Either option applies only to the current browser. Dashboard pages open in the app this way even when Open Mintlify links in the app is off.

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Open local files

Open a Markdown file from your computer to view and edit it in the editor. The desktop app opens .md, .mdx, .markdown, and .txt files up to 5 MB. To open a file, click Open File… in the File menu or press Cmd + O. The file opens in a new tab.
  • Visual mode renders the file with Mintlify components such as callouts, cards, steps, and code blocks.
  • Markdown mode shows the raw source. Use it for content the visual editor can’t render.
Press Cmd + S or click Save to write your changes back to the file. The desktop app keeps the file’s frontmatter unchanged. Saving from Visual mode can reformat some Markdown, such as list markers and spacing. Visual mode does not apply your site’s theme or load snippets and relative images. Local file tabs don’t reopen when you restart the app. You don’t need to sign in to open and edit local files.

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Copy a file to a project

When you’re signed in, you can add a local file to one of your organization’s projects as a new page.
  1. Click Copy to project.
  2. Select a project.
The desktop app opens the project in the editor in a new tab and adds the file as a new page at the end of your navigation. The page title and description come from the file’s frontmatter. Publish the page like any other change.

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Keyboard shortcuts

On Windows and Linux, use Ctrl instead of Cmd. For shortcuts inside the editor, see Keyboard shortcuts.

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Settings

Open settings with Cmd + , on macOS or Ctrl + , on Windows and Linux.
  • Tab layout: Show tabs across the top of the window (Horizontal) or in a sidebar (Vertical).
  • Open Mintlify links in the app: Open mintlify:// links in the app. On by default. When off, these links open in your default browser.
  • Check for updates: Check for a new version of the app. See Updates.
  • Clear all data: Sign out of every tab, close all tabs, and reset settings. The app restarts.
The settings window also shows the app version.

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Updates

The app checks for updates when it starts and every four hours while it runs. When an update is available, an Update button appears in the tab bar. To manually check for updates, click Check for updates in Settings. You can also select Check for Updates… from the app menu. On macOS, it’s under About Mintlify in the Mintlify menu. On Windows and Linux, it’s at the bottom of the File menu. A dialog shows whether an update is available and lets you install it.
  • macOS: Click Update to download and install the update in the app.
  • Windows and Linux: Click Update to download the new version from your browser, then install it.

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Uninstall

  1. Quit the desktop app.
  2. Move Mintlify from your Applications folder to the Trash.
  3. To remove your sign-in and settings, delete ~/Library/Application Support/Mintlify Electron.