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sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

★ 18,639Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A curated list of Quick Look plugins that extend macOS file preview support to handle code, JSON, Markdown, video, and other file types.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Extends Quick Look
      Previews more file types
      No app needed
    File types supported
      Source code
      JSON and archives
      Markdown and video
      Images and profiles
    How to install
      Homebrew packages
      Mac App Store apps
      Manual downloads
    Use cases
      Preview code quickly
      Check JSON files
      View Markdown drafts
      Inspect video formats
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Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Preview source code files with syntax highlighting by pressing spacebar in Finder.

USE CASE 2

Quickly inspect JSON, YAML, and other structured data files without opening an editor.

USE CASE 3

View Markdown and plain text file contents directly in Quick Look.

USE CASE 4

Check video file metadata and thumbnails before opening them in a player.

What is it built with?

macOSQuick LookHomebrew

How does it compare?

sindresorhus/quick-look-pluginssanic-org/sanichemanth/functional-programming-jargon
Stars18,63918,63918,638
Language—Python—
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity1/53/51/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
License could not be detected automatically. Check the repository's LICENSE file before use.

In plain English

Quick Look is a built-in macOS feature that lets you preview a file's contents by pressing the spacebar in Finder, without opening any application. By default it handles common file types like images and PDFs, but developers often work with files it cannot preview, source code, JSON, video formats, Markdown, and others. This repository is a curated list of plugins that extend Quick Look to support additional file types. Each entry describes what the plugin previews and provides installation instructions, typically via Homebrew (a package manager for macOS) or a manual download. Plugins in the list cover things like plain text files without extensions, Markdown files, JSON, archive contents, video files, source code with syntax highlighting, iOS provisioning profiles, WebP images, and more. Some are free and open source, others are paid apps from the Mac App Store. The list also notes that on macOS Catalina and later, some plugins require removing a quarantine security attribute before they will work, and provides the commands to do that. This is purely a reference list, not a software package itself.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to preview JSON files in macOS Finder without opening them. Which Quick Look plugins from this list should I install?
Prompt 2
Show me how to install a Quick Look plugin for viewing Markdown files on my Mac using Homebrew.
Prompt 3
I'm getting a quarantine error with a Quick Look plugin on macOS Catalina. What command do I run to fix it?
Prompt 4
Which Quick Look plugins in this list support previewing source code with syntax highlighting?
Prompt 5
I need to preview WebP images and video files in Quick Look. What plugins does this list recommend?

Frequently asked questions

What is quick-look-plugins?

A curated list of Quick Look plugins that extend macOS file preview support to handle code, JSON, Markdown, video, and other file types.

What license does quick-look-plugins use?

License could not be detected automatically. Check the repository's LICENSE file before use.

How hard is quick-look-plugins to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is quick-look-plugins for?

Mainly developer.

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