#inline #terminal #video #mcat #markitdown #rasterm

app mcat

a powerfull extended cat command, to cat all the things you couldn't before

6 releases

Uses new Rust 2024

new 0.1.5 Apr 25, 2025
0.1.4 Apr 24, 2025

#406 in Command line utilities

Download history 514/week @ 2025-04-18

516 downloads per month

MIT license

105KB
2.5K SLoC

✨ Features

  • 📄 File to Markdown/HTML
    Convert structured content like CSVs, directories, and rich document formats (e.g., DOCX) into clean Markdown/HTML.

  • 🏞️ Markdown/HTML to Image
    Render Markdown or HTML files into images.

  • 🖼️ Inline Image/Videos
    Display images/videos inside your terminal using protocols like Kitty, iTerm, or Sixel.

  • 🌐 URL to Inline Image/Video
    View Images/Videos from a URL in your terminal

  • 🔗 Concatenate Images and Video too!
    Concatenate videos of the same format (time concat) and Concatenate images by stacking them horizontal or vertical(default)

  • 💃🏻 Automatic Styling for HTML
    automatically inject styles into the HTML to make the image cooler!

⬇️ Installation

cargo install mcat

or ~

git clone https://github.com/Skardyy/mcat
cd mcat
cargo install --path .

or prebuilt from the latest release

🏋️ Example Usage

# View a document as Markdown
mcat resume.pdf

# Or HTML
mcat project.docx -o html

# Show a document inline as an image
mcat readme.md -i

# Show a document as an image inline with a dark theme
mcat presentation.pptx -im

# Show a document as an image in the terminal with your own css
mcat document.pdf -it "path/to/your/file.css"

# Render a document to an image and save it
mcat readme.md -o image > img.png

# Show media inline in your terminal
mcat diagram.png
mcat video.mp4

# From a url
mcat "https://giphy.com/gifs/..."

# Images too!
mcat "https://website/images/..."

# Concatenate documents and turn them into an image
mcat document.docx presentation.odt table.xlsx archive.zip -o image > all.png

# Or just select interactively and copy to clipboard (for ai prompts)
# Replace scb with a command from your os
mcat directory | scb

# Concatenate images (stacks vertical)
mcat someimage.png anotherimage.bmp

# Or save it (stacks horizontal)
mcat someimage.png anotherimage.bmp --hori -o image > save.png

# Concatenate videos (must be same format: codec,audio..)
mcat part1.mp4 anothervideo.mp4 -o video > save.mp4

⚙️ Supported Formats

Input Type Output Options
DOCX, PDF, CSV, ODT, PPTX, and more.. Markdown, HTML, Image, Inline
Markdown / HTML Image, Inline Image
Images, Videos Inline Display
URLs Image/Video Fetch + Inline View

🛐 Dependencies

Mcat tries to have as little dependencies as possible.

chromium (for rendering HTML to image):

  1. exists on every windows machine through msedge.
  2. auto installs the binaries if missing

ffmpeg (for videos)

  1. auto installs binaries if missing

🆘 Help

mcat --help
Usage: mcat.exe [OPTIONS] <input>...

Arguments:
  <input>...  file / dir

Options:
  -o <output>                            the format to output [possible values: html, md, image, video, inline]
  -t <theme>                             alternative css file for images, valid options: [default, makurai, <local file>] [default: default]
  -s                                     add style to html too (when html is the output)
      --kitty                            makes the inline image encoded to kitty
      --iterm                            makes the inline image encoded to iterm
      --sixel                            makes the inline image encoded to sixel
  -r, --raw                              allows raw html to run (put only on your content)
  -i                                     shortcut for putting --output inline
  -m                                     shortcut for putting --theme makurai
      --hori                             concat images horizontal instead of vertical
      --inline-options <inline-options>  options for the --output inline
                                         *  center=<bool>
                                         *  width=<string> [only for images]
                                         *  height=<string> [only for images]
                                         *  scale=<f32>
                                         *  spx=<string>
                                         *  sc=<string>
                                         *  zoom=<usize> [doesn't work yet]
                                         *  x=<int> [doesn't work yet]
                                         *  y=<int> [doesn't work yet]
                                         *  exmp: --inline-options 'center=false,width=80%,height=20c,scale=0.5,spx=1920x1080,sc=100x20,zoom=2,x=16,y=8'
  -h, --help                             Print help
  -V, --version                          Print version

🚧 Roadmap

  • mcat.nvim: a neovim plugin to use mcat inside neovim

📎 License

MIT License

Dependencies

~197MB
~3M SLoC