README Editor
Write and preview your README.md online with live, side-by-side rendering. Dillinger speaks GitHub-flavored Markdown — badges, tables, code blocks, and task lists all render the way they will on GitHub. Free, no signup, and you can sync straight to your repository.
Open the Editor to start your READMEWrite and edit README.md with live preview
Your README is the front door to your project. It is the first thing a developer reads when they land on your repository, and a clear, well-formatted one is the difference between a project people adopt and one they skip. Dillinger turns writing that file into a fast, visual task: type Markdown on the left, watch the rendered README appear on the right, and adjust until it reads exactly the way you want.
Because the preview is live, you never have to commit, refresh, and squint at a half-broken table. Headings, lists, links, and images update as you type, so the structure of your document is always visible.
GitHub-flavored Markdown, rendered faithfully
GitHub uses an extended dialect of Markdown known as GitHub-flavored Markdown (GFM). It adds tables, task lists, fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting, strikethrough, and automatic linking of bare URLs on top of standard CommonMark. Dillinger renders all of these, so the preview you see is a close match for what visitors will see on your repository page.
That fidelity matters most for the elements that are easy to get wrong in plain text — especially tables, where a single misplaced pipe can break the layout. Seeing the rendered result immediately saves you a round trip to GitHub.
Badges, tables, and code blocks
A strong README leans on a handful of recurring building blocks. Here are the ones you will reach for most, with copy-ready Markdown you can drop into Dillinger.
Badges
Status badges sit at the top of most READMEs to signal build health, version, and license at a glance. They are just images wrapped in links, so they render anywhere GitHub-flavored Markdown is supported.
Installation code blocks
Fenced code blocks with a language hint give readers copy-paste-ready commands and syntax-highlighted examples. This is the single most-used section in any good README.
```bash
npm install your-package
npm run build
```Feature tables
Tables are perfect for comparing plans, listing configuration options, or mapping commands to descriptions. Dillinger renders GitHub-flavored Markdown tables exactly as GitHub does.
| Option | Default | Description |
|----------|---------|--------------------|
| `port` | 3000 | Server port |
| `silent` | false | Suppress all logs |Task lists
Roadmap and contributing sections often use task lists to show what is done and what is planned. Check boxes render as interactive checkboxes on GitHub.
- [x] Core API
- [x] Documentation
- [ ] CLI toolSync and export to GitHub
When your README is ready, you do not have to copy and paste it anywhere. Connect your GitHub account and Dillinger can open an existing README.md from any of your repositories, let you edit it with full live preview, and save the changes back. It is a quick way to polish documentation without leaving your browser or wrestling with a terminal.
Prefer to keep things manual? Export a clean README.md file and commit it yourself, or export to HTML or PDF when you need to share the documentation outside of GitHub. Your content is never locked in.
Start your README now
Open Dillinger, write in GitHub-flavored Markdown, and preview your README.md live before you ship it. New to Markdown? The guide covers every syntax element you will need.