The editor is the center of Nodes. It's a native macOS text editor that speaks plain markdown - clean to look at, quick to type in, and out of your way.

Write in markdown

You write with the same simple marks you already know:

# Heading for titles and sections
**bold** and *italic* for emphasis
==highlight== to mark a passage, and ~~strikethrough~~ to cross one out
- for lists, and 1. for numbered ones
- [ ] for a task - it shows a checkbox you can click to tick off, and open tasks gather on Home (see Reminders)
> for quotes
` code ` for inline code, and fenced blocks for longer snippets
| pipes for tables - cells wrap long text, a wide table breaks out of the reading column to use the full window, and Return inside a cell adds a line break instead of splitting the row
--- for a full-width rule, and *** for a centred star divider - a rule for a section boundary, stars for a beat
$…$ and $…$ for inline and block LaTeX math

There's nothing to toggle and no rich-text surprises - what you write is what's saved.

Prefer not to type the marks? Right-click in the editor and choose Format to insert bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, a blockquote, a link, a heading, or a list - it writes the same plain marks for you, so the file stays pure markdown. None of them has a key out of the box - give them one in Settings ▸ Shortcuts.

The editor also lends a hand as you type: it closes brackets for you and keeps lists going - Tab indents a list item, and Return continues a list or a quote (or clears an empty marker). You can turn either helper off in Settings ▸ General.

Make it comfortable

Zoom the text with ⌘+ (⇧⌘= on most keyboards) and ⌘−, and return to Actual Size with ⌘0.
Find in Document with ⌘F to jump around inside a long note; use ⌘↓ and ⌘↑ to step through matches, and Esc to close.
Lock for Editing with ⇧⌘R when you want to read without changing anything by accident. The lock covers every note and stays on even after you quit, until you press ⇧⌘R again or click the snowflake in the toolbar.
Raw Markdown Syntax with ⇧⌘M shows every mark as plain text instead of the formatting it makes. Like the lock, it covers every note and stays on until you press ⇧⌘M again or click the # badge in the toolbar.
Flow clears everything but the words when you need to concentrate - a writing stream just for markdown notes. Enter it from View ▸ Flow, the sidebar's Flow chip, or a key you assign in Settings ▸ Shortcuts, and press Esc to leave.
Delete Note with ⌘D (also in File ▸ Delete Note, and as Delete this node at the foot of the inspector) when a note has run its course - Nodes asks before anything is removed.

Inspect a note

Open the Node Inspector with ⌘I to see a note's details at a glance. Its heading stays in view, and numbered sections unfold beneath it - Tags, Description, and Links - open the ones you care about and Nodes remembers your choice. Description appears only when the note has one or the on-device AI is set to write descriptions; without it the numbers close up, so Links reads 02. A quiet footer notes when the note was created and last edited. It's the quickest way to understand how a note sits within the rest of your library.