Does this replace my editor?

No. Syntax Look is for quick inspection and triage. Read the file in Quick Look, grab the snippet you need, then use the Quick Look panel’s built-in “Open with…” button when you’re ready to edit, and macOS sends it to whatever editor you’ve configured as the default for that file type.

Does it support TypeScript?

Yes for text-based TypeScript files. `.tsx` and `.cts` are generally reliable. On some systems, plain `.ts` and `.mts` may be routed by macOS as MPEG transport streams. Syntax Look detects and rejects media payloads safely.

How do I preview code files on a Mac?

Select the file in Finder and press Space. macOS hands it to Syntax Look, which renders it as source code Quick Look output—highlighted, selectable, with line numbers if you want them. No app to launch and nothing to configure beyond enabling the extension once.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Syntax Look is fully local. No network access is ever required.

Is my code uploaded anywhere?

No. All processing happens on your Mac using a bundled highlight.js runtime in JavaScriptCore.

Does it help with AI-assisted coding?

Yes, and that’s a core reason to have it. Native text selection means you can press Space on a file, read with syntax highlighting, select the function or error message you need, ⌘-C, and paste straight into Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or any LLM chat. No editor launch, no file open. Syntax Look itself doesn’t talk to any AI. It just makes the read-select-copy loop fast enough to be worth it.

Which Macs does it support?

macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Universal binary.

Syntax Look

Quick Look Extension · macOS

Press Space. Read real, highlighted code.

Syntax highlighting for 150+ file types, with selectable text, line numbers, and five curated themes. Read it, copy what you need, keep moving. No IDE required, just Finder.

Built for reading code fast, before you ever open an IDE.

Coming soon See supported file types

$2.99 USD macOS 14+ Coming soon

Syntax Look Quick Look panel showing syntax-highlighted code

Why it matters

What Syntax Look does for you

Quick Look is great for images and documents, but Finder code preview is plain and hard to scan. Syntax Look makes Quick Look useful for day-to-day development workflows: fast triage, readable highlighting, and one press to keep moving.

Press Space, read real code

Inspect files without launching an IDE. No perceptible lag on typical source files. Quick Look stays Quick Look.
Native rendering, AI-ready text

Tokenized with highlight.js, drawn to native NSTextView, not a web view. Real text selection means you can press Space, read, and copy a function straight into Claude, Cursor, or Copilot. No blank-screen crashes, full AppKit polish.
Themes and type you control

Five curated themes (Light, Dark, Monokai, Solarized, Nord), live switching from inside the preview, monospace font picker limited to what’s actually installed on your Mac.
Minimal sandbox

App Group entitlements only. No blanket file access, no network, no Accessibility permissions, no analytics. Your code never leaves your Mac.

See it in action

Press Space. Pick a theme.

Syntax Look Quick Look panel showing syntax-highlighted Swift code — Press Space on any code file. Real highlighted code with native text selection, no IDE required.

Syntax Look — Dark theme — Five curated themes, switched live from inside the preview.

Syntax Look — Light theme — Five curated themes, switched live from inside the preview.

Features

Built for real workflows

150+ file types out of the box: Syntax Look attempts a preview for any text-based file. Swift, Python, JS/TS, Rust, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java, C/C++, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML, TOML, Markdown, and dozens of lock files, config files, and special filenames, plus anything else that’s UTF-8 text.
Native rendering, not a web view: Syntax Look tokenizes with highlight.js in JavaScriptCore, then draws to a real NSTextView. No WKWebView means no blank-screen crashes under memory pressure and full native text selection and Accessibility support.
Fast on small files, careful on big ones: Typical source files render with no perceptible lag. For larger files, no matter how large, Syntax Look renders the first 512 KB with a truncation banner, so Quick Look stays responsive and you still see real content instead of a placeholder.
Smart encoding detection: Detects UTF-8 with BOM, UTF-16 LE/BE with and without BOM, CP1252, ISO-Latin-1, and ASCII. Truncation is safe around multi-byte UTF-8 boundaries, so you never see half a character.
Binary-safe for ambiguous extensions: macOS can route plain `.ts` and `.mts` files to MPEG transport stream handlers. Syntax Look detects and rejects binary payloads before rendering so you get a clean fallback instead of garbled output.
Five curated themes, live switching: Light, Dark, Monokai, Solarized, and Nord. Change themes in the preview and everything re-renders, no app to open.
Toggleable line numbers: Native AppKit ruler view, not a pseudo-element. Snaps on and off from the preview gear menu.
Plays nicely with Quick Look’s Open button: The Quick Look panel’s built-in “Open with…” button still works exactly as macOS intends: one click sends the file to your default editor, IDE, or viewer. Syntax Look adds the readable preview; the system handles the handoff. Settings persist via an App Group so the container app and the extension stay in sync.
Configurable typography: SF Mono, Menlo, Fira Code, JetBrains Mono, and more. The font picker only shows monospace fonts actually installed on your Mac, with no silent fallbacks. Size 10–20 pt.
Minimal sandbox, maximum privacy: The Quick Look extension declares only App Group entitlements. No blanket file-system access, no network, no Accessibility permissions, no analytics. Universal binary for Apple silicon and Intel.

Supported file types

150+ file types. And if it’s text, we’ll try.

This QuickLook extension attempts a preview for any text-based file. Here are the languages and formats we explicitly support, grouped by purpose.

Source code: Swift (.swift)
C / C++ (.c, .h, .cpp, .cc, .cxx, .hpp, .hxx)
Objective-C (.m, .mm)
Java (.java)
Kotlin (.kt, .kts)
Groovy (.groovy, .gradle)
Scala (.scala)
Python (.py, .pyw)
Ruby (.rb)
Perl (.pl, .pm)
PHP (.php)
Lua (.lua)
R (.r)
Rust (.rs)
Go (.go)
Dart (.dart)
Zig (.zig)
C# (.cs)
F# (.fs)
VB.NET (.vb)
Haskell (.hs)
Elixir (.ex, .exs)
Erlang (.erl)
Clojure (.clj)
OCaml (.ml)
Web: JavaScript (.js, .mjs, .cjs)
JSX (.jsx)
TypeScript (.tsx, .cts)
HTML (.html, .htm)
CSS (.css)
SCSS (.scss)
Sass (.sass)
Less (.less)
Vue (.vue)
Svelte (.svelte)
Astro (.astro)
Config & data: JSON (.json, .jsonc, .json5)
YAML (.yaml, .yml)
TOML (.toml)
XML (.xml)
INI / config (.ini, .cfg, .conf)
Properties (.properties)
Environment (.env, .env.local, .env.production)
CSV / TSV (.csv, .tsv)
Plist (.plist)
Web manifest (.webmanifest)
Databases & query: SQL (.sql)
GraphQL (.graphql, .gql)
Prisma (.prisma)
Protobuf (.proto)
Docs & markup: Markdown (.md)
MDX (.mdx)
reStructuredText (.rst)
LaTeX (.tex, .latex)
DevOps & infrastructure: Dockerfile
Terraform (.tf)
HCL (.hcl)
Nix (.nix)
CMake (.cmake)
Jenkinsfile
Apple / Xcode: Entitlements (.entitlements)
Xcode config (.xcconfig)
Project (.pbxproj)
Storyboard (.storyboard)
XIB (.xib)
Strings (.strings, .stringsdict)
Module map (.modulemap)
Podspec / Gemspec
Special files: Makefile, GNUmakefile, CMakeLists.txt
Gemfile, Rakefile, Podfile, Brewfile
Vagrantfile, Procfile, Fastfile, Justfile
.gitignore, .gitattributes, .gitmodules
.dockerignore, .editorconfig
.prettierrc, .eslintrc, .babelrc, .swiftlint.yml
Lock & version files: package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml
Cargo.lock, go.sum, go.mod
Gemfile.lock, Podfile.lock, Package.resolved
.ruby-version, .node-version, .tool-versions
Misc: Diff / patch (.diff, .patch)
Log (.log)
Vim script (.vim)

Private by default

No accounts. No cloud. No tracking.

Syntax Look runs inside a sandboxed Quick Look extension with App Group entitlements only. macOS hands it the file you asked to preview, it draws the highlighted output, and that’s the entire surface area. No background work, no servers, no telemetry.

Receipts, not promises

The Quick Look extension declares only App Group entitlements. No network, no Accessibility, no blanket filesystem access.
macOS grants the extension read-only access to a single file at the moment you ask to preview it. Nothing else.
No account system. There’s nothing to sign into because there’s nothing on the server side.
Bundled tokenizer is open source: highlight.js (BSD-3-Clause), running locally in JavaScriptCore with no network access.

Before & after

The difference, at a glance

Without Syntax Look

Finder Quick Look for code is plain and hard to scan.
You have to open an IDE just to inspect a file.
No way to copy snippets from a preview.
Most Quick Look extensions ask for broad permissions to do their job.

With Syntax Look

Readable, highlighted code with your theme and font of choice.
Press Space. Read. Move on.
Selectable, copyable text. Grab a snippet without opening anything.
App Group entitlements only. Nothing to grant, nothing to leak.

FAQ

Common questions

Does this replace my editor?: No. Syntax Look is for quick inspection and triage. Read the file in Quick Look, grab the snippet you need, then use the Quick Look panel’s built-in “Open with…” button when you’re ready to edit, and macOS sends it to whatever editor you’ve configured as the default for that file type.
Does it support TypeScript?: Yes for text-based TypeScript files. `.tsx` and `.cts` are generally reliable. On some systems, plain `.ts` and `.mts` may be routed by macOS as MPEG transport streams. Syntax Look detects and rejects media payloads safely.
How do I preview code files on a Mac?: Select the file in Finder and press Space. macOS hands it to Syntax Look, which renders it as source code Quick Look output—highlighted, selectable, with line numbers if you want them. No app to launch and nothing to configure beyond enabling the extension once.
Does it work offline?: Yes. Syntax Look is fully local. No network access is ever required.
Is my code uploaded anywhere?: No. All processing happens on your Mac using a bundled highlight.js runtime in JavaScriptCore.
Does it help with AI-assisted coding?: Yes, and that’s a core reason to have it. Native text selection means you can press Space on a file, read with syntax highlighting, select the function or error message you need, ⌘-C, and paste straight into Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or any LLM chat. No editor launch, no file open. Syntax Look itself doesn’t talk to any AI. It just makes the read-select-copy loop fast enough to be worth it.
Which Macs does it support?: macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Universal binary.

Get Syntax Look

Launching soon.

$2.99 USD macOS 14+

Coming soon

Questions? Email support@tentstudios.com