# sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins: a curated index of macOS Quick Look add-ons for developers > The repository is a README and a screenshots folder, not a program. It lists Quick Look plugins for developers, gives a Homebrew or manual install path for most of them, and mixes free and paid entries in one list. **sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins** — List of useful Quick Look plugins for developers - Repository: https://github.com/sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins - Stars: 18,770 · Forks: 548 - Language: Unknown - License: not declared - Published: 2026-09-21 · Updated: 2026-09-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/sindresorhus-quick-look-plugins ## What this repository actually is There is no code here. The top level holds readme.md and a screenshots directory, and that is the whole project. The README describes itself as a list of useful Quick Look plugins for developers, and it behaves like a link directory: each entry gives a one-line description, a Homebrew command or a manual download link, and a screenshot. The last push to the repository was on 2026-07-25, so entries are still being added, but nothing about the list is versioned or tested. If you are looking for a tool to install, this is the wrong page. If you are looking for a shortlist of Quick Look generators worth installing by hand, it is a reasonable starting point. The audience is narrow and specific: people who spend the day in Finder on macOS and want a spacebar press to show something useful instead of a generic icon. Markdown files, JSON, files with no extension, video containers, .app bundles and installer packages are the recurring cases in the list. That is a developer-shaped set of file types, which is why the repository reads the way it does. ## How Quick Look plugins load, and what the list assumes you know Quick Look is the macOS preview system behind the spacebar in Finder. A plugin is a .qlgenerator bundle. The README gives two placement routes: Homebrew installs the bundle for you, or you move a downloaded .qlgenerator file into ~/Library/QuickLook and run qlmanage -r to rebuild the generator list. The list does not explain the format beyond that, and it does not pretend to. Each plugin is an independent project with its own repository, its own maintainer and its own release cadence, so the list is an index over other people's software rather than a layer on top of it. That architecture has a direct consequence for anyone evaluating the list. The quality of an entry is the quality of the linked plugin, not of this repository. Two entries in the README already say so in their own text: the WebP plugin notes that it is already covered by qlImageSize and is listed only for people who dislike qlImageSize, and SourceCodeSyntaxHighlight carries a warning that it might overwrite some other Quick Look plugins. Those are the kind of conflicts you get when several generators claim the same file types, and the list does not resolve them for you. ## Installing a plugin and previewing a file for the first time The README's Homebrew route is the shortest path. Each entry names its own package, so the command differs per plugin. For plain text files with no extension, which is the case the README uses as its example, the package is qlstephen: ```bash brew install qlstephen ``` After the install, select a file with no extension in Finder and press space. The README's example cases are README, CHANGELOG and index.styl, meaning text that macOS would otherwise show as an unknown document. If the plugin loaded, the preview window renders the text. If it did not, you get the generic icon, and the next thing to check is the quarantine attribute. ## Catalina and later: the quarantine step the README calls out From Catalina onward the README states that many plugins will not work until the quarantine attribute is removed from the generator bundles. It gives two commands. The first lists the attributes so you can see what is set: ```bash xattr -r ~/Library/QuickLook ``` And the second removes them: ```bash xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/QuickLook ``` The README presents this as a general fix for plugins that install but never render a preview. It is the single most useful piece of information on the page, because the failure it addresses looks like a broken plugin rather than a security attribute. ## Manual installs and the qlmanage -r refresh Some entries have no Homebrew formula at all. QuickLookJSON, Burrete and Preview3MF are listed with manual download links only, and the README's manual route is three steps: click download manually, move the .qlgenerator file into ~/Library/QuickLook, then refresh the generator database: ```bash qlmanage -r ``` The same refresh is worth running after any manual removal, which the README implies but never spells out as an uninstall procedure. Manually installed plugins also do not upgrade themselves, so their version is whatever you downloaded. ## Where this list stops being the right tool The list is macOS only, and the README never suggests otherwise. Anyone searching for Quick Look plugins on Windows is looking for a different product category entirely; the Windows preview pane is a separate system with separate extensions, and nothing in this repository applies. That is the clearest case where the list is the wrong tool. The second limitation is maintenance, and it cuts at the entry level rather than the list level. The README marks some entries as paid, and it is honest about at least one of them: the Peek entry carries the note that the app is abandoned and buggy but still functional. That is a useful warning, and it is also the exception. Most entries carry no maintenance note at all, so a reader has to open each linked repository to find out whether the plugin is still being built. The list also gives no compatibility matrix. It says Catalina and later need the quarantine removal, but it does not say which plugins work on which macOS version, and it does not track breakage. A third issue is that the list mixes free and paid entries in one sequence. The paid ones are marked with a currency symbol in the README, and they point at the App Store or a vendor site rather than a Homebrew formula. That is a legitimate curation choice, but it means the list is not a set of interchangeable options. Several paid entries overlap in function with free ones: there are multiple Markdown previewers in the list, and at least two folder and archive previewers. ## What a free alternative looks like in practice The closest thing to an alternative is not another list. It is the built-in Quick Look plus a single general-purpose generator. SourceCodeSyntaxHighlight is the entry that covers the widest ground, and its Homebrew form is a cask with the quarantine flag handled at install time: ```bash brew install --cask --no-quarantine syntax-highlight ``` The difference in approach from the narrower plugins is scope: instead of one generator per file type, you install one that claims many source code files, at the cost of the README's own warning that it might overwrite some other Quick Look plugins. If you already run qlstephen or QLMarkdown, that overlap is the thing to watch. ## Maintenance cost, licensing and what the repository does not say This repository has no licence file at the top level, and the README does not state a licence for the list itself. That matters less than it sounds, because the list contains no code to license. What you install is other people's software, under other people's licences, and the README does not summarise any of them. If licence terms matter for your machine, you have to check each linked project. The upgrade cost is also per plugin, not per list. Homebrew-installed plugins upgrade with your normal brew workflow; manually downloaded .qlgenerator files do not, and nothing in the README tracks their versions or tells you when a new release appears. There is no rollback procedure documented. If a plugin update breaks your previews, the README gives no uninstall sequence beyond removing the bundle from ~/Library/QuickLook and running qlmanage -r again, which the manual install section implies but does not spell out as a removal path. ## Conclusion Adopt this list if you are on macOS and want Finder previews for Markdown, JSON, plain text, video or app bundles, and you are comfortable installing .qlgenerator bundles into ~/Library/QuickLook. Do not treat it as a package: there is no CLI, no versioning and no test suite behind it. Before installing anything, check whether the specific plugin you want is still maintained at its own repository, and on Catalina or later run the xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/QuickLook step the README describes, because a quarantined generator will not load. ## FAQ ### How do I install Quick Look plugins from this list? Most entries give a Homebrew command in the form brew install , and the README also documents a manual route: download the .qlgenerator file, move it to ~/Library/QuickLook, and run qlmanage -r. ### Is Quick Look free on macOS? The list mixes free plugins with paid ones, which the README marks with a currency symbol and links to the App Store or a vendor site. The repository itself does not state a licence for the list. ### What is Quick Look on a Mac? It is the macOS preview system that shows a file without opening its application. The README treats it as the host for .qlgenerator bundles that add previews for formats macOS does not handle by default. ### How do I install Quick Look itself? The README does not describe installing Quick Look, because it is part of macOS. Its install instructions cover the plugins, either through Homebrew or by moving a .qlgenerator file into ~/Library/QuickLook and running qlmanage -r. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins/issues) - [README](https://github.com/sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins/blob/main/README.md) - [sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins on GitHub](https://github.com/sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/sindresorhus-quick-look-plugins