A closer look at your code.
Source previews since 2007. Rebuilt for modern macOS.
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Select a source file in Finder, press Space, and read it in color. QLColorCode brings syntax highlighting, original line numbers and automatic wrapping to Quick Look, with a small companion app for trying previews and setting up the extension.
Public beta — 5.0.0-beta.1. Free, signed and notarized. Targets macOS Sequoia 15 and newer; tested on Golden Gate 27.0.1 / Apple Silicon. Automated tests also passed under Rosetta. Sequoia, Tahoe, physical Intel and VoiceOver still need qualification. This is an independent maintained fork, not the official Homebrew successor.
An actual preview from the downloaded, notarized beta using the Palette.swift fixture. Finder uses the same renderer.
- Read the source. Syntax colors, selectable text and original line numbers.
- Let long lines wrap. The gutter follows logical lines as the window changes size.
- Match your Mac. Automatic light and dark colors; no theme setup required.
- Keep previews local. Bundled grammars, no content downloads or source execution.
- Know when a preview is partial. Large files have bounded previews with a visible notice.
Download QLColorCode 5.0.0-beta.1.dmg — universal for Apple Silicon and Intel. Release notes, checksums and build receipt.
Open the DMG, drag QLColorCode to Applications, then open it once. Enable QLColorCode Preview in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Quick Look. Select a source file in Finder and press Space.
Or install the same notarized DMG through our Homebrew tap:
brew install --cask masonjames/tap/masonjames-qlcolorcodeIf you already installed this app manually, keep a backup and move that copy aside
before using Homebrew. The cask does not remove the legacy generator or enable
extensions automatically. The old brew install --cask qlcolorcode package does
not install this fork. See release and migration details.
You'll need a Mac with macOS 15+, full Xcode with Swift 6, and its command-line tools selected. No package manager or XcodeGen is needed for an ordinary build. The current toolchain verified by this fork is Xcode 27; older toolchains still need qualification.
git clone https://github.com/masonjames/QLColorCode.git
cd QLColorCode
bash scripts/test-modern.sh
bash scripts/test-preview-layout.sh
bash scripts/build-modern.shThe app is built at build/modern/Build/Products/Debug/QLColorCode.app. You can also
open modern/QLColorCodeModern.xcodeproj in Xcode. See the
development guide for tool selection, signing and local trials.
A successful build is not an install. The default build uses ad hoc signing;
macOS may refuse to run its extension. Finder testing needs a suitably signed app
and an enabled Quick Look extension. Follow the local-trial guide
without disabling Gatekeeper or changing unrelated providers. In a working
companion app, choose examples/Palette.swift to start with a safe sample.
| Area | Current evidence |
|---|---|
| Renderer | Core and real WebKit checks cover Unicode, wrapping, selection, multiline tokens, large files and safe fallback |
| Golden Gate 27.0.1 / Apple Silicon | Notarized downloaded app and Finder previews tested; local upgrade/rollback verified |
| Sequoia 15 / Tahoe 26 / Intel | Build targets are present; runtime qualification is still needed |
| TypeScript | Companion can render it; .tsx worked in the Finder trial, while .ts conflicts with a macOS video type |
| Distribution | Notarized universal DMG and checksum-pinned custom tap; no official successor designation |
| Release automation | Local Dagger checks and native macOS packaging; no GitHub Actions dependency |
The release roadmap tracks the remaining work. The verification record separates builds, runtime tests, installed versions and untested cases.
The modern renderer currently uses a pinned highlight.js bundle. Legacy Highlight themes, flags, plugins and thumbnails are not carried forward. Reads are capped at 256 KiB and 6,000 lines; highlighting has tighter limits and a one-second parser budget, then falls back to plain text. See architecture and limitations.
A clear bug report, a small fixture, a macOS compatibility check, or a focused pull request all help. Test the downloaded beta without installing Xcode, or start with CONTRIBUTING.md. You don't need to tackle the whole revival to contribute something useful.
For a security concern, use the private reporting instructions. For the path toward Homebrew, see the successor readiness notes.
This fork continues Nathaniel Gray's original QLColorCode, Derzzle's build work, and Anthony Gelibert's continuation. Their Git history and contributor credits remain intact. The modern Swift work is maintained here by Mason James.
Read the historical review or the preserved legacy documentation. Prism Q is our new identity; it does not imply endorsement by previous maintainers, Apple or Homebrew.
GNU GPL v3; new Swift contributions are GPL-3.0-or-later. The original project used GPL v2 before the upstream license-file change in 2016. Existing copyright notices are retained. The bundled highlight.js library is BSD-3-Clause, and its license ships with both app bundles.