MD Navigator

MD Navigator

MD Navigator adds a two-panel file browser to the Drupal admin interface that lets you navigate and read `.md` files stored anywhere in your Drupal filesystem — without leaving the browser.

Browse your custom module and theme documentation, Drupal core READMEs, or any tree of Markdown files you configure. Click a directory to drill in, click a file to read it rendered as clean HTML on the right.

Use cases

• **Developers** — read module README files, CHANGELOG entries, and inline documentation while working inside Drupal without switching to a terminal or text editor
• **Technical teams** — keep a `docs/` folder of project notes, decisions, and runbooks browsable from the Drupal admin
• **Site builders** — browse the README files of installed modules and themes to quickly look up configuration options and hooks
• **Drupal agencies** — maintain client-facing handoff documentation as `.md` files in a custom module, browsable by anyone with the right role

Features

• Hierarchical sidebar showing only directories and files that contain `.md` content — no noise from other file types
• Drill into subdirectories and navigate back with the Up button
• Full Markdown rendering: headings, bold, italic, tables, code blocks, blockquotes
• **Search** — type a term to search across all configured directories simultaneously; results are split into filename matches and content matches with highlighted excerpts
• Configurable starting directories — point the browser at `modules/custom`, `themes/custom`, `core/modules`, or any path relative to the Drupal root
• Role-based access via standard Drupal permissions

Optional editing (md_navigator_editor submodule)

The included `md_navigator_editor` submodule adds create and edit capability powered by the [MDX Editor](https://www.drupal.org/project/mdxeditor) module. Enable it when you need to:

• Create new `.md` files directly from the browser
• Edit existing files with a rich Markdown toolbar (bold, italic, headings, lists, code blocks, tables, source view)
• Save changes back to the filesystem

`md_navigator` (browse and read) has no dependency on MDX Editor and works on any Drupal 11+ site. `md_navigator_editor` requires MDX Editor and is kept separate so sites that only need reading are not affected by that dependency.

Requirements

• Drupal 11 or 12
• PHP 8.2+
• [`league/commonmark`](https://commonmark.thephpleague.com/) (installed via Composer automatically)
• **For editing only:** [MDX Editor](https://www.drupal.org/project/mdxeditor) module

Related modules

• [MDX Editor](https://www.drupal.org/project/mdxeditor) — rich Markdown editor for Drupal text fields; used by the `md_navigator_editor` submodule