Share & View Mode

Share any document with a link — no account required for readers. The view mode renders your Markdown beautifully with full Mermaid diagram support.

Creating Share Links

To share a document:

1. Open the document in the editor.
2. Click the Share button in the top toolbar.
3. Choose a share type (see below) and click Create link.
4. Copy the generated link and send it to your audience.

Share links look like: https://specdown.app/share/abc123xyz

Share Types

View Mode UI

The share view displays your document with:

• Rendered Markdown with syntax-highlighted code blocks
• Interactive Mermaid diagrams
• Collapsible file tree showing the project structure
• Breadcrumb navigation between documents
• Table of contents for long documents
• Dark / light mode toggle
• Working inline links: any link in the Markdown that points to another doc in the same project navigates within the share session — clicking [Spec 001](/srs/SPEC-001) or a wiki link [[/srs/SPEC-001]] swaps the active doc without reloading the share.

HTML document shares

Sharing a single .html document (or an existing .html attachment) serves the raw HTML as the entire page — no SpecDown header, no surrounding chrome, no iframe wrapper. The share URL behaves as if you were hosting the HTML directly.

• Password-protected HTML shares show the password gate first; after the password is verified the URL serves the raw HTML the same way.
• Scripts inside the HTML run in a sandboxed origin (via a CSP header) so they cannot read SpecDown cookies or call the API with the visitor's session.
• HTML files inside a project / folder share keep the normal SpecDown chrome so the file tree stays usable; only single-target HTML shares serve raw.
• When an HTML doc or existing HTML attachment is viewed inside a project / folder share, the preview area now fills the rest of the visible page on first paint instead of opening at a short fixed height.

Commenting in view mode

Comment authoring is always available in the share view — you do not need to enable a mode first. Highlight any text inside the document and a floating Comment badge appears next to the selection; clicking it starts a new thread anchored to that passage.

• The chat icon in the share header opens and closes the comments sidebar. It no longer enables or disables commenting itself.
• The sidebar is closed by default so the article has full reading width. The viewer's last choice (open / closed) is remembered in their browser.
• Clicking the floating Comment badge while the sidebar is hidden automatically opens the sidebar and focuses the composer.
• Public and unlocked shares accept comments from anonymous viewers; private shares require the viewer to be signed in.

Edit Button

The share view shows an Edit button in the top-right corner. Its behavior depends on the viewer's relationship with the project:

Forking a Document

If you don't have edit access to a shared document, you can Fork it. Forking copies the document into your own project, where you can freely edit it.

Managing Share Links

Open the Share dialog at any time to:

• See all active share links for the document
• Copy or revoke individual links
• Update the password or expiry date on existing links

Search engines & indexing

Share pages are not indexed by Google or other search engines. Every share link (public, password-protected, or private) is served with anoindex tag so the URL only reaches people you send it to. If you want a document discoverable via search, publish it through your own site or a public blog instead.