diff --git a/frontend/src/components/LinkedText.vue b/frontend/src/components/LinkedText.vue
deleted file mode 100644
index ce4cd11..0000000
--- a/frontend/src/components/LinkedText.vue
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
-<script setup lang="ts">
-import { computed } from "vue";
-import { useRouter } from "vue-router";
-import { useNotesStore } from "../stores/notes";
-import { useTitlesStore } from "../stores/titles";
-
-const props = defineProps<{ text: string }>();
-
-const router = useRouter();
-const notes = useNotesStore();
-const titles = useTitlesStore();
-
-interface Part {
-  text: string;
-  link: boolean;
-}
-
-// Split the body into plain segments and [[wiki-link]] segments. Link segments
-// are clickable here on the card: they resolve the title and open the target
-// note (creating it first if it doesn't exist yet).
-const parts = computed<Part[]>(() => {
-  const result: Part[] = [];
-  const re = /\[\[([^[\]]+)\]\]/g;
-  let last = 0;
-  let match: RegExpExecArray | null;
-  while ((match = re.exec(props.text)) !== null) {
-    if (match.index > last) result.push({ text: props.text.slice(last, match.index), link: false });
-    result.push({ text: match[1].trim(), link: true });
-    last = match.index + match[0].length;
-  }
-  if (last < props.text.length) result.push({ text: props.text.slice(last), link: false });
-  return result;
-});
-
-// Reuses the command palette's open mechanism: navigate to the board with
-// ?open=<id>, which BoardView watches to open the editor.
-async function follow(title: string) {
-  await titles.load();
-  let hit = titles.resolve(title);
-  if (!hit) {
-    const created = await notes.createTitled(title);
-    await titles.reload();
-    hit = { id: created.id, title: created.title ?? title };
-  }
-  void router.push({ path: "/", query: { open: hit.id } });
-}
-</script>
-
-<template>
-  <span class="whitespace-pre-wrap break-words"
-    ><template v-for="(part, i) in parts" :key="i"
-      ><span
-        v-if="part.link"
-        role="link"
-        tabindex="0"
-        class="cursor-pointer font-medium text-brand-700 underline-offset-2 hover:underline dark:text-brand"
-        @click.stop="follow(part.text)"
-        @keydown.enter.stop.prevent="follow(part.text)"
-        >{{ part.text }}</span
-      ><template v-else>{{ part.text }}</template></template
-    ></span
-  >
-</template>
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/MarkdownInline.vue b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownInline.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..762db0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownInline.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<script setup lang="ts">
+import { useRouter } from "vue-router";
+import { useNotesStore } from "../stores/notes";
+import { useTitlesStore } from "../stores/titles";
+import type { InlineToken } from "../notes/markdown";
+
+defineProps<{ tokens: InlineToken[] }>();
+
+const router = useRouter();
+const notes = useNotesStore();
+const titles = useTitlesStore();
+
+// A [[wiki-link]] on the card: resolve the title and open the target note (creating
+// it first if it doesn't exist), via the board's ?open=<id> mechanism.
+async function follow(title: string) {
+  await titles.load();
+  let hit = titles.resolve(title);
+  if (!hit) {
+    const created = await notes.createTitled(title);
+    await titles.reload();
+    hit = { id: created.id, title: created.title ?? title };
+  }
+  void router.push({ path: "/", query: { open: hit.id } });
+}
+</script>
+
+<!-- Rendered tightly (no whitespace between tokens) so a token's own leading/trailing
+     spaces are preserved and no extra spaces are introduced. -->
+<template
+  ><template v-for="(t, i) in tokens" :key="i"
+    ><span
+      v-if="t.type === 'link'"
+      role="link"
+      tabindex="0"
+      class="cursor-pointer font-medium text-brand-700 underline-offset-2 hover:underline dark:text-brand"
+      @click.stop="follow(t.value)"
+      @keydown.enter.stop.prevent="follow(t.value)"
+      >{{ t.value }}</span
+    ><strong v-else-if="t.type === 'bold'" class="font-semibold">{{ t.value }}</strong
+    ><em v-else-if="t.type === 'italic'">{{ t.value }}</em
+    ><code
+      v-else-if="t.type === 'code'"
+      class="rounded bg-black/5 px-1 py-0.5 font-mono text-[0.85em] dark:bg-white/10"
+      >{{ t.value }}</code
+    ><template v-else>{{ t.value }}</template></template
+  ></template
+>
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/MarkdownText.vue b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownText.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30719fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/components/MarkdownText.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+<script setup lang="ts">
+import { computed } from "vue";
+import { parseMarkdown } from "../notes/markdown";
+import MarkdownInline from "./MarkdownInline.vue";
+
+const props = defineProps<{ text: string }>();
+const blocks = computed(() => parseMarkdown(props.text));
+</script>
+
+<template>
+  <div class="space-y-1.5 break-words">
+    <template v-for="(b, i) in blocks" :key="i">
+      <h3 v-if="b.type === 'h1'" class="text-base font-bold"><MarkdownInline :tokens="b.inline ?? []" /></h3>
+      <h4 v-else-if="b.type === 'h2'" class="text-sm font-bold"><MarkdownInline :tokens="b.inline ?? []" /></h4>
+      <h5 v-else-if="b.type === 'h3'" class="text-sm font-semibold"><MarkdownInline :tokens="b.inline ?? []" /></h5>
+      <blockquote
+        v-else-if="b.type === 'quote'"
+        class="whitespace-pre-wrap border-l-2 border-neutral-300 pl-2 text-neutral-600 dark:border-neutral-600 dark:text-neutral-400"
+      >
+        <MarkdownInline :tokens="b.inline ?? []" />
+      </blockquote>
+      <ul v-else-if="b.type === 'ul'" class="list-disc space-y-0.5 pl-5">
+        <li v-for="(it, j) in b.items ?? []" :key="j"><MarkdownInline :tokens="it" /></li>
+      </ul>
+      <ol v-else-if="b.type === 'ol'" class="list-decimal space-y-0.5 pl-5">
+        <li v-for="(it, j) in b.items ?? []" :key="j"><MarkdownInline :tokens="it" /></li>
+      </ol>
+      <pre
+        v-else-if="b.type === 'pre'"
+        class="overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap rounded-md bg-black/5 p-2 font-mono text-xs dark:bg-white/10"
+        >{{ b.value ?? "" }}</pre
+      >
+      <p v-else class="whitespace-pre-wrap"><MarkdownInline :tokens="b.inline ?? []" /></p>
+    </template>
+  </div>
+</template>
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/NoteCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/NoteCard.vue
index 692fc2b..f292255 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/NoteCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/NoteCard.vue
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
 } from "../notes/colors";
 import type { Note } from "../stores/notes";
 import Icon from "./Icon.vue";
-import LinkedText from "./LinkedText.vue";
+import MarkdownText from "./MarkdownText.vue";
 import NoteChecklist from "./NoteChecklist.vue";
 import { formatReminder, isOverdue } from "../notes/datetime";
 
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ onBeforeUnmount(() => document.removeEventListener("mousedown", onDocMousedown))
         {{ note.title }}
       </h3>
       <div v-if="note.body" class="text-sm text-neutral-700 dark:text-neutral-300">
-        <LinkedText :text="note.body" />
+        <MarkdownText :text="note.body" />
       </div>
       <p v-if="!note.title && !note.body && !note.attachments.length" class="text-sm italic text-neutral-400">
         Empty note
diff --git a/frontend/src/notes/markdown.ts b/frontend/src/notes/markdown.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3908a60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/notes/markdown.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+// A tiny, dependency-free Markdown parser for the READ view (note cards). Capture
+// stays plain text; this only formats what's shown. We render the parsed tree as
+// Vue vnodes (never v-html), so there is no HTML-injection surface. Deliberately a
+// small subset — headings (#..###), unordered/ordered lists, blockquote, fenced
+// code, and inline **bold** / *italic* / _italic_ / `code` — plus ThoughtSync's own
+// [[wiki-links]]. Note: headings need a space after `#`, so a #tag (no space) is
+// left as plain text and never mistaken for a heading.
+
+export interface InlineToken {
+  type: "text" | "bold" | "italic" | "code" | "link";
+  value: string;
+}
+
+// Flat (non-discriminated) shape on purpose — keeps template type-checking simple.
+export interface Block {
+  type: "p" | "h1" | "h2" | "h3" | "quote" | "ul" | "ol" | "pre";
+  inline?: InlineToken[];
+  items?: InlineToken[][];
+  value?: string;
+}
+
+// Order matters: links + code are matched before emphasis so their contents aren't
+// re-parsed; bold (**) before italic (*). Emphasis does not nest (v1).
+const INLINE_RE = /(\[\[[^[\]]+\]\])|(`[^`]+`)|(\*\*[^*]+\*\*)|(\*[^*]+\*)|(_[^_]+_)/g;
+
+export function parseInline(text: string): InlineToken[] {
+  const tokens: InlineToken[] = [];
+  let last = 0;
+  let m: RegExpExecArray | null;
+  INLINE_RE.lastIndex = 0;
+  while ((m = INLINE_RE.exec(text)) !== null) {
+    if (m.index > last) tokens.push({ type: "text", value: text.slice(last, m.index) });
+    const raw = m[0];
+    if (m[1]) tokens.push({ type: "link", value: raw.slice(2, -2).trim() });
+    else if (m[2]) tokens.push({ type: "code", value: raw.slice(1, -1) });
+    else if (m[3]) tokens.push({ type: "bold", value: raw.slice(2, -2) });
+    else tokens.push({ type: "italic", value: raw.slice(1, -1) });
+    last = m.index + raw.length;
+  }
+  if (last < text.length) tokens.push({ type: "text", value: text.slice(last) });
+  return tokens;
+}
+
+export function parseMarkdown(text: string): Block[] {
+  const lines = (text ?? "").split("\n");
+  const blocks: Block[] = [];
+  let paragraph: string[] = [];
+  let i = 0;
+
+  const flushPara = () => {
+    if (paragraph.length) {
+      blocks.push({ type: "p", inline: parseInline(paragraph.join("\n")) });
+      paragraph = [];
+    }
+  };
+
+  while (i < lines.length) {
+    const line = lines[i];
+
+    // Fenced code block: ``` … ``` (kept verbatim, not inline-parsed).
+    if (line.trimStart().startsWith("```")) {
+      flushPara();
+      const buf: string[] = [];
+      i++;
+      while (i < lines.length && !lines[i].trimStart().startsWith("```")) {
+        buf.push(lines[i]);
+        i++;
+      }
+      i++; // consume the closing fence (or fall off the end)
+      blocks.push({ type: "pre", value: buf.join("\n") });
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Heading: #, ##, ### followed by a space.
+    const h = /^(#{1,3})\s+(.*)$/.exec(line);
+    if (h) {
+      flushPara();
+      const level = h[1].length;
+      blocks.push({ type: level === 1 ? "h1" : level === 2 ? "h2" : "h3", inline: parseInline(h[2]) });
+      i++;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Blockquote: consecutive `>` lines merge into one quote.
+    if (/^\s*>\s?/.test(line)) {
+      flushPara();
+      const buf: string[] = [];
+      while (i < lines.length && /^\s*>\s?/.test(lines[i])) {
+        buf.push(lines[i].replace(/^\s*>\s?/, ""));
+        i++;
+      }
+      blocks.push({ type: "quote", inline: parseInline(buf.join("\n")) });
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Unordered list: -, *, or + then a space.
+    if (/^\s*[-*+]\s+/.test(line)) {
+      flushPara();
+      const items: InlineToken[][] = [];
+      while (i < lines.length && /^\s*[-*+]\s+/.test(lines[i])) {
+        items.push(parseInline(lines[i].replace(/^\s*[-*+]\s+/, "")));
+        i++;
+      }
+      blocks.push({ type: "ul", items });
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Ordered list: `1. ` etc.
+    if (/^\s*\d+\.\s+/.test(line)) {
+      flushPara();
+      const items: InlineToken[][] = [];
+      while (i < lines.length && /^\s*\d+\.\s+/.test(lines[i])) {
+        items.push(parseInline(lines[i].replace(/^\s*\d+\.\s+/, "")));
+        i++;
+      }
+      blocks.push({ type: "ol", items });
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Blank line ends a paragraph; other lines accumulate into one (newlines kept).
+    if (line.trim() === "") {
+      flushPara();
+      i++;
+      continue;
+    }
+    paragraph.push(line);
+    i++;
+  }
+
+  flushPara();
+  return blocks;
+}