vim-instant-markdown

Want to instantly preview finicky markdown files, but don't want to leave your favourite editor, or have to do it in some crappy browser text area? vim-instant-markdown is your friend! When you open a markdown file in vim, a browser window will open which shows the compiled markdown in real-time, and closes once you close the file in vim.

As a bonus, github-flavored-markdown is supported, and styles used while previewing are the same as those GitHub uses!

Installation

Quick start (assuming you have all the necessary dependencies):

• Install the mini-server by running either:

  • [sudo] npm -g install instant-markdown-d or, for the pre-release version:
  • [sudo] npm -g install instant-markdown-d@next

  alternatively:

  • pip install --user smdv

  for the Python mini-server.

• Add the following to your .vimrc, depending on the plugin manager of your choice:

  • vim-plug

    Plug 'suan/vim-instant-markdown', {'for': 'markdown'}

  • Vundle

    Plugin 'suan/vim-instant-markdown', {'rtp': 'after'}

• Minimal default configuration:

  filetype plugin on
  "Uncomment to override defaults:
  "let g:instant_markdown_slow = 1
  "let g:instant_markdown_autostart = 0
  "let g:instant_markdown_open_to_the_world = 1
  "let g:instant_markdown_allow_unsafe_content = 1
  "let g:instant_markdown_allow_external_content = 0
  "let g:instant_markdown_mathjax = 1
  "let g:instant_markdown_logfile = '/tmp/instant_markdown.log'
  "let g:instant_markdown_autoscroll = 0
  "let g:instant_markdown_port = 8888
  "let g:instant_markdown_python = 1

Detailed instructions

• If you're on Linux, ensure the following packages are installed:
  • xdg-utils
  • curl
  • nodejs
• If you're on Windows, you will need into install cURL and put it on your %PATH%.
• If you do not use a plugin manager, copy the after/ftplugin/markdown/instant-markdown.vim file into ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/markdown/ (creating directories as necessary),
• Open a markdown file in vim and enjoy!

Configuration

g:instant_markdown_slow

By default, vim-instant-markdown will update the display in realtime. If that taxes your system too much, you can specify

let g:instant_markdown_slow = 1

before loading the plugin (for example place that in your ~/.vimrc). This will cause vim-instant-markdown to only refresh on the following events:

• No keys have been pressed for a while
• A while after you leave insert mode
• You save the file being edited

g:instant_markdown_autostart

By default, vim-instant-markdown will automatically launch the preview window when you open a markdown file. If you want to manually control this behavior, you can specify

let g:instant_markdown_autostart = 0

in your .vimrc. You can always manually trigger preview via the command :InstantMarkdownPreview and stop it via :InstantMarkdownStop.

g:instant_markdown_open_to_the_world

By default, the server only listens on localhost. To make the server available to others in your network, edit your .vimrc and add

let g:instant_markdown_open_to_the_world = 1

Only use this setting on trusted networks!

g:instant_markdown_allow_unsafe_content

By default, scripts are blocked. To allow scripts to run, edit your .vimrc and add

let g:instant_markdown_allow_unsafe_content = 1

g:instant_markdown_allow_external_content

By default, external resources such as images, stylesheets, frames and plugins are allowed. To block such content, edit your .vimrc and add

let g:instant_markdown_allow_external_content = 0

g:instant_markdown_logfile

For troubleshooting, server startup and curl communication from Vim to the server can be logged into a file.

let g:instant_markdown_logfile = '/tmp/instant_markdown.log'

g:instant_markdown_mathjax

By default, no TeX code embedded within markdown would be rendered. This option uses MathJax and launches the node server as instant-markdown-d --mathjax.

let g:instant_markdown_mathjax = 1

New in version instant-markdown-d==0.2.0

g:instant_markdown_browser

By default, browser is detected by instant-markdown-d depending on the OS. Starting with version instant-markdown-d>=0.2.0, you can set something like

let g:instant_markdown_browser = "firefox --new-window"

New in version instant-markdown-d==0.2.0

g:instant_markdown_port

Choose a custom port instead of the default 8090.

let g:instant_markdown_port = 8888

New in version instant-markdown-d==0.2.0

g:instant_markdown_autoscroll

By default, with version instant-markdown-d>=0.2.0, the live preview auto-scrolls to where your cursor is positioned. To disable this behaviour, edit your .vimrc and add

let g:instant_markdown_autoscroll = 0

New in version instant-markdown-d==0.2.0

Supported Platforms

OSX, Unix/Linuxes*, and Windows**.

_{*: One annoyance in Linux is that there's no way to reliably open a browser page in the background, so you'll likely have to manually refocus your vim session everytime you open a Markdown file. If you have ideas on how to address this I'd love to know!}

_{**: In Windows, there's no easy way to execute commands asynchronously without popping up a cmd.exe window. Thus, if you run this plugin without g:instant_markdown_slow, you might experience performance issues.}

FAQ

It's not working!

• Make sure instant-markdown-d was installed as a global module (e.g. using npm -g install)
• If you're on OSX and are using zsh, try to add set shell=bash\ -i in your .vimrc to set interactive bash as the default vim shell. (See this issue)

Why don't my <bla>.md files trigger this plugin?

By default, vim versions before 7.4.480 only recognize files ending with .markdown, .mdown, and README.md as markdown files. If you want <anything>.md to be recognized, I recommend installing one of many markdown plugins available, such as this one.

If you're curious, the code for the mini-server component for this plugin can be found at http://github.com/suan/instant-markdown-d. A plugin can easily be written for any editor to interface with the server to get the same functionality found here.