preview button in md/html/latex and svg files

[JustFrederik]

Check for existing issues

• Completed

Describe the feature

A button to toggle the preview. I know there is a preview for markdown over the command palette, but it would be great if it could be opened over a specific button. Monitor file changes and serve a directory isn't hard for html files. the svg images get displayed and only need a toggle. latex files can be rendered by standalone or a wrapper.

csv would be great too, but this would need a table renderer

If applicable, add mockups / screenshots to help present your vision of the feature

Example from Jetbrains:

[Moshyfawn]

• Related Enable SVG preview on user request in a separate pane #10454
• Related Markdown preview improvements #8032

[JosephTLyons]

Just as an update, we do have a preview button now for markdown files:

[iamnbutler]

There are a number of asks in here, it would help if these were broken down in to a list, and ideally have one ask per issue.

It's hard for this to be super actionable as it is.

As mentioned above, markdown has a preview button already.

Monitor file changes and serve a directory isn't hard for html files

This feels more in the realm of an extension. Additionally, since Zed is not electron/web based, we would likely have to do some pretty significant work to make this work.

[FloppyDisco]

where is the preview button for markdown files??
it does not show up on my editor that i can find

[frederik-uni]

the table renderer from the key binds could be used for csv

[xgfone]

It works fine with Markdown and SVG files, but not with HTML.

[xgfone]

It works fine with Markdown and SVG files, but not with HTML.

Zed Preview 0.218.3 
4adf4c6c1dc3cad2cb35273ee707812c6874ac3b

[malikdraz]

Concrete HTML preview use case to add to this request:

I am increasingly using agent workflows to generate short-lived, standalone .html files for local review: code-review boards, implementation option matrices, design critiques, status reports, and throwaway working documents. These files are intentionally local artifacts. They are usually a single .html file with inline CSS and sometimes small inline JS, no deploy step, no web server, and no need for browser devtools.

The workflow I want in Zed:

• Open a local .html file and get the same kind of Preview button that Markdown, SVG, and CSV now get.
• Support Open Preview and Open Preview to the Side, so the source and rendered artifact can be inspected together.
• Render standalone HTML directly from the file or current buffer without requiring a dev server.
• Refresh on save or provide a manual refresh action.
• Keep the source editable and the rendered view read-only.
• Make the security model explicit: local-file preview, no publishing, no hidden upload/share behavior, and either sandbox or clearly gate network/storage/script behavior.

This is narrower than "add a full browser to Zed." The main value is removing the browser context switch for agent-generated local review artifacts and documentation specimens where Zed is already the place the file was created.

[naanoo]

+1 Would love HTML preview.

30 % of my output is HTML.

[kazuki-N5]

I understand wanting to keep the editor lightweight, but I think an HTML preview is a must-have.