vim-instant-markdown

Want to instantly preview finnicky markdown files, but don't want to leave your favorite editor, or have to do it in some crappy browser textarea? 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

You first need to have node.js with npm installed. Then:

[sudo] npm -g install instant-markdown-d
If you're on Linux, ensure the following packages are installed:
- xdg-utils
- curl
- nodejs-legacy (for Debian-based systems)
If you're on Windows, you will need into install cURL and put it on your %PATH%.
Copy the after/ftplugin/markdown/instant-markdown.vim file from this repo into your ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/markdown/ (creating directories as necessary), or follow your vim package manager's instructions.
Ensure you have the line filetype plugin on in your .vimrc
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 then manually trigger preview via the command :InstantMarkdownPreview. This command is only available inside markdown buffers and when the autostart option is turned off.

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

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.

etc.

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.

papadavis47/vim-instant-markdown