Quickstart

RequirementsCopy Anchor Link

• Neovim, or Vim 8.1+
• A web browser

Node.js is not needed. The plugin runs a small server binary, which it downloads for macOS (x64, arm64), Linux (x64, arm64), FreeBSD (x64) and Windows (x64). On other systems, build it from source.

InstallCopy Anchor Link

With lazy.nvim:

{
  "sammaji/markdown-preview.nvim",
  cmd = { "MarkdownPreviewToggle", "MarkdownPreview", "MarkdownPreviewStop" },
  ft = { "markdown" },
  keys = {
    { "<leader>mp", "<cmd>MarkdownPreviewToggle<cr>", ft = "markdown", desc = "Markdown preview" },
  },
}

lazy.nvim downloads the server when it installs or updates the plugin. For other plugin managers, see Installation.

Open a previewCopy Anchor Link

Open a markdown file and run :MarkdownPreview, or press <leader>mp with the mapping above. The preview opens in your browser, follows your edits as you type and scrolls along with the cursor.

To see every feature at once, open examples/features.md from the plugin directory and preview it.

Change a few settingsCopy Anchor Link

In Neovim, pass options to setup(); lazy.nvim does that for you with opts:

{
  "sammaji/markdown-preview.nvim",
  -- ...
  opts = {
    -- always use the dark theme instead of following the system
    theme = "dark",
    -- open the preview in this browser instead of the default one
    browser = "firefox",
    -- keep the top of the editor window at the top of the page
    preview_options = { sync_scroll_type = "top" },
    -- keep the page open when you switch to another buffer
    auto_close = false,
  },
}

In Vim, set the same options as g:mkdp_* variables before the plugin loads:

let g:mkdp_theme = 'dark'
let g:mkdp_browser = 'firefox'
let g:mkdp_preview_options = { 'sync_scroll_type': 'top' }
let g:mkdp_auto_close = 0

Every option is in the configuration reference.

When something is wrongCopy Anchor Link

Run :checkhealth mkdp in Neovim. It shows which server binary is used and whether it matches the plugin.

Common questions:

• The scrolling lags behind the cursor
• The browser does not open in WSL
• Previewing a file on a remote machine
• Using my own look for the page
• More questions