This is a slightly modified version of this plugin, which uses markmon instead of vim-instant-d.
Another small change is that it doesn't open the browser for you, since that might be annoying. Point your browser to localhost:3000 to see the preview.
At some point I might add support for chosing the port number and custom options for pandoc etc.
The rest of the readme is from the original plugin, left here for reference.
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!
You first need to have Ruby with RubyGems, and node.js with npm installed. (In the future there might be a version which won't require node.js at all, making installation easier)
[sudo] gem install pygments.rb- If you're using Ruby 1.9.2 or later,
[sudo] gem install redcarpet. Otherwise,[sudo] gem install redcarpet -v 2.3.0 [sudo] npm -g install instant-markdown-d- If you're on Linux, the
xdg-utilspackage needs to be installed (is installed by default on Ubuntu). - Copy the
after/ftplugin/markdown/instant-markdown.vimfile from this repo into your~/.vim/after/ftplugin/markdown/(creating directories as necessary), or use pathogen. - Ensure you have the line
filetype plugin onin your.vimrc - Open a markdown file in vim and enjoy!
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
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.
OSX and Unix/Linuxes*.
*: 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!
Why don't my
<bla>.mdfiles trigger this plugin?
By default, vim (7.3 and above) only recognizes 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.
It's not working!
- Make sure all the dependencies are installed...
- Make sure
instant-markdown-dwas installed as a global module (e.g. usingnpm -g install) - Make sure the ruby gems were installed under your default Ruby (i.e. if you're using RVM, use
gem installand NOTsudo gem installas that might cause the gems to be installed under a non-RVM Ruby)
- Make sure
- If you're on OSX, and are using zsh and rbenv/rvm...
- Make sure that Vim is using the correct version of ruby. From vim, if
:!which rubyreturns an unexpected ruby, then see here for a solution: https://github.com/dotphiles/dotzsh#mac-os-x. - Another thing to try would be to add
set shell=bash\ -iin your.vimrcto set interactive bash as the default vim shell. (See this issue)
- Make sure that Vim is using the correct version of ruby. From vim, if
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.