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The official Sublime Text package manager.

MarkdownPreviewEnhanced

By CaffeineOddity
Created July 8, 2026, last updated July 27, 2026.

JulJunMayAprMarFebJan Dec2025 NovOctSepAugJul 2026-W31 | installs: 202 | removals: 71 | upgrades: 0 2026-W31 | installs: 202 | removals: 71 | upgrades: 0 2026-W31 | installs: 202 | removals: 71 | upgrades: 0 0100200 WeeklyInstalls 024 WeeklyUpgrades 2026-W31 | upgrades: 0 0.1.0
Installations: 202 in total
Installations minus removals
Upgrades

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Version

0.1.0 (>ST4106) ·
2026-07-27 01:59

MarkdownPreviewEnhanced

Package id: MarkdownPreviewEnhanced
Browser-first live Markdown preview for Sublime Text — SSE push, zero install dependencies.

preview

Features

Feature Status
GitHub-inspired full HTML+CSS rendering ✅
SSE push live refresh (no polling, preserves scroll) ✅
Mermaid diagrams (flowchart, sequence, gantt, …) ✅
ECharts charts (pie, bar, line, scatter, …) ✅
KaTeX math rendering ($...$, $$...$$) ✅
GFM task lists (- [ ] / - [x]) ✅
Footnotes ([^1]) ✅
YAML frontmatter stripping ✅
TOC sidebar (sticky outline of headings) ✅
Code syntax highlighting (Pygments) ✅
Scroll sync (editor ↔ preview) ✅
Export to standalone HTML ✅
Export to PNG (html2canvas, in-browser) ✅
Export toolbar (PNG + HTML buttons on preview page) ✅
Relative image resolution (./img/a.png) ✅
Cross-platform (macOS / Windows / Linux) ✅
Dark mode friendly ✅
Zero install dependencies (all vendored) ✅

Requirements

Usage

  1. Open a .md file.
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+M (Windows/Linux) / Cmd+Shift+M (macOS).
  3. A browser tab opens with the live preview.
  4. Edit the markdown — the plugin re-renders and SSE pushes the update to the browser in-place. No polling, no scroll loss.
  5. Press the shortcut again to focus the existing preview tab.
    Use Close Preview to close the tab and stop the local server.

Preview page toolbar

The preview page has export buttons in the bottom-left corner:

Button Action
🖼️ Export PNG — captures the rendered preview via html2canvas (2x resolution)
💾 Export HTML — downloads a clean standalone HTML file (no toolbar, no scripts)

Shortcuts

macOS Windows/Linux Action
Cmd+Shift+M Ctrl+Shift+M Toggle Preview
Cmd+Shift+Alt+M Ctrl+Shift+Alt+M Close Preview
Cmd+Shift+E Ctrl+Shift+E Export HTML

Commands

Command Description
MarkdownPreviewEnhanced: Toggle Preview Open / focus browser preview
MarkdownPreviewEnhanced: Close Preview Close preview and stop server
MarkdownPreviewEnhanced: Refresh Preview Force re-render
MarkdownPreviewEnhanced: Export HTML… Write a standalone HTML file

Settings

Preferences → Package Settings → MarkdownPreviewEnhanced → Settings

Setting Default Description
mermaid_theme "default" default, dark, forest, neutral
output_dir "" Empty = Sublime cache
use_local_server true Local HTTP server for SSE push / images / scroll sync
server_port 8765 Preferred port (tries next ports if busy)
server_idle_seconds 45 Auto-stop server after no browser activity (0 = only on Close)
browser "auto" auto, default, chrome, safari, firefox, edge, …
debounce_ms 500 Live re-render debounce
show_toc true Sticky TOC sidebar
enable_katex true Math rendering (local KaTeX only)
enable_task_lists true - [ ] / - [x]
enable_footnotes true [^1] footnotes
strip_frontmatter true Strip leading YAML --- blocks
scroll_sync true Editor ↔ preview scroll (needs local server)
custom_css "" Path to extra CSS file

View-level override example:

{
    "markdown_preview_enhanced.mermaid_theme": "forest"
}

Architecture

Sublime Text edits .md
       │
       ▼ on_modified_async (debounce 500ms)
  Python: render markdown → full HTML page
       │
       ▼ update_content()
  PreviewState updated
       │
       ▼ SSE push ("content" event)
  Browser: EventSource receives event
       │
       ▼ applyContent()
  DOM updated in-place (innerHTML swap)
  KaTeX, ECharts, Mermaid re-rendered
  Scroll position unchanged

The browser maintains one persistent SSE connection (GET /api/stream). The server pushes content only when the markdown changes. No polling, no page reloads.

API endpoints:

Endpoint Purpose
GET / Serve full HTML preview page
GET /api/stream SSE push (content + editor line)
POST /api/browser_scroll Scroll sync (browser → editor)
GET /api/export/html Clean standalone HTML export
GET /assets/* Vendored JS/CSS/fonts
GET /doc/* Local images from document directory

Installation

Package Control

Command Palette → Package Control: Install Package → MarkdownPreviewEnhanced (once accepted on the default channel).

Manual

Clone or copy this repository as the package folder Packages/MarkdownPreviewEnhanced/ (repo root = package root):

Platform Path
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Sublime Text/Packages/MarkdownPreviewEnhanced/
Linux ~/.config/sublime-text/Packages/MarkdownPreviewEnhanced/
Windows %APPDATA%\Sublime Text\Packages\MarkdownPreviewEnhanced\

Development

./build.sh                    # rsync package files into ST Packages/
./release.sh 1.2.0            # tag + push + Package Control PR
./release.sh 1.2.0 --dry-run  # preview only

release.sh updates only this package's entry in the channel file (no full reformat). Channel metadata is minimal (details + releases).

Debug logs

Under output_dir (default: Sublime cache MarkdownPreviewEnhanced/):

File Content
preview.html Live shell HTML
body.html Last body fragment
debug.log Timestamped logs

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Results

Packages