Features
VMark is the plain-text workspace where humans and AI collaborate. Markdown is the centerpiece (with WYSIWYG, Source Peek, and Source modes), but the workspace also opens YAML, JSON, TOML, Mermaid, SVG, HTML, and 9 code-viewer formats — see Supported Formats for the full list.
Editor Modes
Rich Text Mode (WYSIWYG)
The default editing mode provides a true "what you see is what you get" experience:
- Live formatting preview as you type
- Inline syntax reveal on cursor hover
- Intuitive toolbar and context menus
- Seamless markdown syntax input
Source Mode
Switch to raw Markdown editing with full syntax highlighting:
- CodeMirror 6 powered editor
- Full syntax highlighting
- Interactive popups for math, links, images, wiki links, and media — same editing experience as WYSIWYG
- Smart paste — HTML from web pages and Word documents is automatically converted to clean Markdown
- Clipboard image paste — screenshots and copied images are saved to the assets folder and inserted as
 - Code-fence-aware multi-cursor with CJK word boundary support
- Perfect for advanced users
Toggle between modes with F6.
Large Files
VMark auto-opens files over 1 MB in Source mode for a sub-second open, warns before touching files above 5 MB, and refuses files over 50 MB. See the Large Files guide for thresholds and settings.
Source Peek
Edit the raw Markdown of a single block without leaving WYSIWYG mode. Press F5 to open Source Peek for the block at cursor.
Layout:
- Header bar with block type label and action buttons
- CodeMirror editor showing the block's Markdown source
- Original block shown as dimmed preview (when live preview is ON)
Controls:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Save changes | Cmd/Ctrl + Enter |
| Cancel (revert) | Escape |
| Toggle live preview | Click eye icon |
Live Preview:
- OFF (default): Edit freely, changes applied only on save
- ON: Changes applied immediately as you type, preview shown below
Excluded blocks: Some blocks have their own editing mechanisms and skip Source Peek:
- Code blocks (including Mermaid, LaTeX) — use double-click to edit
- Block images — use image popup
- Frontmatter, HTML blocks, horizontal rules
Source Peek is useful for precise Markdown editing (fixing table syntax, adjusting list indentation) while staying in the visual editor.
Multi-Cursor Editing
Edit multiple locations simultaneously — VMark supports full multi-cursor in both WYSIWYG and Source modes.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Add cursor at next match | Mod + D |
| Skip match, jump to next | Mod + Shift + D |
| Select all occurrences | Mod + Shift + L |
| Add cursor above/below | Mod + Alt + Up/Down |
| Add cursor at click | Alt + Click |
| Undo last cursor | Alt + Mod + Z |
| Collapse to single cursor | Escape |
All standard editing (typing, deletion, clipboard, navigation) works at every cursor independently. Block-scoped by default to prevent unintended edits across sections.
Auto-Pair & Tab Escape
When you type an opening bracket, quote, or backtick, VMark auto-inserts the closing pair. Press Tab to jump past the closing character instead of reaching for the arrow key.
- Brackets:
()[]{} - Quotes:
""''` ` - CJK:
「」『』（）【】《》〈〉 - Curly quotes:
""'' - Formatting marks in WYSIWYG: bold, italic,
code,strike, links
Backspace deletes both characters when the pair is empty. Auto-pair and Tab bracket jump are both disabled inside code blocks and inline code — brackets in code stay literal. Configurable in Settings → Editor.
Text Formatting
Basic Styles
- Bold, Italic, Underline,
Strikethrough Inline code, ==Highlight==- Subscript and Superscript
- Links, Wiki Links, and Bookmark Links with preview popups
- Footnotes with inline editing
- HTML comment toggle (
Mod + /) - Clear formatting command
Text Transformations
Quickly change text case via Format → Transform:
| Transform | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| UPPERCASE | Ctrl + Shift + U (macOS) / Alt + Shift + U (Win/Linux) |
| lowercase | Ctrl + Shift + L (macOS) / Alt + Shift + L (Win/Linux) |
| Title Case | Ctrl + Shift + T (macOS) / Alt + Shift + T (Win/Linux) |
| Toggle Case | — |
Block Elements
- Headings 1-6 with easy shortcuts (increase/decrease level with
Mod + Alt + ]/[) - Blockquotes (nested supported)
- Code blocks with syntax highlighting
- Ordered, unordered, and task lists
- Cycle list type: convert a paragraph to bullet, ordered, or task list in sequence
- Horizontal rules
- Tables with full editing support
Hard Line Breaks
Press Shift + Enter to insert a hard line break within a paragraph. VMark uses two-space style by default for maximum compatibility. Configure in Settings > Editor > Whitespace.
Line Operations
Powerful line manipulation via Edit → Lines:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Move Line Up | Alt + Up |
| Move Line Down | Alt + Down |
| Duplicate Line | Shift + Alt + Down |
| Delete Line | Mod + Shift + K |
| Join Lines | Mod + J |
| Remove Blank Lines | — |
| Sort Lines Ascending | F4 |
| Sort Lines Descending | Shift + F4 |
Tables
Full-featured table editing:
- Insert tables via menu or shortcut
- Add/delete rows and columns
- Cell alignment (left, center, right)
- Resize columns by dragging
- Context toolbar for quick actions
- Keyboard navigation (Tab, arrows, Enter)
Images
Comprehensive image support:
- Insert via file dialog
- Drag & drop from file system
- Paste from clipboard
- Auto-copy to project assets folder
- Resize via context menu
- Double-click to edit source path, alt text, and dimensions
- Toggle between inline and block display
Video & Audio
Full media support with HTML5 tags:
- Insert video and audio via toolbar file picker
- Drag & drop media files into the editor
- Auto-copy to project
.assets/folder - Click to edit source path, title, and poster (video)
- YouTube embed support with privacy-enhanced iframes
- Image syntax fallback:
auto-promotes to video - Source mode decoration with type-specific colored borders
- Learn more →
Frontmatter Panel
Edit YAML frontmatter directly in WYSIWYG mode without switching to Source mode.
- Collapsed by default — a small "Frontmatter" label appears at the top of the document when frontmatter is present
- Click to expand — opens a plain-text editor for the YAML content
Mod + Enter— save changes and collapse the panelEscape— revert to the last saved value and collapse- Blur auto-saves — if you click away, changes are saved automatically after a brief delay
The panel creates an undo point in the editor history, so you can always Mod + Z to revert frontmatter changes.
Special Content
Info Boxes
GitHub-flavored markdown alerts:
- NOTE - General information
- TIP - Helpful suggestions
- IMPORTANT - Key information
- WARNING - Potential issues
- CAUTION - Dangerous actions
Collapsible Sections
Create expandable content blocks using the <details> HTML element.
Mathematical Equations
KaTeX-powered LaTeX rendering:
- Inline math:
$E = mc^2$ - Display math:
$$...$$blocks - Full LaTeX syntax support
- Helpful error messages with syntax hints
Diagrams
Mermaid diagram support with live preview:
- Flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts
- Class diagrams, state diagrams, ER diagrams
- Live preview panel in Source mode (drag, resize, zoom)
- Learn more →
SVG Graphics
Render raw SVG inline via ```svg code blocks:
- Instant rendering with pan, zoom, and PNG export
- Live preview in both WYSIWYG and Source modes
- Ideal for AI-generated charts and custom illustrations
- Learn more →
Inline Table of Contents
Type [TOC] on its own line to insert a live table of contents:
- Auto-generated from document headings with proper nesting
- Click any heading to scroll directly to it
- Updates in real-time as you edit
- Renders in WYSIWYG, export (HTML/PDF), and Source mode round-trips cleanly
AI Genies
Built-in AI writing assistance powered by your choice of provider:
- 13 genies across four categories — editing, creative, structure, and tools
- Spotlight-style picker with search and freeform prompts (
Mod + Y) - Inline suggestion rendering — accept or reject with keyboard shortcuts
- Supports CLI providers (Claude, Codex, Gemini) and REST APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, Ollama)
Learn more → | Configure providers →
Search & Replace
Open the find bar with Mod + F. It appears inline at the top of the editor area and works in both WYSIWYG and Source modes.
Navigation:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Find next match | Enter or Mod + G |
| Find previous match | Shift + Enter or Mod + Shift + G |
| Use selection for find | Mod + E |
| Close find bar | Escape |
Search options — toggle via buttons in the find bar:
- Case sensitive — match exact letter casing
- Whole word — only match complete words, not substrings
- Regular expression — use regex patterns (enable in Settings first)
Replace:
Click the expand chevron on the find bar to reveal the replace row. Type replacement text, then use Replace (single match) or Replace All (every match at once). The match counter displays the current position and total (e.g., "3 of 12") so you always know where you are.
Markdown Lint
VMark includes a built-in markdown linter that checks your document for common syntax mistakes and accessibility issues. Enable it in Settings > Markdown > Lint.
How to use:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Run lint check | Alt + Mod + V |
| Jump to next issue | F2 |
| Jump to previous issue | Shift + F2 |
When you run a lint check, diagnostics appear as inline highlights and gutter markers. If no issues are found, a toast notification confirms the document is clean. Issues are classified as errors or warnings.
Rules checked (13 total):
- Undefined reference links
- Mismatched table column counts
- Reversed link syntax
(text)[url]instead of[text](url) - Missing space after
#in headings - Spaces inside emphasis markers
- Empty link text or empty link URLs
- Duplicate link/image definitions
- Unused link/image definitions
- Heading level increments that skip levels (e.g., H1 to H3)
- Images without alt text (accessibility)
- Unclosed fenced code blocks
- Broken fragment links (
#anchornot matching any heading)
Lint results are ephemeral and cleared when you edit the document. Re-run the check at any time with Alt + Mod + V.
Universal Toolbar
A formatting toolbar anchored at the bottom of the editor, providing quick access to all formatting actions in both WYSIWYG and Source modes.
- Toggle:
Mod + Shift + Popens the toolbar and gives it focus. Press it again to return focus to the editor while keeping the toolbar visible. - Keyboard navigation: Use
Left/Rightarrows to move between groups.EnterorSpaceopens a dropdown menu. Arrow keys navigate within menus. - Two-step Escape: If a dropdown menu is open,
Escapecloses the menu first. PressEscapeagain to close the entire toolbar. - Session memory: The toolbar remembers which button was last focused during the current session, so re-focusing picks up where you left off.
- AI Genies shortcut: The toolbar includes an AI Genies button that opens the genie picker (
Mod + Y).
Export Options
VMark offers flexible export options for sharing your documents.
HTML Export
Export to standalone HTML with two packaging modes:
- Folder mode (default): Creates
Document/index.htmlwith assets in a subfolder - Single file mode: Creates a self-contained
.htmlfile with embedded images
Exported HTML includes the VMark Reader — interactive controls for settings, table of contents, image lightbox, and more.
PDF Export
Print to PDF with native system dialog (Cmd/Ctrl + P).
Copy as HTML
Copy formatted content for pasting into other apps (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + C).
Copy Format
By default, copying from WYSIWYG puts plain text (without formatting) in the clipboard. Enable Markdown copy format in Settings > Editor > Behavior to put Markdown syntax in text/plain instead — headings keep their #, links keep their URLs, etc. Useful when pasting into terminals, code editors, or chat apps.
CJK Formatting
Built-in Chinese/Japanese/Korean text formatting:
- 20+ configurable formatting rules
- CJK-English spacing
- Fullwidth character conversion
- Punctuation normalization
- Smart quote pairing with apostrophe/prime detection
- Technical construct protection (URLs, versions, times, decimals)
- Contextual quote conversion (curly for CJK, straight for Latin)
- Toggle quote style at cursor (
Shift + Mod + ') - Learn more →
Document History
VMark automatically saves snapshots of your documents so you can recover earlier versions.
- Auto-save with configurable interval captures snapshots in the background
- Per-document history stored locally in JSONL format
- Open the History sidebar with
Ctrl + Shift + 3to browse past versions - Snapshots are grouped by day with timestamps showing the exact time each version was saved
- Restore a previous version by clicking the restore button next to any snapshot (a confirmation dialog prevents accidental reverts)
- Delete individual snapshots you no longer need with the trash button
- The current content is saved as a new snapshot before any revert, so you never lose your work
- History requires the document to be saved to a file (untitled documents have no history)
- Enable or disable history tracking in Settings > General
Session Recovery (Hot Exit)
When you quit VMark or it exits unexpectedly, your session is preserved and restored on the next launch.
What's saved:
- All open tabs and their content (including unsaved changes)
- Cursor positions and undo/redo history
- UI layout: sidebar state, outline visibility, source/focus/typewriter mode, terminal state
- Window position and size
- Active workspace and file explorer settings
How it works:
- On quit, VMark captures the complete session state from all windows
- On relaunch, tabs are restored exactly as you left them, with dirty (unsaved) documents marked accordingly
- Crash recovery runs automatically after an unexpected exit, restoring documents from periodic recovery snapshots
- Recovery snapshots older than 7 days are cleaned up automatically
No configuration needed. Session recovery is always active.
View & Focus
Focus Mode (F8)
Focus Mode dims all blocks except the one you are currently editing, reducing visual noise so you can concentrate on a single paragraph. The active block is highlighted at full opacity while surrounding content fades to a muted color. Toggle it with F8 — it works in both WYSIWYG and Source modes and persists until you toggle it off.
Typewriter Mode (F9)
Typewriter Mode keeps the active line vertically centered in the viewport, so your eyes stay in a fixed position while the document scrolls beneath you — just like typing on a physical typewriter. Toggle it with F9. It works in both editing modes and uses smooth scrolling with a small threshold to avoid jittery adjustments on minor cursor moves.
Combining Focus + Typewriter
Focus Mode and Typewriter Mode can be enabled simultaneously. Together they provide a fully distraction-free writing environment: surrounding blocks are dimmed and the current line stays centered on screen.
Word Wrap (Alt + Z)
Toggle soft line wrapping with Alt + Z. When enabled, long lines wrap at the editor width instead of scrolling horizontally. The setting persists across sessions.
Read-Only Mode (F10)
Lock a document to prevent accidental edits. Toggle with F10. When active, all keyboard input and formatting commands are blocked — you can still scroll, select text, and copy. Useful for reviewing finished documents or referencing content while writing in another tab.
Outline Panel (Ctrl + Shift + 1)
The Outline panel displays your document's heading structure as a collapsible tree in the sidebar. Open it with Ctrl + Shift + 1.
- Click any heading to scroll the editor to that section
- Collapse and expand heading groups to focus on specific parts of your document
- The currently active heading is highlighted as you scroll or type
- Updates live as you add, remove, or rename headings
- Long titles wrap to two lines and reveal in full on hover
- A filter input at the top of the panel narrows the tree to headings whose text matches your query (case-insensitive, ancestors are kept so the path stays visible). Press
Escto clear.
Zoom
Adjust the editor font size without opening Settings:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Zoom in | Mod + = |
| Zoom out | Mod + - |
| Reset to default | Mod + 0 |
Zoom changes the editor font size in 2px increments (range: 12px to 32px). It modifies the same font size value found in Settings > Appearance, so keyboard zoom and the settings slider always stay in sync.
Text Utilities
VMark includes utilities for text cleanup and formatting, available in the Format menu:
Text Cleanup (Format → Text Cleanup)
- Remove Trailing Spaces: Strip whitespace from line endings
- Collapse Blank Lines: Reduce multiple blank lines to single
CJK Formatting (Format → CJK)
Built-in Chinese/Japanese/Korean text formatting tools. Learn more →
Image Cleanup (File → Clean Up Unused Images)
Find and remove orphaned images from your assets folder.
Integrated Terminal
Built-in terminal panel with multiple sessions, copy/paste, search, clickable file paths and URLs, context menu, theme sync, and configurable font settings. Toggle with Ctrl + `. Learn more →
Auto-Update
VMark automatically checks for updates and can download and install them in-app:
- Automatic update checking on launch
- One-click update installation
- Release notes preview before updating
Workspace Support
- Open folders as workspaces
- File tree navigation in sidebar
- Quick file switching
- Recent files tracking
- Window size and position remembered across sessions
Customization
Themes
Five built-in color themes:
- White (clean, minimal)
- Paper (warm off-white)
- Mint (soft green tint)
- Sepia (vintage look)
- Night (dark mode)
Fonts
Configure separate fonts for:
- Latin text
- CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) text
- Monospace (code)
Layout
Adjust:
- Font size
- Line height
- Block spacing (gap between paragraphs and blocks)
- CJK letter spacing (subtle spacing for CJK readability)
- Editor width
- Block element font size (lists, blockquotes, tables, alerts)
- Heading alignment (left or center)
- Image & table alignment (left or center)
Keyboard Shortcuts
All shortcuts are customizable in Settings → Shortcuts.
Technical Details
VMark is built with modern technology:
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop Framework | Tauri v2 (Rust) |
| Frontend | React 19, TypeScript |
| State Management | Zustand v5 |
| Rich Text Editor | Tiptap (ProseMirror) |
| Source Editor | CodeMirror 6 |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4 |
All processing happens locally on your machine - no cloud services, no accounts required.