Settings

VMark's settings panel lets you customize every aspect of the editor. Open it with Mod + , or via VMark > Settings in the menu bar.

The settings window has a sidebar with sections grouped by topic — the most-used sections appear first, with About and Advanced at the bottom. Changes take effect immediately — there is no save button.

Use the search box at the top of the sidebar to filter settings across every panel by name or description — matching rows are stacked together so you don't need to know which category a setting lives in. To restore everything to factory defaults, use Reset to Defaults in the About section.

Appearance

Controls the visual theme and window behavior.

Theme

Choose one of six color themes. The active theme is indicated by a ring around its swatch.

Theme	Background	Style
White	#FFFFFF	Clean, high contrast
Paper	#EEEDED	Warm neutral (default)
Mint	#CCE6D0	Soft green, easy on the eyes
Sepia	#F9F0DB	Warm yellowish, book-like
Night	#23262B	Dark mode
Solarized	#002B36	Dark, Solarized Dark palette

Language

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Language	Changes the UI language for menus, labels, and messages. Takes effect immediately	English	English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Português (Brasil)

Window

Setting	Description	Default
Show filename in titlebar	Display the current file name in the macOS window title bar	Off
Auto-hide status bar	Automatically hide the status bar when you are not interacting with it	Off

Focus Mode

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Dim level	How strongly non-focused content is dimmed in Focus Mode. Standard keeps the default color-only dimming; Strong and Stronger add progressively lower opacity on top	Standard	Standard, Strong, Stronger

Editor

Typography, display, editing behavior, and whitespace settings.

Typography

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Latin Font	Font family for Latin (English) text	System Default	System Default, Athelas, Palatino, Georgia, Charter, Literata
CJK Font	Font family for Chinese, Japanese, Korean text	System Default	System Default, PingFang SC, Songti SC, Kaiti SC, Noto Serif CJK, Source Han Sans
Mono Font	Font family for code and monospace text	System Default	System Default, SF Mono, Monaco, Menlo, Consolas, JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, SauceCodePro NFM, IBM Plex Mono, Hack, Inconsolata
Font Size	Base font size for editor content	18px	14px, 16px, 18px, 20px, 22px
Line Height	Vertical spacing between lines	1.8 (Relaxed)	1.4 (Compact), 1.6 (Normal), 1.8 (Relaxed), 2.0 (Spacious), 2.2 (Extra)
Block Spacing	Visual gap between block elements (headings, paragraphs, lists) measured in multiples of line height	1x (Normal)	0.5x (Tight), 1x (Normal), 1.5x (Relaxed), 2x (Spacious)
CJK Letter Spacing	Extra spacing between CJK characters, in em units	Off	Off, 0.02em (Subtle), 0.03em (Light), 0.05em (Normal), 0.08em (Wide), 0.10em (Wider), 0.12em (Extra)

Display

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Editor Width	Maximum content width. Wider values suit large monitors; narrower values improve readability	50em (Medium)	36em (Compact), 42em (Narrow), 50em (Medium), 60em (Wide), 80em (Extra Wide), Unlimited

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50em at 18px font size is roughly 900px — a comfortable reading width for most displays.

Behavior

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Tab size	Number of spaces inserted when pressing Tab	2 spaces	2 spaces, 4 spaces
Enable auto-pairing	Automatically insert matching closing brackets and quotes when you type an opening one	On	On / Off
CJK brackets	Auto-pair CJK-specific brackets like 「」 【】 《》. Only available when auto-pairing is enabled	Auto	Off, Auto
Include curly quotes	Auto-pair "" and '' characters. May conflict with some IME smart quote features. Appears when CJK brackets is set to Auto	On	On / Off
Also pair "	Typing the right double quote " also inserts a "" pair. Useful when your IME alternates between open and close quotes. Appears when curly quotes are enabled	Off	On / Off
Copy format	What format to use for the plain text clipboard slot when copying from WYSIWYG mode	Plain text	Plain text, Markdown
Copy on select	Automatically copy text to the clipboard whenever you select it	Off	On / Off

Whitespace

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Line endings on save	Control how line endings are handled when saving files	Preserve existing	Preserve existing, LF (\n), CRLF (\r\n)
Preserve consecutive line breaks	Keep multiple blank lines as-is instead of collapsing them	Off	On / Off
Hard break style on save	How hard line breaks are represented in the saved Markdown file	Preserve existing	Two spaces (Recommended), Preserve existing, Backslash (\)
Show <br> tags	Display HTML line break tags visibly in the editor	Off	On / Off
Show invisibles	Visualize whitespace: spaces as ·, tabs as → (Source only), soft line breaks as ↓ (Source only), hard line breaks as ⏎. Hidden when printing. Toggle: F3 or View → Show Invisibles.	Off	On / Off

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Two spaces is the most compatible hard break style — it works on GitHub, GitLab, and all major Markdown renderers. The backslash style may fail on Reddit, Jekyll, and some older parsers.

Markdown

Paste behavior, layout, and HTML rendering settings.

Paste & Input

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Enable regex in search	Show a regex toggle button in the Find & Replace bar	On	On / Off
Paste mode	How content from the clipboard is processed when pasting. Smart converts HTML to Markdown and detects Markdown syntax; Plain always pastes plain text; Rich keeps the original HTML formatting	Smart	Smart, Plain, Rich
Markdown paste in WYSIWYG	When pasting text that looks like Markdown into the WYSIWYG editor, automatically convert it to rich content	Auto	Auto, Off

Layout

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Block element font size	Relative font size for lists, blockquotes, tables, alerts, and details blocks	100%	100%, 95%, 90%, 85%
Heading alignment	Text alignment for headings	Left	Left, Center
Image & diagram borders	Whether to show a border around images, Mermaid diagrams, and math blocks	None	None, Always, On hover
Image & table alignment	Horizontal alignment for block images and tables	Center	Center, Left

Lint

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Enable markdown lint	Check for common markdown issues (broken links, missing alt text, heading increments, unclosed fences, etc.)	On	On / Off

See Markdown Lint for the full rule list and severity levels.

HTML Rendering

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Raw HTML in rich text	Control whether raw HTML blocks are rendered in WYSIWYG mode	Sanitized	Hidden, Sanitized, Sanitized + styles
Allowed HTML tags	How broad the rendered tag set is	Strict	Strict, Extended
Also allow these tags	Extra tag names to allow, comma-separated	(empty)	e.g. kbd, samp, var

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Hidden collapses raw HTML and renders nothing. Sanitized renders HTML with dangerous tags stripped. Sanitized + styles additionally preserves a safe subset of inline style attributes.

Strict allows a small, conservative tag set. Extended additionally renders <svg> (and its safe child elements), <figure>/<figcaption>, <details>/<summary>, and other semantic/structural tags — all still sanitized. Use Also allow these tags to add specific extras on top (e.g. kbd, samp, var).

WARNING

Regardless of these settings, dangerous tags (<script>, <style>, <iframe>, <form>, event handlers, …) are always stripped — the custom-tags field cannot re-enable them. Allow-list breadth only affects the WYSIWYG preview; the raw HTML in your file is never modified.

Files & Images

File browser, saving, document history, image handling, and document tools.

File Browser

These settings only apply when a workspace (folder) is open.

Setting	Description	Default
Show hidden files	Include dotfiles and hidden system items in the file explorer sidebar	Off
Show all files	Show non-markdown files in the file explorer. Non-markdown files open with your system's default application	Off

Quit Behavior

Setting	Description	Default
Confirm quit	Require pressing Cmd+Q (or Ctrl+Q) twice to quit, preventing accidental exits	On

Saving

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Enable auto-save	Automatically save files after editing	On	On / Off
Save interval	Time between automatic saves. Only available when auto-save is enabled	30 seconds	10s, 30s, 1 min, 2 min, 5 min
Keep document history	Track document versions for undo and recovery	On	On / Off
Maximum versions	Number of history snapshots to keep per document	50 versions	10, 25, 50, 100
Keep versions for	Maximum age of history snapshots before they are pruned	7 days	1 day, 7 days, 14 days, 30 days
Merge window	Consecutive auto-saves within this window consolidate into a single snapshot, reducing storage noise	30 seconds	Off, 10s, 30s, 1 min, 2 min
Max file size for history	Skip taking history snapshots for files larger than this threshold	512 KB	256 KB, 512 KB, 1 MB, 5 MB, Unlimited

Images

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Auto-resize on paste	Automatically resize large images before saving to the assets folder. The value is the maximum dimension in pixels	Off	Off, 800px, 1200px, 1920px (Full HD), 2560px (2K)
Copy to assets folder	Copy pasted or dropped images into the document's assets folder instead of embedding them	On	On / Off
Clean up unused images on close	Automatically delete images from the assets folder that are no longer referenced in the document when you close it	Off	On / Off

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Enable Auto-resize on paste if you frequently paste screenshots or photos — it keeps your assets folder lightweight without manual resizing.

Large Files

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Warn above size	Show a confirmation prompt when opening files above this size	5 MB	On / Off
Auto Source mode	Automatically open files above the threshold in Source mode (skips WYSIWYG to keep performance smooth)	On	On / Off

See Large Files for the full breakdown of how large files are handled.

Document Tools

VMark detects Pandoc to enable exporting to additional formats (DOCX, EPUB, LaTeX, and more). Click Detect to scan for Pandoc on your system. If found, its version and path are displayed.

See Export & Print for details on all export options.

Integrations

MCP server and AI provider configuration.

MCP Server

The MCP (Model Context Protocol) server allows external AI assistants like Claude Code and Cursor to control VMark programmatically.

Setting	Description	Default
Enable MCP Server	Start or stop the MCP server. When running, a status badge shows the port and connected clients	On (toggle)
Start on launch	Automatically start the MCP server when VMark opens	On
Auto-approve edits	Apply AI-initiated document changes without showing a preview for approval first. Use with caution	Off

When the server is running, the panel also displays:

• Port — automatically assigned; AI clients discover it through the config file
• Version — MCP server sidecar version
• Tools / Resources — number of available MCP tools and resources
• Connected Clients — number of AI clients currently connected

Below the MCP Server section, you can install VMark's MCP configuration into supported AI clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI) with a single click.

See MCP Setup and MCP Tools Reference for full details.

AI Providers

Configure which AI provider powers AI Genies. Only one provider can be active at a time.

CLI Providers — Use locally installed AI CLI tools (Claude, Codex, Gemini). Click Detect to scan your $PATH for available CLIs. CLI providers use your subscription plan and require no API key.

REST API Providers — Connect directly to cloud APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI, Ollama API). Each requires an endpoint, API key, and model name.

See AI Providers for detailed setup instructions for each provider.

Formats

Opt-in toggles for non-default format adapters, plus the explicit external-editor command for the read-only code-tab escape hatch.

Markdown, plain text, and YAML/YML are always registered — the calm defaults. Every other adapter is off by default so existing users aren't surprised on upgrade. Flip a toggle and the registry rebuilds in place; open tabs remount with the proper adapter, no restart needed.

For the full list of formats and their previews, see Supported Formats.

Format support

Toggle	Default	Enables
Data formats	Off	.json, .jsonl, .toml — split-pane source + navigable tree. Schema-aware previews for Cargo.toml, package.json, pyproject.toml.
Diagrams & SVG	Off	.mmd (Mermaid) and .svg — split-pane source + sanitized live render.
HTML preview	Off	.html and .htm — sandboxed iframe preview (sandbox="" empty allow-list, DOMPurify, CSP <meta>). OWASP top-20 verified — see Security model for HTML.
Code viewers	Off	12 read-only viewers (.ts, .tsx, .js, .jsx, .py, .rs, .go, .css, .sh, .bash, .rb, .lua). Open in a syntax-highlighted viewer with Enable editing and Open in external editor buttons.

When a category is off, the matching extensions fall through to the plain-text fallback so the file still opens — just without the schema view.

External editor

For the Open in external editor button on read-only code tabs, pick the editor that should launch. An app bundle (e.g. /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app) or an executable.

The GUI setting overrides any environment variables — explicit beats implicit. Leave it empty to use the env-var fallback chain $VMARK_EXTERNAL_EDITOR → $VISUAL → $EDITOR → platform default. See Open in external editor for the full resolution order and security gate.

One-time upgrade nudge

On the first launch after upgrading to multi-format support, VMark surfaces a non-blocking toast pointing to Settings → Formats. The nudge fires once per install — once shown (or dismissed), it never reappears.

File-type overrides

Beyond the category toggles, you can override how an individual file family opens via the command palette — Set File Type: Plain Text / Markdown / Reset to Default. Overrides are stored per file family (by extension, or by dotfile stem for files like .env) and persist across sessions. See How VMark decides a file's type.

The Formats panel lists every override you've set, each as key → format. Remove a single entry with its × button, or use Clear all to drop them in one go — removed entries fall back to the built-in rule.

Language

CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) formatting rules. These rules are applied when you run Format → Format CJK Selection (Cmd+Shift+F) on a selection, or Format → Format CJK Document (Alt+Cmd+Shift+F) on the whole file.

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The Language section contains 20+ fine-grained formatting toggles. For a full explanation of each rule with examples, see CJK Formatting.

Fullwidth Normalization

Setting	Description	Default
Convert fullwidth letters/numbers	Convert fullwidth alphanumeric characters to halfwidth (e.g., ABC to ABC)	On
Normalize punctuation width	Convert fullwidth commas and periods to halfwidth when between CJK characters	On
Convert parentheses	Convert fullwidth parentheses to halfwidth when content is CJK	On
Convert brackets	Convert halfwidth brackets to fullwidth 【】 when content is CJK	Off

Spacing

Setting	Description	Default
Add CJK-English spacing	Insert a space between CJK and Latin characters	On
Add CJK-parenthesis spacing	Insert a space between CJK characters and parentheses	On
Remove currency spacing	Remove extra space after currency symbols (e.g., $ 100 becomes $100)	On
Remove slash spacing	Remove spaces around slashes (e.g., A / B becomes A/B), preserving URLs	On
Collapse multiple spaces	Reduce multiple consecutive spaces to a single space	On

Dash & Quotes

Setting	Description	Default
Convert dashes	Convert double hyphens (--) to em-dashes (——) between CJK characters	On
Fix em-dash spacing	Ensure proper spacing around em-dashes	On
Convert straight quotes	Convert straight " and ' to smart (curly) quotes	On
Quote style	Target style for smart quote conversion	Curly "" ''
Contextual quotes	Use curly quotes around CJK text but keep straight quotes in pure Latin text. Only available when Convert straight quotes is on	On
Quote toggle behavior	How the quote-style toggle command cycles between styles — Simple swaps straight ↔ your preferred style; Full cycle rotates through all styles	Simple
Fix double quote spacing	Normalize spacing around double quotes	On
Fix single quote spacing	Normalize spacing around single quotes	On
CJK corner quotes	Convert curly quotes to corner brackets 「」 for Traditional Chinese and Japanese text. Only available when quote style is Curly	Off
Nested corner quotes	Convert nested single quotes to 『』 inside 「」	Off

Section Handling

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Skip reference sections	Leave ## References and ## Further Reading sections unformatted when running CJK formatting — useful for academic documents where citation text should stay verbatim	Off	On / Off

Cleanup

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Limit consecutive punctuation	Limit repeated punctuation marks like !!!	Off	Off, Single (!! to !), Double (!!! to !!)
Remove trailing spaces	Remove spaces at the end of lines	On	On / Off
Normalize ellipsis	Convert spaced dots (. . .) to proper ellipsis (...)	On	On / Off
Collapse newlines	Reduce three or more consecutive newlines to two	On	On / Off

Shortcuts

View and customize all keyboard shortcuts. Shortcuts are grouped by category (File, Edit, View, Format, etc.).

• Search — Filter shortcuts by name, category, or key combination
• Click a shortcut to change its key binding. Press the new combination, then confirm
• Reset — Restore an individual shortcut to its default, or reset all at once
• Export / Import — Save your custom bindings as a JSON file and import them on another machine

See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full default shortcut reference.

Terminal

Configure the integrated terminal panel. Open the terminal with Ctrl + `.

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Shell	Which shell to use. Requires a terminal restart to take effect	System Default	Auto-detected shells on your system (e.g., zsh, bash, fish)
Panel Position	Where to place the terminal panel	Auto	Auto (based on window aspect ratio), Top, Bottom, Left, Right
Panel Size	Proportion of available space the terminal occupies. Drag-resizing the panel also updates this value	40%	10% to 80%
Font Size	Text size in the terminal	13px	10px to 24px
Line Height	Vertical spacing between terminal lines	1.2 (Compact)	1.0 (Tight) to 2.0 (Extra)
Cursor Style	Shape of the terminal cursor	Bar	Bar, Block, Underline
Cursor Blink	Whether the terminal cursor blinks	On	On / Off
Copy on Select	Automatically copy selected terminal text to the clipboard	Off	On / Off
WebGL Renderer	Use GPU-accelerated rendering for the terminal. Disable if you experience IME input issues. Requires a terminal restart	On	On / Off
Scrollback	Number of lines of output each session keeps in its scroll history. Higher values use more memory	5,000	1,000 / 5,000 / 10,000 / 50,000
Screen Reader Mode	Expose terminal output to assistive technology (VoiceOver). Off by default for performance	Off	On / Off

Two macOS/Unix-only toggles also appear here: Option as Meta Key (macOS only — treat the Option key as Meta for Alt-prefixed shortcuts) and Shell Integration (hidden on Windows — inject OSC marks for prompt navigation, exit-status decorations, and cwd tracking in zsh).

Accessibility

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Terminal bell	How a terminal bell (BEL) is signalled. Visual marks background activity on the session tab; Audible plays a soft beep and (for a background session) also flags the tab so you can locate it; Off ignores it. Applies live to running sessions	Visual	Off, Visual, Audible
Minimum contrast	Lift faint terminal text to a minimum contrast ratio against its background. Raise it for readability; Off disables the lift. Applies live to running sessions	WCAG AA (4.5:1)	Off, WCAG AA (4.5:1), WCAG AAA (7:1), Maximum

See Integrated Terminal for more about sessions, keyboard shortcuts, and shell environment.

About

Displays app version, links to the website and GitHub repository, and update management.

Updates

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Automatic updates	Periodically check for new versions	On	On / Off
Check frequency	How often to check for updates. Only available when automatic updates are on	On startup	On startup, Daily, Weekly, Manual only
Download updates automatically	Download new versions in the background when available	Off	On / Off
Check Now	Manually trigger an update check	—	—

When an update is available, a card appears showing the new version number, release date, and release notes. You can Download the update, Skip this version, or — once downloaded — Restart to Update.

Reset

Setting	Description
Reset to Defaults	Restore every setting to its default value. A confirmation prompt appears first — this cannot be undone

Advanced

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The Advanced section is hidden by default. Press Ctrl + Option + Cmd + D in the Settings window to reveal it.

Developer and system-level configuration.

Link Protocols

Setting	Description	Default
Custom link protocols	Additional URL protocols VMark should recognize when inserting links. Enter each protocol as a tag	obsidian, vscode, dict, x-dictionary

This lets you create links like obsidian://open?vault=... or vscode://file/... that VMark will treat as valid URLs.

Performance

Setting	Description	Default
Keep both editors alive	Mount both the WYSIWYG and Source mode editors simultaneously for faster mode switching. Increases memory usage	Off

Workflow Engine

Setting	Description	Default	Options
Workflow engine	Enable the GitHub Actions workflow viewer/editor for .yml/.yaml files under .github/workflows/. When off, those files open as plain YAML	Off	On / Off
Preserve YAML formatting	When saving workflow edits made via the form panel, preserve the original YAML's comments, anchors, key order, and blank lines via the CST round-trip pipeline. When off, save uses a compact serializer (faster but lossy)	On	On / Off

See Workflow Viewer for the full feature surface.

Platform-Specific

Setting	Description	Default	Platforms
Clear macOS quarantine on open	When opening a file that carries the macOS quarantine attribute (com.apple.quarantine), strip it before reading. Helpful for files downloaded from the web that VMark would otherwise be blocked from opening	On	macOS
Mac Option as Meta (terminal)	Treat the macOS Option key as Meta in the integrated terminal. Required for tools like emacs and tmux that expect Alt-prefixed shortcuts	Off	macOS

Developer Tools

When Developer tools is toggled on, a Hot Exit Dev Tools panel appears with buttons to test session capture, inspection, restoration, clearing, and restart — useful for debugging hot exit behavior during development.

See Also

• Features — Overview of VMark's capabilities
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Full shortcut reference
• CJK Formatting — Detailed CJK formatting rules
• Integrated Terminal — Terminal sessions and usage
• AI Providers — AI provider setup guide
• MCP Setup — MCP server configuration for AI assistants