# Markdown Preview Enhanced: what the repository still ships, and what moved to VSCode > The shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced repository now hosts documentation for the extension, while the VSCode source lives in a separate repository. This is what an Atom-era package with math, Mermaid and Pandoc integration still offers, and where it stops being the right tool. **shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced** — One of the 'BEST' markdown preview extensions for Atom editor! - Repository: https://github.com/shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced - Website: https://shd101wyy.github.io/markdown-preview-enhanced - Stars: 4,444 · Forks: 532 - Language: HTML - License: NOASSERTION - Published: 2026-09-23 · Updated: 2026-09-23 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/shd101wyy-markdown-preview-enhanced ## The problem: a preview pane that renders more than plain Markdown A plain markdown preview shows headings, lists and code fences. The moment a document contains a LaTeX block, a Mermaid flowchart, a PlantUML diagram or a citation that only Pandoc can resolve, the preview stops matching the output. Markdown Preview Enhanced exists to close that gap inside the editor. The README lists automatic scroll sync, math typesetting, mermaid, PlantUML, pandoc, PDF export, code chunk and presentation writer as the functionalities it provides, and says many of its ideas come from Markdown Preview Plus and RStudio Markdown. That lineage matters: this is a document tool for people who write technical or academic prose, not a general note-taking surface. The audience is anyone whose markdown is a source format for something else, a paper, a slide deck, a PDF, an ePub. The package keywords in package.json read like a table of contents for that audience: beamer, dot language, ePub, graphviz, katex, latex, mathjax, mermaid, pandoc, plantuml, presentation, toc, wavedrom. If your markdown never leaves the editor, most of this is dead weight. ## Documentation repository, not extension repository The first thing to understand about shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced is that it is no longer where the code lives. The README states plainly that the repository is now only used for hosting the documentation of Markdown Preview Enhanced, and that the source code of the VSCode extension has been moved to shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced. Issues and feature requests for the VSCode extension are directed to that second repository. What remains here is a docsify site under docs/, a styles/ directory, html/ assets, and a package.json whose description still calls it a markdown preview extension for Atom editor, with main pointing at ./out/src/extension and the only runtime dependency listed as @shd101wyy/mume at version 0.7.1. The repository layout is consistent with a documentation home that kept its build tooling: flake.nix, shell.nix and .envrc are present, along with a docsify script that serves ./docs. The last push was on 2026-05-05, so the repository is not abandoned, but the work happening here is documentation and site maintenance, not extension development. Reading the README before opening an issue will save you a wasted report. ## How the preview pipeline is put together The architecture visible in the repository is a thin editor integration over a rendering library. The Atom package depends on @shd101wyy/mume, and the entry point is ./out/src/extension, compiled from TypeScript by tsc --project . The extension registers keybindings, hands the document to mume for parsing and rendering, and displays the result in a preview pane. Everything that makes the output distinctive, math typesetting, diagram rendering, Pandoc invocation, PDF export, code chunk execution, sits behind that library boundary. Two consequences follow. First, the same rendering core can be reused by other editors, which is exactly what happened when the VSCode extension was split off into its own repository. Second, the Atom package's own code is mostly glue: keymaps, menus, styles, and the compiled out/ directory listed in the files field of package.json. The keybinding table in the README reflects that glue layer: ctrl+shift+m toggles the preview, ctrl+shift+s syncs preview and source, shift+enter runs a code chunk, ctrl+shift+enter runs all code chunks, and esc toggles the sidebar table of contents. On Windows the cmd key in those shortcuts is ctrl. Code chunk execution is worth flagging: it runs code embedded in the document, which is a deliberate design choice and also the sharpest edge in the tool. ## Installing and a first real use The README does not give command-line install steps. It points to the VSCode Marketplace listing for shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced and to vscode.dev, and the package itself is an Atom package whose package.json declares the name markdown-preview-enhanced. If you are on Atom, the package name is what an install command would target; if you are on VSCode, the README's own direction is the Marketplace link rather than a terminal command, and the source for that extension is in a different repository. The repository does document how to run the documentation site locally, which is the one build command the repository layout supports: ```bash yarn docsify ``` That script is defined in package.json as docsify serve ./docs, so it starts a local server for the documentation directory. You should see the Markdown Preview Enhanced docs served from your machine rather than from shd101wyy.github.io. For the rendering pipeline itself, the documented workflow is to open a markdown file and use the preview keybinding: ```bash ctrl+shift+m ``` According to the README's keybinding table, that toggles the preview pane, and ctrl+shift+s syncs preview and source. On Windows, substitute ctrl for cmd where the table uses cmd. Once the pane is open, the features that distinguish this from a plain preview are the ones the README links out to: math typesetting, mermaid, PlantUML, pandoc and code chunk. Each of those has its own documentation page on the docs site, which is the correct place to look because the README only names them. ## Where it stops being the right tool The clearest limitation is the one the README states up front: this repository is documentation only. If you arrived here looking for the VSCode extension's source, the build configuration, or a place to file a bug, you are in the wrong repository, and the README says so before anything else. A second limitation is the Atom framing. The package description in package.json still reads as an Atom extension, the devDependencies include @types/atom, and the keybinding table is written for Atom's conventions. Atom's own status is outside what this repository covers, but the practical point stands: the extension described by this package.json targets an editor whose ecosystem is separate from VSCode, where the actively directed development now points. Third, code chunk execution runs code from the document you are previewing. The README lists it as a feature and gives it a keybinding, and for a trusted local file that is convenient. For a markdown file from an untrusted source, it is an execution surface, and the documentation does not present a sandboxing story. Finally, the heavy features are external dependencies in practice. Pandoc export, PlantUML rendering and PDF output all imply tools outside the extension; the README names the features and links to documentation pages rather than describing what happens when those tools are missing. ## Alternatives and the actual difference in approach The README names two inspirations directly: Markdown Preview Plus and RStudio Markdown. Markdown Preview Plus is the Atom-community package that Markdown Preview Enhanced credits as a source of ideas; the difference in approach is scope. Markdown Preview Plus is a preview package, while Markdown Preview Enhanced layers a rendering library on top that also handles math, diagrams, Pandoc export and code chunks, which is why its dependency list is a single library, @shd101wyy/mume, rather than a set of rendering plugins. RStudio Markdown comes from the opposite direction: it is part of an IDE built around R and reproducible documents, where code chunks and rendering are first-class parts of the environment rather than a preview extension bolted onto a general editor. If your documents are R-centric, that environment already owns the problem. The README also points to a separate prototype web app, 0xGG/crossnote, for readers who want to try something related. The meaningful distinction across all of these is where the rendering logic lives: in Markdown Preview Enhanced it lives in a shared library that both the Atom package and the VSCode extension consume, which is precisely why the VSCode code could move to its own repository without rewriting the renderer. ## Licence, maintenance and upgrade cost The project is released under the University of Illinois/NCSA Open Source License, and package.json records the license field as NCSA. The README links to LICENSE.md and describes the project as open source under that licence, with development supported through GitHub Sponsors, PayPal and Wechat Pay. NCSA is a permissive licence in the same family as MIT and BSD, but the repository metadata reports the licence as NOASSERTION, which means automated tooling did not match it to a known identifier. If licence scanning matters in your organisation, read LICENSE.md rather than trusting a scanner's label; this is a description of what the files say, not legal advice. On maintenance, the last push to this repository was on 2026-05-05. The repository is not archived. What that push represents is documentation and site work, since the README states the extension source moved elsewhere and the changelog link points at the VSCode repository's releases. The upgrade cost is therefore split: changes to the rendering behaviour arrive through @shd101wyy/mume and through the VSCode extension's releases, while this repository's own version field, 0.19.6, describes the Atom package. Anyone pinning versions needs to decide which of those two tracks they are actually tracking. ## Conclusion Adopt Markdown Preview Enhanced if you want a preview pane that handles math, Mermaid, PlantUML and Pandoc-driven export without leaving the editor, and you are prepared to read the documentation site rather than the repository. Do not adopt it if you expect the repository you are looking at to contain the VSCode extension source, or if you need an install path the README spells out step by step; it names the VSCode Marketplace and VSCode.dev links instead. Before installing anything, check which editor you are actually targeting, because the README states this repository is now only used for hosting documentation and that the VSCode extension source has moved to shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced. ## FAQ ### What is Markdown Preview Enhanced? It is an extension that provides automatic scroll sync, math typesetting, mermaid, PlantUML, pandoc, PDF export, code chunk and presentation writer for markdown documents. The README says many of its ideas are inspired by Markdown Preview Plus and RStudio Markdown. ### How do I use Markdown Preview Enhanced in VSCode? The README points to the VSCode Marketplace listing for shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced and to vscode.dev, and directs issues and feature requests to the shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced repository, where the extension source now lives. This repository is only used for hosting the documentation. ### Where can I download the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension? The README links to the VSCode Marketplace item named shd101wyy.markdown-preview-enhanced and to vscode.dev. It does not give a command-line install step for the extension. ### Is Markdown Preview Enhanced safe? The README does not make a security claim either way. One thing worth knowing is that it documents code chunk execution with the shift+enter and ctrl+shift+enter keybindings, which runs code embedded in the document you are previewing. ### Why is Markdown Preview Enhanced not working in VSCode? The README does not describe troubleshooting steps. It does state that this repository hosts only the documentation and that issues related to the VSCode extension should be posted at shd101wyy/vscode-markdown-preview-enhanced, which is where the extension source moved. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced/issues) - [Project website](https://shd101wyy.github.io/markdown-preview-enhanced) - [README](https://github.com/shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced/releases) - [shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced on GitHub](https://github.com/shd101wyy/markdown-preview-enhanced) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/shd101wyy-markdown-preview-enhanced