MD2PDF Converter

MD2PDF Converter is a Visual Studio Code extension that exports Markdown documents to PDF using a local Chrome, Edge, or Chromium installation.

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Features

• Export Markdown to PDF beside the source Markdown file without prompting for a save path
• Export Markdown to PDF as ... from the Command Palette and Markdown context menus
• Front matter variables for header and footer templates
• Default header and footer layouts with left, center, and right sections
• GitHub-style Markdown rendering with syntax highlighted code blocks
• Inline HTML line break snippets such as <br> in Markdown content
• Inline HTML page break snippets such as <pagebreak /> in Markdown content
• Layered custom stylesheets from built-in styles, project CSS, and front matter CSS paths
• Local PDF generation with no remote service dependency

Requirements

MD2PDF Converter uses puppeteer-core, so a local Chrome, Edge, or Chromium executable must be available.

If your browser is installed in a non-standard location, set md2pdf-converter.browserExecutablePath in VS Code settings.

Install

From a local VSIX

1. Build and package the extension.
2. In VS Code or VS Code Insiders, open the Extensions view.
3. Select Install from VSIX... from the ... menu.
4. Choose the generated .vsix file.

From source for development

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run npm install in the project root.
3. Press F5 in VS Code or VS Code Insiders to launch an Extension Development Host.

Usage

1. Open a Markdown document.
2. Run MD2PDF Converter: Export Markdown to PDF to save your-file.pdf next to your-file.md.
3. Use MD2PDF Converter: Export Markdown to PDF as ... when you want to choose a different file name or location.

Line breaks

To force a line break in exported output, use an inline HTML break snippet in your Markdown:

First line<br>
Second line

Page breaks

To force the next content onto a new PDF page, insert this HTML snippet in your Markdown:

Section one

<pagebreak />

Section two

Use the snippet on its own line (block context). <div class="page-break"></div> is also supported.

Stylesheets

Every exported document starts with the built-in MD2PDF Converter stylesheet.

You can then add two optional override layers:

1. A project stylesheet named md2pdf-converter.css or md2pdf.css. The nearest matching file above the Markdown document is loaded automatically.
2. A front matter stylesheet path under md2pdf-converter.css.

Effective precedence is:

1. Built-in MD2PDF Converter styles
2. Project stylesheet
3. Front matter stylesheet

Example:

---
title: Styled Notes
md2pdf-converter:
  css: styles/pdf.css
---

The front matter path may be absolute, relative to the Markdown file, or project-relative if it can be found by walking up parent directories.

Front matter variables

Front matter values are exposed to header and footer templates. Built-in variables include:

• {{title}}
• {{fileName}}
• {{fileStem}}
• {{filePath}}
• {{generatedAt}}
• {{pageNumber}}
• {{totalPages}}

Example:

---
title: Sprint Notes
author: Ada Lovelace
project: MD2PDF Converter
md2pdf-converter:
  header:
    left: "{{project}}"
    center: "{{title}}"
    right: "Page {{pageNumber}} / {{totalPages}}"
  footer:
    left: "{{author}}"
    center: "internal"
    right: "{{generatedAt}}"
---

Configuration

Default header and footer sections are configurable in VS Code settings:

• md2pdf-converter.header.left
• md2pdf-converter.header.center
• md2pdf-converter.header.right
• md2pdf-converter.footer.left
• md2pdf-converter.footer.center
• md2pdf-converter.footer.right
• md2pdf-converter.page.format
• md2pdf-converter.page.margin.top
• md2pdf-converter.page.margin.right
• md2pdf-converter.page.margin.bottom
• md2pdf-converter.page.margin.left
• md2pdf-converter.browserExecutablePath

Development

See docs/README.md for developer setup, build, test, package, and publish instructions.

License

MIT

Changelog

CHANGELOG