MDence

March 10, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

MDence is a block-based Markdown editor for VS Code with a Confluence-like editing experience. It lets you work visually while keeping every document as plain Markdown.

MDence is an independent project and is not affiliated with Atlassian.

Positioning

MDence is aimed at people who like the editing feel of wiki tools, but want files that stay local, portable, and Git-friendly.

  • Write visually instead of living in raw Markdown syntax
  • Keep documents as .md files
  • Stay inside VS Code for editing, review, and version control

Core Features

Slash Commands

Type / to insert headings, lists, code blocks, tables, callouts, toggles, dividers, and more.

Block Editing

  • Drag and drop blocks to reorder content
  • Use Tab and Shift+Tab to indent and outdent
  • Use Alt+Up and Alt+Down to move blocks

Markdown Output

Block TypeMarkdown Output
Headings# ## ###
Bullet lists- item
Numbered lists1. item
Todo checkboxes- [ ] task
Blockquotes> quote
Code blocks```lang ```
TablesGFM tables
Callouts> [!NOTE] admonitions
Toggles<details> HTML
Images![alt](path)
Dividers---

Inline Formatting

  • Bold with Cmd/Ctrl+B
  • Italic with Cmd/Ctrl+I
  • Inline code with Cmd/Ctrl+E
  • Links with Cmd/Ctrl+K
  • Strikethrough from the floating toolbar

Images and Theme Integration

  • Paste or drag images directly into the editor
  • Save pasted images into your configured assets folder
  • Follow the active VS Code light or dark theme automatically

Default Editor Prompt

  • Prompt once on startup to let users set MDence as the default editor for .md and .markdown
  • Respect existing editor associations instead of overwriting them
  • Keep a command available for users who want to enable it later

Settings

MDence currently exposes these main settings:

  • mdence.assets.folder
  • mdence.assets.imagePathResolution
  • mdence.callouts.style
  • mdence.toggles.syntax
  • mdence.theme.codeTheme
  • mdence.theme.headingColor
  • mdence.theme.h1Color through mdence.theme.h5Color
  • mdence.theme.h1Indent through mdence.theme.h5Indent
  • mdence.theme.boldColor
  • mdence.theme.italicColor

Commands

  • MDence: Open as Raw Markdown
  • MDence: Open as MDence
  • MDence: Copy Markdown Content
  • MDence: Set as Default Markdown Editor

Repository Layout

  • packages/extension-host contains the VS Code extension host
  • packages/webview-ui contains the React and Lexical editor UI
  • packages/shared contains shared message and schema types

Development

npm ci
npm run build
npm run package

Press F5 in VS Code to launch an Extension Development Host and test MDence against local Markdown files.

License

MIT