FAQ

March 21, 2026 · View on GitHub

Decorations Not Showing?

  1. Check file extension – Ensure file is .md
  2. Toggle decorations – Click the toolbar button or use Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P → "Toggle Markdown Decorations"
  3. Reload window – Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P → "Developer: Reload Window"
  4. Check extension status – Verify extension is activated in the Extensions view

Why is there a sidebar button in the activity bar?

The extension adds a "Markdown Inline" button in VS Code's activity bar (left sidebar). This button hosts a hidden webview that's required for rendering Mermaid diagrams inline. The webview is never visible to you—it runs in the background to process Mermaid code blocks.

You can safely ignore this button. It doesn't provide any user-facing functionality and is purely a technical requirement for Mermaid diagram rendering. The button appears because VS Code requires a view container for webviews, even when they're hidden.

If you don't use Mermaid diagrams, the button still appears but remains inactive.

Performance Issues?

  • Large files – Files over 1MB may experience slower parsing
  • Temporarily disable – Use the toolbar button or command palette to toggle decorations off
  • Check performance – Help → Startup Performance to diagnose issues
  • Report issues – If performance is consistently poor, please open an issue with details (see README for reporting format)

Regular Markdown links ([text](url)) and extension-provided targets (including mentions like @user and issue refs like #123) use VS Code’s document link behavior:

  • Default: use Ctrl+Click (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Click (macOS). A plain left-click does not open the link (that avoids fighting text selection).
  • Optional: enable Settings → Markdown Inline Editor → Open links and images with single click (markdownInlineEditor.links.singleClickOpen) if you want left-click to open links (can make selecting text harder).

Mentions and # issue references also depend on forge-style link resolution:

  • If markdownInlineEditor.mentions.linksEnabled is false, mention/issue links are not offered (styling may still apply depending on other settings).
  • A bare #123 needs a repository owner and name (usually from git remote origin). Without that, the ref may be styled but not get a clickable URL—use @owner/repo#123 or open the repo in a workspace with a proper origin remote.
  • In diff views, link providers are skipped when diff decorations are off (raw markdown mode), same as other interactive link behavior.