VS Code Markdown Word Count

A Visual Studio Code extension that shows word and character counts for Markdown files, with per-field breakdowns for YAML frontmatter.

Features

Status bar Word Count

When a Markdown file is active, the current word count appears in the status bar:

 123 Words

The count updates live as you type and excludes Markdown syntax — heading markers, bold/italic markers, code blocks, inline code, images, HTML tags, and list markers are all stripped before counting, so only prose words are counted.

Hover Tooltip with Details

Hovering over the status bar item shows a detailed breakdown:

Content: 123 words, 842 chars

Frontmatter:
  title: 3 words, 18 chars
  description: 12 words, 74 chars

Show Details Command

Run Markdown Word Count: Show Details from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) to see the same breakdown as a notification message.

Frontmatter Support

The extension parses YAML frontmatter delimited by --- at the start of the file. Each scalar field is counted separately, making it easy to track word counts for titles, descriptions, and other metadata fields alongside your content.

Multi-line scalar values and quoted strings are handled correctly. Array and object fields are parsed as keys but their word counts will reflect the raw YAML, not nested structure.

Requirements

VS Code 1.115.0 or newer.

Extension Settings

This extension does not add any settings.

Known Issues

None.

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG.md for the full release history.