New Markdown Note (Xnote)

This VS Code extension adds a fast way to create timestamped .xnote.md notes and includes shortcuts tailored for editing those note files.

What it does

1. Creates a new timestamped note file (e.g. 2026-09-03-10-31.xnote.md) from a configurable template.
2. Adds a toolbar/context command and keyboard shortcut to create notes quickly.
3. Adds .xnote.md-only editing helpers:
   • Insert timestamp
   • Toggle checkbox state cycle
   • Insert markers (⭐, ❓, 🚩)
   • Wrap selection/word with <mark>...</mark> highlight
   • Smart Enter list continuation
   • Tab-to-indent on list lines

Commands

• New Markdown Note (newMdNote.create)
• Xnote: Insert Timestamp (newMdNote.insertTimestamp)
• Xnote: Toggle Checkbox (newMdNote.toggleCheckbox)
• Xnote: Insert Star (newMdNote.insertStar)
• Xnote: Insert Question Mark (newMdNote.insertQuestionMark)
• Xnote: Insert Flag Icon (newMdNote.insertFlagIcon)
• Xnote: Highlight Yellow (newMdNote.highlightYellow)

Default keybindings

• Create note: Ctrl+Alt+N (Cmd+Alt+N on macOS)
• In .xnote.md files:
  • Insert timestamp: Ctrl+Shift+D / Cmd+Shift+D
  • Toggle checkbox: Ctrl+1 / Cmd+1
  • Insert star: Ctrl+2 / Cmd+2
  • Insert question mark: Ctrl+3 / Cmd+3
  • Highlight yellow: Ctrl+4 / Cmd+4
  • Insert flag: Ctrl+5 / Cmd+5
  • Indent list line: Tab

Configuration

• newMdNote.template: Template text for new notes. Supports ${date}, ${dateOnly}, ${time}, ${dateTime}, ${filename}, ${isoDate}.
• newMdNote.targetFolder:
  • activeFileFolder (default)
  • workspaceRoot

Build and install locally

This extension has no build step (plain JS), so packaging just bundles the source.

1. Install dependencies (only needed the first time, for the packaging tool):

   npm install -g @vscode/vsce
   

2. From the extension's root folder, package it into a .vsix file:

   vsce package
   

   This produces something like new-md-note-0.0.1.vsix.
3. Install the packaged extension in VS Code:

   code --install-extension new-md-note-0.0.1.vsix
   

   Or in VS Code: open the Extensions view → ... menu → Install from VSIX... → select the file.
4. Reload VS Code (Developer: Reload Window) if it doesn't pick up the new version automatically.

For active development without packaging, open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.