Frontmatter Studio

A visual frontmatter editor for Markdown files in Visual Studio Code.

Frontmatter Studio makes it easy to create, edit, and validate Markdown frontmatter without manually working with YAML syntax.

Built by Generalsoft FZ-LLC.

English | اردو

✨ Features

Visual Frontmatter Editor

Edit Markdown frontmatter through a clean visual interface instead of editing YAML manually.

Supported fields include:

• Title
• Description
• Author
• Date
• Thumbnail
• Tags

📅 Date Picker

Select frontmatter dates using a native calendar picker.

Dates are preserved correctly when reading and writing frontmatter.

🌐 Arabic & Urdu RTL Support

Frontmatter Studio automatically detects Arabic and Urdu text and switches the editor to right-to-left (RTL) text direction.

This makes editing multilingual content more natural and readable.

🏷️ Tags

Enter tags using a simple comma-separated format.

Arabic and Urdu commas (،) are automatically normalized to standard commas.

Tags are saved as an inline YAML array:

tags: ["اسلام", "مذہب", "دین"]

🖼️ Thumbnail Picker

Select an image from your workspace using a file picker.

The selected thumbnail is stored as a workspace-relative path and displayed with an image preview.

✅ Frontmatter Validation

Validate the frontmatter of the currently linked Markdown document and identify invalid or malformed frontmatter before saving.

💾 Safe Editing

Changes are written back to the original Markdown document.

The editor keeps track of the linked Markdown file even if its editor tab is closed.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Open a Markdown (.md) file in Visual Studio Code.

2. Open the Command Palette:

   Cmd + Shift + P on macOS Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows/Linux

3. Run:

   Frontmatter Studio: Open Editor

4. Edit your frontmatter using the visual editor.

5. Save your changes.

📋 Example Frontmatter

Frontmatter Studio works with standard Markdown frontmatter such as:

---
title: "My Article"
description: "An example Markdown document"
author: "Generalsoft"
date: "2026-09-07"
thumbnail: "images/example.jpg"
tags: ["اسلام", "مذہب", "دین"]
---

🛠️ Commands

Open the Command Palette and search for Frontmatter Studio.

Available commands:

• Frontmatter Studio: Open Editor
• Frontmatter Studio: Validate Frontmatter

🌍 Multilingual Content

Frontmatter Studio is designed to work with multilingual Markdown content.

Arabic and Urdu text is automatically detected and displayed using right-to-left text direction where appropriate.

For example:

title: "اسلام اور معاشرہ"
description: "ایک مختصر تعارف"
tags: ["اسلام", "مذہب", "دین"]

📁 Thumbnail Paths

When selecting a thumbnail from the workspace, Frontmatter Studio stores the image using a workspace-relative path.

For example:

thumbnail: "images/my-thumbnail.jpg"

This keeps Markdown documents portable within the workspace.

🔒 Privacy

Frontmatter Studio is designed to edit files locally within Visual Studio Code.

The extension does not require an external account or cloud service to edit frontmatter.

🐛 Issues & Feedback

If you encounter a problem or have a feature suggestion, please contact Generalsoft FZ-LLC through the support channel provided with the extension.

When reporting an issue, please include:

• Your Visual Studio Code version
• Your operating system
• A description of the problem
• A sample of the relevant frontmatter, if possible

Please avoid sharing private or sensitive content.

📄 License

Frontmatter Studio is distributed under the MIT License.

See the LICENSE file included with the extension for details.

🏢 About Generalsoft

Generalsoft FZ-LLC develops practical software and developer tools designed to simplify digital workflows and improve productivity.

Frontmatter Studio is developed and maintained by Generalsoft FZ-LLC.