Sidebar Previewer

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Empower your VS Code Activity Bar with real-time rendering, scroll-sync, and zoom controls. Supports a wide range of formats covering Markdown, LaTeX, Mermaid, JSON, JSONL, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV, and TSV.

Why do you need it?

In the age of AI-driven development, documentation is now a first-class citizen, processed locally and versioned directly in-repo. With the secondary sidebar becoming a mainstream hub for AI workflows, conventional previewing feels cramped and clunky. Enter Sidebar Previewer: it delivers real-time rendering in your sidebar, allowing you to fluidly switch between coding and previewing, with an added presentation mode to cover your entire workflow.

Project Repository

GitHub: https://github.com/wuzhao/vscode-sidebar-previewer

Screenshots

Markdown / LaTeX

Mermaid

CSV / TSV

JSON / JSONL / YAML / TOML / XML

Supported Files

Feature Overview

Markdown

• Front matter table with single-line tags and formatted structured values
• GitHub alert block rendering
• Skeleton Outline with a hover table of contents
• Task list checkbox toggle-writeback
• Interactive task list checkboxes in table cells
• Code highlighting with copy and Word Wrap controls
• Hover a rendered table to copy it as Markdown, or as ASCII, TSV, or CSV
• KaTeX and Mermaid block rendering
• Follow-scroll and locate between editor and preview

LaTeX

• KaTeX rendering for inline formulas and common math environments
• Follow-scroll and locate between editor and preview
• Zoom support

Mermaid

• Basic syntax precheck with clear error feedback
• Drag-to-pan interaction when zoomed

JSON / JSONL / YAML / TOML / XML

• Collapsible tree view
• Expand all / collapse all
• Click key to jump to source line
• Copy highlighted data-tree locator as jq/yq-style path from toolbar
• Comment icon on keys with hover tooltip
• Focus-aware selection highlight (blue when focused, gray when unfocused)
• Large data trees render the first 4,000 nodes with a truncation notice to keep the preview responsive

CSV / TSV

• Render as a table for preview with sticky first row and first column
• Follow-scroll and locate between editor and preview
• Bidirectional selection with click-and-drag support
• Focus-aware selected-cell highlight (blue when focused, gray when unfocused)
• Multi-cell split copy action at the selection's upper-right: the main button copies TSV, while the dropdown offers Markdown, ASCII, TSV, and CSV formats
• Cmd/Ctrl+C: copy single selected cell text, or copy multi-cell selection as TSV
• Large CSV/TSV files render the first 2,000 body rows with a truncation notice

Installation

Install from VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Open Extensions view (Cmd+Shift+X on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows/Linux)
3. Search for Sidebar Previewer
4. Click "Install" on the extension

Or install from the extension page: Sidebar Previewer on VS Code Marketplace

Build and install from source

1. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/wuzhao/vscode-sidebar-previewer.git
2. Enter the project folder: cd vscode-sidebar-previewer
3. Install dependencies: npm install
4. Build extension output and bundled assets: npm run package:vsix
5. Package the VSIX: npx @vscode/vsce package
6. In VS Code, run Extensions: Install from VSIX and select the generated sidebar-previewer-<version>.vsix

Usage

1. Open any supported file (.md, .markdown, .tex, .katex, .latex, .mmd, .mermaid, .json, .jsonc, .jsonl, .yml, .yaml, .toml, .xml, .csv, .tsv)
2. Click the Sidebar Previewer icon in the Activity Bar
3. The preview panel automatically renders the current file
4. Use toolbar buttons or Cmd/Ctrl + mouse wheel to zoom
5. In Mermaid preview, drag the diagram to pan
6. In Markdown preview, hover a rendered table to copy it as Markdown, ASCII, TSV, or CSV; in JSON/JSONL/YAML/TOML/XML preview, selected entries use focus-aware highlight (focused blue / unfocused gray); CSV/TSV preview keeps sticky headers, supports cell locate, focus-aware highlight, an upper-right TSV main copy button with Markdown/ASCII/TSV/CSV dropdown actions, and Cmd/Ctrl+C copy behavior

How to show the VS Code Secondary Side Bar?

1. Open the Command Palette and run View: Toggle Secondary Side Bar
2. Or use menu path View > Appearance > Secondary Side Bar
3. If needed, drag the Sidebar Previewer view into the Secondary Side Bar area

Acknowledgements

• marked: parses Markdown into HTML for preview rendering.
• mermaid: renders Mermaid diagram blocks in Markdown and .mmd/.mermaid files.
• katex: renders math formulas for Markdown and LaTeX preview.
• highlight.js: provides syntax highlighting for code blocks.
• js-yaml: parses YAML data for structured preview.
• toml: parses TOML data for structured preview.

License

MIT