Chalk
Live-preview editor for .tex and .md files à la Obsidian / Typora, with KaTeX math rendering and HyperSnips-style snippet expansion. Two custom-editor viewTypes share one host shell, KaTeX cache, theme reader, and snippet engine.
What it does
Open a .tex or .md file. Math delimited by $…$, $$…$$, \(…\), \[…\], or a \begin{equation}…\end{equation}-style environment renders in place as KaTeX. Put your cursor inside the math region and the raw LaTeX comes back so you can edit it.
Supported math environments (with starred variants): equation, align, gather, multline, alignat, eqnarray.
LaTeX (.tex) — stex syntax highlighting, autocomplete for \begin{…} environments and common commands (\frac, \alpha, Greek letters, decorations, accents). To compile, hit Ctrl+Shift+; (Cmd+Shift+; on macOS) to switch to VS Code's plain text editor and use LaTeX Workshop from there — Chalk doesn't bridge the build command.
Markdown (.md) — bold/italic/strikethrough/code/link decorations, heading colors derived from the active VS Code theme, horizontal rules, blockquotes, and inline+display math.
Snippets (both) — ships with a curated latex.hsnips for math typing (fr → \frac{}{}, sr → ^{2}, cb → ^{3}, etc.). Override or extend by dropping your own ~/.config/hsnips/latex.hsnips (and optionally markdown.hsnips) — your file replaces the bundled default and external edits hot-reload while the editor is open. The engine is a self-contained CM6 port of the HyperSnips file format; inline JS blocks (``…``) are parsed but discarded, only static-body snippets are supported. The draivin.vscode-hsnips extension is not required.
What it deliberately doesn't do
No compile-to-PDF. No side-panel preview. No bibliography management. This is meant to sit alongside LaTeX Workshop — not replace it. Workshop handles compilation; Chalk handles live math inside your source.
Install
Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RaphalHuleux.chalk-math
Search "Chalk" in the VS Code Extensions panel, or from a terminal:
code --install-extension RaphalHuleux.chalk-math
.tex and .md files open in Chalk by default. Ctrl+Shift+; (Cmd+Shift+; on macOS) opens VS Code's Reopen Editor With… picker if you want to switch back to the plain text editor.
Configuration
| Setting |
Effect |
hsnips.hsnipsPath |
Directory to read latex.hsnips / markdown.hsnips from. Defaults to ~/.config/hsnips/. Compatible with the upstream HyperSnips extension. |
The Chalk: Diagnose Theme Resolution command (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P → type "Chalk") prints the resolved theme path and which scope candidates matched — useful when syntax colors don't look right.
Build from source (contributors)
npm install
npm run build # esbuild: extension + webview
npm run package # production build → chalk-X.Y.Z.vsix
code --install-extension chalk-math-0.3.2.vsix --force
npm test runs the vitest suite; npm run lint runs eslint.
License
MIT
