Custom Paste Image
Paste a clipboard image straight into a markdown file, with a configurable
target folder and link style.
VS Code's own Markdown Language Features already paste a bitmap on Ctrl+V.
This extension goes further:
- Reads more than a bitmap: a file copied in Explorer/Nautilus arrives as a
file-drop-list, not pixels, which the built-in paste and most third-party
paste-image extensions miss entirely.
- Prefers a real PNG over a flattened bitmap where the clipboard offers both
(browsers, the Snipping Tool), which keeps transparency instead of turning
it black.
- Configurable save location and link style — next to the file, a fixed
subfolder, or a workspace-root-relative path for static sites that serve a
folder at the site root.
- Markdown or HTML output, the latter with a
width placeholder for sizing.
- Works on native Windows, in a Remote-WSL window, and on Linux (X11/Wayland),
reading the clipboard through the platform's own tools rather than the
Electron clipboard API.
Published by VidraSec, an IT security company — the
Marketplace listing carries their verified publisher badge.
Usage
Press Ctrl+Alt+V (Cmd+Alt+V
on macOS) in a markdown file. The image on the clipboard is written to disk
and a link is inserted at the cursor:
What ends up on the clipboard:
| You copied |
Result |
| A screenshot (Snipping Tool, Print Screen, browser, Office) |
Saved as PNG |
| An image file in Explorer/Nautilus |
Saved with its own name and format |
| A path to an image file, as text |
Saved with its own name and format |
Selected text becomes the alt text and seeds the file name. Without a
selection the cursor lands inside the empty ![].
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
customPasteImage.folder |
"" |
Where to save. Empty saves next to the file. /assets/img is relative to the workspace root. images or ../assets is relative to the file's directory. |
customPasteImage.linkStyle |
relative |
relative links from the file to the image; workspaceAbsolute links from the workspace root with a leading / (falls back to relative if the image isn't inside the workspace). |
customPasteImage.confirmFileName |
true |
Ask for the file name before saving. |
customPasteImage.format |
markdown |
markdown for ![](), html for <img> with a width placeholder. |
Because folder can point outside the workspace, its workspace value is
ignored in an untrusted folder; your user setting still applies. Trust the
folder to let the repository's own value take effect.
Requirements
On Linux (not WSL), install wl-clipboard (Wayland) or xclip (X11) to read
the clipboard.
Development
npm install
npm run watch # rebuild on change
npm test # unit tests for the pure helpers
npm run typecheck
Press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.
The clipboard readers need a real clipboard, so they are exercised by hand.
Everything that does not — file naming, link encoding, alt-text escaping, URI
list parsing — lives in naming.ts, format.ts and firstImagePath, is free
of vscode imports, and is covered by src/test.
See PUBLISHING.md for cutting a release.
