The Fold — Markdown to PDF

A desktop VS Code extension that renders the current Markdown file to a vector-first PDF using the bundled Rust the-fold renderer.

What it does

• Adds a fold pdf command, an editor-title button, and an explorer context-menu entry (all gated to .md files).
• Saves the Markdown document first (if dirty), then shells out to the bundled platform-specific the-fold binary with the extension folder as its working directory so the bundled assets/ fonts resolve at runtime.
• Zero options. The Markdown file is folded into a PDF beside the source: <source-dir>/<source-stem>.pdf. There is no save dialog and no path prompt.
• After a successful render, offers Open PDF and Reveal in File Manager.
• Adds a The Fold: Show Runtime Info command for diagnostics.

Usage

1. Open or select a .md file.
2. Run fold pdf from the command palette, the editor-title button, or the explorer right-click menu.
3. The PDF is written beside the Markdown source. Choose Open PDF or Reveal in File Manager from the completion notification.

Configuration

• theFold.binaryPath (string, default ""): absolute path override for the the-fold binary. Leave empty to use the bundled platform binary.

Supported runtime targets

• darwin-arm64
• win32-x64
• win32-arm64
• linux-x64
• linux-arm64

Linux support is runtime-gated to distro IDs ubuntu and arch read from /etc/os-release. The extension does not support remote extension hosts.

Binary layout

The compiled renderer must live at bin/<target>/the-fold[.exe] before packaging:

• bin/darwin-arm64/the-fold
• bin/win32-x64/the-fold.exe
• bin/win32-arm64/the-fold.exe
• bin/linux-x64/the-fold
• bin/linux-arm64/the-fold

The assets/ folder must contain the *.ttf fonts the renderer loads at runtime.

Build & stage

Stage a binary built elsewhere (no Cargo build):

cd vscode-extension
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target win32-x64 --binary ../target/release/the-fold.exe

Build and stage with Cargo:

cd vscode-extension
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target darwin-arm64 --build
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target win32-x64 --build
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target win32-arm64 --build
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target linux-x64 --build
node ./scripts/stage-binary.js --target linux-arm64 --build

Convenience npm scripts mirror the staging targets:

cd vscode-extension
npm run stage:darwin-arm64
npm run stage:win32-x64
npm run stage:win32-arm64
npm run stage:linux-x64
npm run stage:linux-arm64

Packaging

Package one platform-specific VSIX per target so VS Code selects the correct binary package for the host. Do not publish an untargeted fallback VSIX for this extension; the renderer is native.

cd vscode-extension
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package --target darwin-arm64 --ignore-other-target-folders
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package --target win32-x64 --ignore-other-target-folders
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package --target win32-arm64 --ignore-other-target-folders
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package --target linux-x64 --ignore-other-target-folders
npx --yes @vscode/vsce package --target linux-arm64 --ignore-other-target-folders

For Marketplace release requirements and the multi-machine publishing plan, see RELEASE.md.