Lotion
Notion-like editing for Markdown — slash commands, databases, backlinks, and more.
Lotion transforms VS Code into a powerful Markdown writing environment inspired by Notion. Everything stays in plain Markdown files — no proprietary formats, no lock-in.
Features
Slash Commands
Type / at the start of any line to browse all available commands:
| Category |
Commands |
| Content |
/h1 /h2 /h3 /page /todo /divider /quote /toggle /callout /toc /footnote /template /frontmatter /emoji /link |
| Code & Math |
/code /math /inline-math |
| Dates |
/today /date |
| Media |
/image /gif /graph /export |
| Database |
/database /view-database /new-entry /new-view /new-field /delete-field |
| Tables |
/rows-below /rows-above /cols-right /cols-left /delete-row /delete-col /sort /transpose |
| Lists |
/renumber /to-bullets /to-numbered |
| Blocks |
/move /secretbox /lock /unlock /processor /refresh /render |
| Productivity |
/commit /comments /turninto |
Databases
Create structured databases stored as plain Markdown. Each database is a folder with a schema in index.md and entries as individual .md files. Open the interactive webview with /view-database for table, kanban, and calendar layouts with filtering and sorting.
Backlinks & Wiki-Links
Link between pages with [[wiki-links]]. The Backlinks panel in the sidebar shows which pages link to the current one, and a CodeLens indicator above each page title shows the backlink count.
Smart Paste
- Paste a URL while text is selected → wraps it as
[selected text](https://github.com/thebridefromtheshootout/lotion/blob/HEAD/url)
- Paste a URL on its own → inserts
[title](https://github.com/thebridefromtheshootout/lotion/blob/HEAD/url) (fetches the page title automatically)
- Paste an image from clipboard → saves it and inserts
Focus Mode
Press Alt+Z to dim all blocks except the one under the cursor. Adjust the dimming opacity with the lotion.focusModeOpacity setting.
Add review-style comments to any text selection. Comments are stored in YAML front matter and displayed as CodeLens indicators above commented lines. Open the comment panel with /comments.
Secret Boxes
Encrypt sensitive content in-place with a password. The encrypted ciphertext is stored directly in the Markdown file. Lotion prevents saving files with unlocked secret boxes to avoid leaking plaintext.
Daily Notes
Create or open today's note with Lotion: Open Daily Note from the command palette. Notes are stored in a configurable folder.
PDF & HTML Export
Export any Markdown page to a styled PDF or HTML file with /export.
Graphs
Insert Graphviz DOT diagrams with /graph and render them to SVG or PNG with /render.
Additional Features
- Pomodoro Timer — 25-minute focus timer with status bar countdown
- Clipboard History — browse your last 30 copy/cut operations
- Bookmarks — bookmark pages and browse them from the sidebar
- Page Icons — set an emoji icon for any page (visible in explorer and breadcrumb)
- Structure Linter — diagnostics for issues like skipped heading levels
- Smart Typography — auto-replace straight quotes/dashes/ellipses with typographic equivalents
- Smart Pairs — auto-close Markdown formatting markers
- Snippet Expander — expand abbreviations into Markdown templates
- Dictation — speech-to-text input
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Mac |
Action |
Ctrl+B |
Cmd+B |
Toggle bold |
Ctrl+I |
Cmd+I |
Toggle italic |
Alt+S |
Alt+S |
Toggle ~~strikethrough~~ |
Alt+` |
Alt+` |
Toggle inline code |
Alt+H |
Alt+H |
Toggle ==highlight== |
Ctrl+Shift+W |
Cmd+Shift+W |
Wrap selection with custom markers |
Alt+Shift+Left |
Alt+Shift+Left |
Promote heading (## → #) |
Alt+Shift+Right |
Alt+Shift+Right |
Demote heading (# → ##) |
Lists
| Shortcut |
Mac |
Action |
Enter |
Enter |
Continue list (bullet, number, or checkbox) |
Tab |
Tab |
Indent list item |
Shift+Tab |
Shift+Tab |
Outdent list item |
Ctrl+Shift+X |
Cmd+Shift+X |
Toggle checkbox [ ] ↔ [x] |
Ctrl+Shift+L |
Cmd+Shift+L |
Cycle list type (bullet → numbered → checkbox) |
Navigation
| Shortcut |
Mac |
Action |
Alt+Down |
Alt+Down |
Jump to next heading |
Alt+Up |
Alt+Up |
Jump to previous heading |
Ctrl+Shift+H |
Cmd+Shift+H |
Jump to heading (picker) |
Alt+P |
Alt+P |
Quick-switch page |
Alt+R |
Alt+R |
Recent pages |
Blocks
| Shortcut |
Mac |
Action |
Ctrl+Shift+B |
Cmd+Shift+B |
Select current block |
Ctrl+Shift+D |
Cmd+Shift+D |
Duplicate block |
Alt+Shift+Up |
Alt+Shift+Up |
Swap block up |
Alt+Shift+Down |
Alt+Shift+Down |
Swap block down |
Explorer Views
| View |
Description |
| Document Outline |
Heading hierarchy for the current file |
| Backlinks |
Pages that link to the current page |
| Bookmarks |
Your bookmarked pages |
Status Bar
| Indicator |
Description |
| Word count |
Word count and estimated reading time |
| Reading progress |
Scroll progress percentage |
| Task progress |
Checkbox completion ratio (e.g. 3/7) |
| Breadcrumb |
Current page path in the workspace |
| Pomodoro |
Timer countdown (when active) |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
lotion.dailyNotePath |
"journal" |
Folder for daily notes (relative to workspace root) |
lotion.imageDir |
".rsrc" |
Folder name for images alongside each page |
lotion.readingSpeed |
230 |
Words per minute for reading-time estimate |
lotion.focusModeOpacity |
0.35 |
Opacity of unfocused blocks in focus mode (0–1) |
lotion.smartTypography |
false |
Auto-replace straight quotes/dashes with typographic equivalents |
lotion.autoRenumberLists |
true |
Fix ordered-list numbering on save |
lotion.trailingNewline |
true |
Ensure files end with exactly one newline on save |
lotion.dateFormat |
"YYYY-MM-DD" |
Default format for daily notes and date insertion |
lotion.giphyApiKey |
"" |
Giphy API key for /gif search |
lotion.git.neverPush |
false |
Skip push after /commit |
lotion.git.remoteUrl |
"" |
Git remote URL to add when none is configured |
lotion.commentUsername |
"" |
Your name shown on comments |
Requirements
- VS Code 1.80 or later
- Markdown files (
.md)
License
GPL-3.0
