Lotion

Notion-like editing for Markdown — slash commands, databases, backlinks, smart paste.

Lotion turns VS Code into a structured-writing environment, but every file stays plain Markdown on disk — git-friendly, portable, no proprietary format.

Slash commands	Databases

Slash commands

Type / on any line to browse. The table below is auto-generated from the source (npm run docs:slash-table) — see src/core/slashCommands.ts for the canonical list.

A few of these (/database, /view-database, /move-page) work only in the right context — e.g. inside a database index, or on an index.md page. Use the slash-command filter to discover what's available where you are.

Databases

A database is a folder with:

• index.md carrying a ```lotion-db schema fence (columns + saved views),
• one <slug>/index.md per entry, with properties in a markdown property table.

/view-database opens an interactive webview with table, kanban, calendar, graph, and map layouts. Sort by clicking a column's dedicated sort button (⇅ / ▲ / ▼); filter via the filter bar. New entries from the webview create the entry file and link it back into the index automatically.

Links

• Wiki links — type [[ for a workspace-wide page picker; accept to insert a regular markdown link.
• Backlinks — the Backlinks sidebar lists every page that links to the current one, refreshed live.
• Link validator — broken links are flagged as diagnostics.
• Link conversion — lotion.linksToReference and lotion.linksToInline round-trip between inline [text](https://github.com/thebridefromtheshootout/lotion/blob/HEAD/url) and reference [text][1] … [1]: url styles.
• Link factory rules — configure regex → URL templates in lotion.linkFactoryRules to auto-wrap typed patterns (e.g. issue numbers → JIRA URLs).

Smart paste

Ctrl+V in markdown is rerouted through smart paste:

• Plain URL on the clipboard, with text selected → wraps as <a href="…">selected text</a> (no network call needed).
• Plain URL on the clipboard, no selection → fetches the page title, inserts <a href="…">Title</a>.
• Image URL → <img src="…" alt="…">.
• Tab- or comma-separated text → markdown table.
• Image on the clipboard → saved to .rsrc/ and inserted as <img>. Uses VS Code's native registerDocumentPasteEditProvider on 1.97+ (no powershell/wslpath/xclip dance).
• In a code context, falls back to plain paste.

Comments

Lotion: Add Comment (or /comments for the panel) attaches a review comment to the selected text. Storage is .rsrc/comments.json next to the doc; an HTML marker (<!--lotion-comment:ID-->) anchors the comment to its line. CodeLens above the comment shows author and a resolve / delete action.

Collapsible list items

/tl inserts a collapsible unordered list item; /tol inserts the ordered variant. The list marker stays before <details> and the sub-list is the collapsible body:

- <details><summary>Shopping</summary>
  - Apples
  - Bananas

</details>

/wrap-list (visible only when the cursor is on a list item) wraps the current item's text into the <summary> and folds its existing indented children into the body — one command, in-place, fully undoable.

Secret boxes

/secretbox inserts a <details> block marked with <!--lotion-secretbox-->. /lock encrypts the body with a password (PBKDF2 + AES-GCM); /unlock decrypts. A save guard prevents writing an unlocked secret box to disk so plaintext never gets committed.

Daily notes

Lotion: Open Daily Note opens (creating if needed) today's note at <lotion.dailyNotePath>/YYYY-MM-DD.md. Date format is configurable.

Weekly plan

/plan-this-week inserts a week template at the cursor for the current week. /plan-week-of shows a picker with every Monday of the year — select one to insert that week's template. Both produce:

## Week of (02-06-2026 – 06-06-2026)

### Monday, 02-06-2026

- [ ]

### Tuesday, 03-06-2026

- [ ] …

/carry-forward is available when the cursor is inside a ### Day section. It moves all unchecked - [ ] items from that day to the next day's section in a single undoable edit.

Graphs

/graph inserts a Graphviz DOT block rendered to SVG. /render re-renders the SVG from the current DOT source. SVGs are written to the page's .rsrc/.

Typography & code helpers

• Smart typography — auto-replace straight quotes/dashes/ellipses with typographic equivalents (toggle via lotion.smartTypography).
• Ligatures — replace ->, <-, <-> with unicode/emoji arrows (lotion.ligatureStyle).
• Auto inline code — wrap identifier-cased words in backticks when configured (lotion.autoInlineCodeCases).
• Auto-renumber lists — fix ordered-list numbering on save (lotion.autoRenumberLists).
• Trailing newline — enforce exactly one EOF newline on save (lotion.trailingNewline).

Structure linter

Diagnostics for skipped heading levels, multiple H1s, duplicate heading text (ambiguous anchors), empty links, very long lines, and unclosed code fences.

Decorations

• Heading colours by level (H1–H6).
• List marker colours by indent depth — bypasses VS Code's grammar losing track of lazy continuation lines.
• Callout background tint + gutter accent for > [!NOTE] style blocks.
• ==highlight== background tint.
• Code-fence whole-line tint.
• Strike-through on completed - [x] tasks.

Other

• Bookmarks — Lotion: Bookmark Page adds the active page to the Bookmarks sidebar.
• Page icons — lotion.setPageIcon stores an emoji in frontmatter (shown in the breadcrumb and outline).
• Quick switcher — Alt+P for fuzzy page open.
• Recent pages — Alt+R for an MRU list.
• Git commit — /commit stages and commits the workspace, with an optional push (lotion.git.neverPush to skip).
• Fire into — lotion.fireInto pastes clipboard into a chosen page without opening it.

Keyboard shortcuts

Sidebar views

Status bar

Settings

Requirements

• VS Code 1.80 or later
• Markdown files (.md)

Development

npm install
npm run compile          # tsc + esbuild for webviews
npm test                 # Jest unit tests for pure helpers
npm run test:int         # @vscode/test-cli integration tests in real VS Code
npx vsce package         # build .vsix

See ARCHITECTURE.md for the module map.

License

GPL-3.0