Search Baidu / Bing / Google and read web pages as clean Markdown inside VS Code or Cursor — no Python required.
Uses an embedded Chromium (Playwright) plus Readability and Turndown.
Browser (no WSL required): On normal Windows VS Code/Cursor, auto uses Microsoft Edge (usually preinstalled) or Chrome. Playwright Chromium is only downloaded when needed (e.g. Linux, or Remote-WSL where Windows Edge cannot be used).
Features
Sidebar search with an in-sidebar Settings panel
Proxy + SwitchyOmega-style rule list (proxy vs direct per URL)
In-reader navigation (Ctrl/⌘+Click opens the system browser)
Chapter prev / next / contents detection and keyboard shortcuts
Fanqie Novel font deobfuscation (PUA → real Chinese characters)
Export the current article as .md
Usage
Activity Bar → Web2Markdown
Search, or paste a URL and Open
Click links in the reader to continue as Markdown
Reading shortcuts
(While the reader panel is focused, and when prev/next/toc are detected.)
← / A / PageUp — previous chapter / page
→ / D / PageDown — next chapter / page
C — contents / 目录
Ctrl+Click (⌘+Click) — open link in the system browser
Settings
Open the sidebar ⚙ 设置 panel, or VS Code Settings and search for web2markdown.
Setting
Default
Description
web2markdown.defaultEngine
bing
baidu / bing / google
web2markdown.searchResultLimit
30
Max search results (5–50)
web2markdown.proxy
``
Local HTTP(S) proxy
web2markdown.proxyRuleListEnabled
true
Use rule list for proxy vs direct
web2markdown.proxyRuleListProfile
proxy
Profile when a rule matches
web2markdown.proxyDefaultProfile
direct
Profile when nothing matches
web2markdown.readerFontSize
16
Reader font size (px)
web2markdown.hideReaderTitle
false
Hide the large article title in the reader
Recommended proxy rules (like SwitchyOmega): rule list → proxy, default → direct, so domestic sites stay direct while blocked sites use the proxy.
Privacy
Crawling runs locally in the embedded browser.
No account and no telemetry from this extension.
Search engines and target sites receive normal page requests from your network / proxy.
Commands
Command
Description
Web2Markdown: Open URL
Convert a URL to Markdown
Web2Markdown: Search
Focus the search sidebar
Web2Markdown: Export Current
Save the open article as .md
Web2Markdown: Restart Browser
Restart the embedded Chromium
Notes
Google often captcha-blocks headless browsers; the extension falls back to Startpage when needed.
Some sites geo-block overseas egress IPs. Under WSL + VPN TUN, use Open in system browser if both proxy and direct fail with the same client IP.
