Texto

A minimalist writing editor for markdown, inside VSCode. Hidden syntax, book typography, no distractions — and your text stays a plain .md file in your own git repository.

Open a .md file with Texto and the #, the * and the --- step out of the way: what you see is the prose, set on a page, in a column the width of a book's. Put the cursor on a word and its markup comes back, ready to edit. Nothing is converted, exported or rewritten — the file on disk is always exactly what you typed.

Written for novels, essays, reports, documentation and notes alike.

Why you might want it

• Markdown that reads as prose. Headings, emphasis, quotes, lists, tasks, links, footnotes and code compose as what they mean; the syntax is revealed only where the cursor is.
• Typography that holds a long session. A serif face, a measure that grows with the text size, optional justification with hyphenation, and ⁂ for a scene break.
• Focus mode. Everything dims except the paragraph you are in.
• Its own theme. Paper-light or dark, independent of VSCode's — or following it, if you prefer.
• Word count that counts words. Prose only: ##, * and --- are not words, so the number matches what a word processor would tell you.
• Tables you never align by hand. They compose as a grid, and the editor keeps the markdown padded in the file as you type, so the .md reads in a diff and on GitHub.
• Mermaid diagrams, drawn in place. Flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER and XY charts — from the source in your file, which is all that is ever saved.
• Your text is yours. Plain .md, git for history, no proprietary format, no export step, no server, no network request, no telemetry.
• In English and Spanish, following VSCode's own display language.

Getting started

1. Install it from the VS Code Marketplace or Open VSX — search Texto by asiermarques in the Extensions panel.

2. Open a chapter. Right-click any .md file → Open with Texto. Open as markdown is the way back.

3. Make a folder a writing space — .vscode/settings.json inside it, so every .md opens as prose from then on:

   {
     "workbench.editorAssociations": {
       "*.md": "texto.editor"
     }
   }

Write each paragraph as one line and let it wrap; don't hand-wrap at 80 columns, or every line becomes its own paragraph. The full walkthrough, written for someone who has never edited a settings file, is in docs/guide/getting-started.md.

Settings

Setting	Values	Default
texto.theme	light, dark, vscode	light
texto.textSize	14–28, in pixels	18
texto.alignment	left, right, justified	left
texto.focusMode	on / off	on

All four are also one click away in the status bar, next to the word count, along with Raw markdown (see the file exactly as it is, in place) and Frontmatter (fold the metadata block away or bring it back). Details, and the VSCode settings that strip the minimap, breadcrumb and line numbers out of a writing space, in docs/guide/settings.md.

What it composes

Headings (both spellings) · strong · emphasis · strikethrough · inline code · escapes · scene breaks · blockquotes · lists · tasks · links (inline, reference, autolink, bare URL) · images as their alt text · code blocks · footnotes · reference definitions · frontmatter · tables · mermaid diagrams.

HTML is left exactly as written, and code is quoted rather than highlighted.

• docs/guide/markdown.md — every construct, the keyboard shortcuts, and the --- rule that decides between a scene break and a heading.
• docs/guide/tables.md — inserting one, Tab between cells, column alignment, and how the padding in the file works.
• docs/guide/diagrams.md — which diagrams are drawn, how they are themed, and why nothing is ever fetched.

Keyboard

Shortcut	Does
Cmd+B / Ctrl+B, Cmd+I / Ctrl+I	Strong, emphasis
Cmd+K / Ctrl+K	Link (Cmd+Alt+K if VSCode takes Cmd+K first)
Cmd+Alt+T / Ctrl+Alt+T	Insert a table; Tab moves between cells
Cmd+= / Cmd+- / Cmd+0	Text size up, down, back to default
Enter in a list, task or quote	Continues it; on an empty item, leaves it

Documentation

Getting started	Install, first chapter, writing space
Settings	Every option, the status bar, the workbench
Markdown · Tables · Diagrams	What the editor composes
Troubleshooting	When something looks wrong
PRODUCT.md · ARCHITECTURE.md	The why and the how

Development

npm install
npm run build      # bundles the extension and the webview into dist/
npm test           # unit, performance and integration suites

Press F5 (Run and Debug → Run Extension) to try it from source in a second VSCode window. docs/DEVELOPMENT.md has the rest — watch mode, the performance baseline, running one integration file — and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md explains the shape of the code.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.