Documentation

Everything you need to get started with PM Toolkit — the visual markdown editor for Cursor and VS Code.

Getting Started

Installation

Install PM Toolkit from the marketplace:

• Cursor: Open the Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X), search for "PM Toolkit", and click Install
• VS Code: Same steps, or install from the Visual Studio Marketplace
• Open VSX: Available on Open VSX for alternative editors

Opening the Editor

Open any .md file and PM Toolkit automatically activates. You'll see the visual editor instead of raw markdown. To switch back to the source view, click the View Source button in the editor toolbar.

Visual Editor

PM Toolkit gives you a full WYSIWYG editing experience for markdown files. Type naturally and see formatted output in real time — headings, bold, italic, lists, links, and more render instantly.

The editor supports all standard markdown syntax. You can also use keyboard shortcuts for common formatting:

• Bold: Cmd+B
• Italic: Cmd+I
• Strikethrough: Cmd+Shift+X
• Inline code: Cmd+E
• Link: Cmd+K

Block Handles

Hover near the left edge of any block to reveal drag handles. Drag any block to reorder it, or click the + button to insert new content between blocks.

Bubble Menu

Select any text to see the floating toolbar. It gives quick access to:

• Block type (paragraph, headings 1-4, lists, quote, code block)
• Text formatting (bold, italic, strikethrough, code)
• Link insertion

Document Outline

The sidebar shows a collapsible document outline generated from your headings. Click any heading to jump to that section. The outline updates in real time as you edit.

Save Guard

Every save is validated before it touches your file. PM Toolkit blocks corrupted content — webview URIs, internal data attributes, or excessive HTML — from ever reaching disk.

Slash Commands

Type / at the beginning of a new line to open the command menu. Available commands:

Templates you've created also appear in the slash command menu.

Tables

Insert a table with /table and pick dimensions from the visual grid. Once inserted:

• Tab moves to the next cell, Shift+Tab moves back
• Grip handles on rows and columns for drag-to-reorder with drop indicators
• Right-click grip handles for insert, delete, and header row toggle
• Add bars appear on the last row and column for quick expansion
• Column widths persist, with horizontal scroll for wide tables
• Cmd+Enter exits the table to continue writing below
• Select all cells and press Delete to remove the entire table

Images

PM Toolkit supports full image editing:

• Drop image files directly into the editor
• Paste images from your clipboard
• Browse for files using the file picker
• URL: Enter a web URL to embed an external image

Once inserted, click an image to:

• Resize by dragging corner handles
• Align left, center, or right using the floating toolbar
• Caption — toggle captions on or off (maps to markdown alt text)
• Replace or delete from the popover menu

Images are saved to a configurable assets directory (see Settings). Width and alignment are persisted as HTML comments in markdown.

Kanban Boards

Create a file with the .kanban extension to open a kanban board. Boards are stored as markdown, so they're portable and version-control friendly.

• Drag and drop cards between columns
• Double-click a card to edit with rich text (Linear-style modal)
• Cards auto-complete when moved to "Done" or "Archive" columns
• Task counts shown per column
• Thumbnails display the first image from card descriptions
• Configure default columns and save delay in settings

Mermaid Diagrams

Write mermaid diagrams inside fenced code blocks marked mermaid and they render inline. Alternatively, use slash commands:

• /mermaid — Generic mermaid block
• /flowchart — Flowchart diagram
• /sequence — Sequence diagram

Diagrams automatically adapt to your light/dark theme. They default to fit-to-view mode so the full diagram is always visible — toggle to scroll/zoom for large diagrams. Click the Edit button on any diagram to modify the source.

PDF Export

Export any markdown document to a pixel-perfect PDF — the output looks identical to the editor.

1. Open a .md file in PM Toolkit
2. Run PM Toolkit: Export to PDF from the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P), or click the PDF icon in the editor title bar
3. The PDF is saved next to your .md file

Requires Chrome, Chromium, Edge, or Brave installed (auto-detected on macOS, Windows, and Linux). Set a custom browser path with the pmtoolkit.pdfChromePath setting if needed.

The PDF includes selectable text, tables, images, and Mermaid diagrams rendered as SVGs. Configure page size, margins, and background printing in settings.

Templates

Create reusable document templates:

1. Create a folder for your templates (any location in your workspace)
2. Set the folder path via PM Toolkit: Set Template Folder in the Command Palette, or in Settings
3. Add .md files with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: Meeting Notes
description: Template for team meetings
---

# Meeting Notes — {{date}}

## Attendees

-

## Agenda

1.

## Action Items

- [ ]

Available variables:

Templates appear in the slash command menu alongside built-in commands.

Keyboard Shortcuts

On Windows/Linux, replace Cmd with Ctrl.

File Viewers

PM Toolkit includes read-only viewers for common file formats:

• PDF: Page navigation, zoom, and rotation
• Word (.docx): Renders documents with formatting preserved
• Excel (.xlsx): Sheet tabs, column/row headers, cell formatting
• CSV: Auto-detects delimiters, sortable columns, header toggle

Settings

Open settings via the editor overflow menu (...) or run PM Toolkit Settings from the Command Palette.

FAQ

The editor doesn't load when I open a markdown file

PM Toolkit activates when you open a .md file, but if the file was already open before installing the extension, VS Code won't automatically switch to the visual editor. Close the file tab and reopen it — the editor will load on the second open. You can also right-click the file tab, choose Reopen Editor With, and select PM Toolkit.

Cursor shows an error after AI edits my markdown file

Cursor applies diffs to files lazily — when its AI agent edits a file, the changes are staged as pending diffs rather than written directly. If a custom editor (like PM Toolkit's visual editor) is open when this happens, the document state can get out of sync and you'll see an assertion error on reload.

To fix it: save your document before letting Cursor's AI edit it. If you've already hit the error, switch to the source markdown view (right-click the tab and choose Reopen Editor With > Text Editor), accept or reject the pending diffs, then reopen the file to load the visual editor again.

Can I switch between the visual editor and raw markdown?

Yes. Click the View Source button in the editor toolbar to see the raw markdown. Your changes are saved to the same file either way.

Where are my files stored?

PM Toolkit edits your actual .md files on disk. Nothing is stored in a database or synced to the cloud. Your files stay exactly where you put them — portable, version-controllable, and fully yours.

Does PM Toolkit work with Git?

Yes. Since it reads and writes standard markdown files, everything works with Git out of the box. Diffs, branches, merges — all normal.

How much does PM Toolkit cost?

Nothing. PM Toolkit is completely free and open source. No trials, no tiers, no catch.

How do I report a bug or request a feature?

Open an issue on GitHub.