beside.nvim

beside.nvim provides a seamless, live rendering experience of documents being edited in Neovim, allowing users to view the changes in real-time beside their source code. The tool supports multiple terminal renderers—such as leaf, glow, pandoc, or carve—adapting to user preferences and rendering them in a split view. This unique feature combines the flexibility of selecting the preferred renderer for specific file types while keeping an eye on the editing process.

Key Features

• Live Preview: The document preview updates in real-time as edits are made in the source. Scrolling in one pane automatically scrolls the other, enhancing the editing experience.

  :Beside
  

  Toggles the live preview for the active buffer.

• Versatile Renderer Support: Switch between different renderers using commands like :Beside glow to utilize different styling outputs or rendering capabilities according to the needs of the document being worked on. As a result, users can conveniently take advantage of the outputs from leaf, glow, and pandoc by simply changing the command.

• Customizable Configuration: Users have the ability to customize the preview width, rendering delay, and preferred renderers based on file types. Here is an example configuration:

  require('beside').setup({
    width = 0.4,  
    delay = 100,  
    prefer = {
      markdown = { 'leaf', 'glow', 'pandoc' },
    },
  })
  

• Adding New Renderers: The repository supports a growing list of renderers, and users are encouraged to extend its capabilities by adding new renderers. Here’s a basic template for creating a new renderer:

  require('beside').setup({
    renderers = {
      mdcat = {
        filetypes = { markdown = true },
        command = function(context)
          return { 'mdcat', '--columns', tostring(context.width), '-' }
        end,
      },
    },
  })
  

• Easy Integration: Integration is straightforward with Neovim version 0.10 or newer required, and the tool can be installed using lazy.nvim easily.

The capabilities of beside.nvim streamline the editing process, allowing for a more efficient workflow while accommodating the preferences of various users. Contributions in the form of bug reports or new renderers are welcomed, promoting a collaborative development environment.