zed-djot

Zed editor support for djot, a modern light markup language created by John MacFarlane.

Syntax highlighting tuned to the php-collective/djot-php parser feature set. Paired with the djot-watch CLI, you get a complete write-and-preview loop without leaving Zed.

Features

• Tree-sitter highlighting for the full djot spec (headings, emphasis, strong, links, images, lists, tables, divs, math, footnotes, attributes, smart typography).
• Code-block language injections — fenced ``` php blocks get PHP highlighting, ``` rust gets Rust, and so on.
• YAML highlighting inside --- frontmatter blocks.
• LaTeX highlighting inside $...$ and $$...$$ math.
• Bracket matching, autoclose pairs ([], (), {}, *, _, `).
• Outline view shows your document's heading structure.
• Block-comment toggle uses djot's {% %} form.

Install (dev extension)

The extension is not yet in Zed's official registry. Install it as a dev extension:

1. Clone this repo:

   git clone https://github.com/php-collective/zed-djot.git

2. In Zed, open the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P) and run zed: install dev extension.
3. Select the cloned zed-djot folder.

Zed will fetch the upstream Tree-sitter grammar from Codeberg on first install. Subsequent installs use the cached grammar.

To verify the install, open any .djot file — headings, emphasis, and code blocks should be colored.

Live preview

Pair this extension with vendor/bin/djot-watch from php-collective/djot for live HTML preview in your browser.

After composer require php-collective/djot, add this to your project's .zed/tasks.json for one-key preview:

[
    {
        "label": "Djot: Watch current file",
        "command": "vendor/bin/djot-watch",
        "args": ["$ZED_FILE"],
        "cwd": "$ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT",
        "use_new_terminal": true,
        "allow_concurrent_runs": false
    }
]

Then Ctrl+Shift+P → task: spawn → pick the task. A browser tab opens at http://127.0.0.1:8765/ and live-reloads on every save.

Roadmap

• Submit to the Zed extension registry once the dev-extension period proves out.
• Icon-theme contribution for .djot files in the file tree.
• Coverage for djot-php-specific syntax (wikilinks [[Page]], user mentions, abbreviation definitions *[KEY]:, fenced comments %%%) — pending upstream grammar PRs on codeberg.org/treeman/tree-sitter-djot.

Credits

• Jonas Hietala — the upstream tree-sitter-djot grammar.
• nvim-treesitter — Tree-sitter query starting points.
• PHP Collective — djot-php parser and djot-watch CLI.

License

MIT