markdown-indent-mode

An Emacs minor mode for dynamic virtual indentation in Markdown, similar to org-indent-mode in Org mode.

Before	After

Features

• Automatically indents content based on Markdown heading levels
• Hides leading hash symbols — only the last # is visible in headings (e.g., ### appears as #)
• Visual indentation using text properties (doesn't modify actual buffer content)

Installation

(use-package markdown-indent-mode
  :hook (markdown-mode . markdown-indent-mode))

Usage

Toggle the mode with M-x markdown-indent-mode.

When enabled, content under headings is visually indented to align with the heading text, and leading hash symbols are hidden. Open this file in Emacs with markdown-indent-mode enabled to see it in action.

Commands

• markdown-indent-mode - Toggle the mode

Development

make test   # run ERT tests
make lint   # run checkdoc on both .el files

How It Works

This package works similarly to org-indent-mode:

1. Uses line-prefix and wrap-prefix text properties for visual indentation
2. Uses font-lock to hide leading hash symbols (making them match the background color)
3. Updates indentation dynamically as you edit
4. Only modifies display properties, not actual buffer content