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Markdown AI Editor user guide

Markdown AI Editor improves selected Markdown and plain text directly in Visual Studio Code. It offers two commands:

  • Fix Grammar & Refine corrects spelling and grammar while preserving the meaning and Markdown.
  • Convert to Clean Markdown turns rough notes into a structured Markdown draft.

Before you begin

You need Visual Studio Code, this extension, and a Markdown (.md) or plain-text document. Managed mode is enabled by default. After you approve it, it downloads a SmolLM2 writing model (about 271 MB) and a native local runtime. Allow roughly 1 GB of disk space and 2 GB of available RAM. It runs only on your computer and works offline after setup. Windows x64, macOS Intel, macOS Apple Silicon, and Linux x64 are supported.

First successful edit

  1. Open or create a Markdown or plain-text file.
  2. Highlight a short paragraph to start.
  3. Right-click the selection and choose one of the Markdown AI commands. Alternatively, open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P and search for Markdown AI.
  4. If this is your first managed-mode request, read the consent dialog and select Set up local model.
  5. Wait for the download and local model startup. Then review the replacement in your editor.

Start small

Try one or two sentences first. The generated replacement is an edit to your document, so use Ctrl+Z if you do not want to keep it.

Continue with First run for details about the download, or go directly to Use the commands.