LiveMarkdown

A lightweight Avalonia control for rendering Markdown in .NET 8 applications. LiveMarkdown focuses on high-quality visual rendering, streaming/incremental preview scenarios and consistent theming (including LaTeX formula color enforcement).

Supported features

• Markdown parsing via Markdig with advanced extensions enabled:
  • Headings (H1�H6)
  • Paragraphs
  • Ordered and unordered lists (with nesting)
  • Task lists (? / ?)
  • Tables (pipe tables)
  • Blockquotes
  • Horizontal rules
  • Links and images
  • Emoji support
• Fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting using AvaloniaEdit (common languages supported such as C#, JavaScript, Python, XML)
• Inline code rendering (monospace)
• Mermaid diagrams: render fenced code block with language mermaid as an inline diagram
• LaTeX / math support via AvaloniaMath:
  • Inline math ($...$)
  • Block math ($$...$$)
  • FormulaBlock rendering for inline and block math
• Incremental / streaming rendering:
  • Detects simple appends to existing content and re-renders only the tail
  • Optimized for live preview and streaming scenarios
  • Temporary highlighting of the last incoming chunk during streaming
• Styling and theming:
  • CSS-like classes and styles in Generic.axaml (e.g. .md-heading, .md-paragraph, .md-code-block, .md-quote, .md-list, .md-table)
  • Control enforces its own Foreground on generated elements to ensure consistent colors across themes
• Public API surface (high level):
  • Text (string) � Markdown content to render
  • ContentForeground / alias Foreground (IBrush) � color for already-rendered content
  • LiveContentForeground / alias LiveForeground (IBrush) � color for the currently incoming chunk

Quick usage (XAML)

xmlns:lm="clr-namespace:LiveMarkdown.Controls;assembly=LiveMarkdown" <!-- Rendered content white, live incoming chunk purple --> <lm:MarkdownView Text="{Binding MarkdownText}" Foreground="White" LiveForeground="#a94dc1" /> <!-- Live stream example using resources --> <lm:MarkdownView Text="{Binding LiveMarkdownText}" Foreground="{StaticResource BrushTextPrimary}" LiveForeground="{StaticResource ButtonBorderBrush}" />

Dependencies

• .NET 8 (net8.0)
• Avalonia UI 11.3.x
• Markdig
• AvaloniaEdit (code block rendering & highlighting)
• AvaloniaMath (LaTeX rendering)

Exact package versions are listed in LiveMarkdown.csproj.

Build & integration

1. Install .NET 8 SDK.
2. dotnet restore
3. dotnet build
4. Add project reference or NuGet package to your Avalonia app.
5. Include control styles in App resources:

<StyleInclude Source="avares://LiveMarkdown/Themes/Generic.axaml" />

6. Use the control in XAML: <lm:MarkdownView Text="{Binding MarkdownText}" />

License

LiveMarkdown is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.