LyX-like Math

An Obsidian plugin that makes typing math feel like LyX: you edit the formula as rendered math, \commands finish with Space, and wrappers like \frac and \sqrt give you empty boxes to fill. Notes stay plain Markdown: formulas are saved as ordinary $...$ and $$...$$ LaTeX, which Obsidian renders as usual.

This plugin was created by AI (Claude Code), directed and tested by Omer Cooper.

Desktop only. The math editor is MathLive 0.111.1 (MIT), bundled with its fonts, so it works offline.

Keys

Wrappers keep everything you type inside them until Space or Tab: \sqrt 4*5 gives \sqrt{4*5}. Only LyX behaviour is on: no auto-conversion of alpha, /, ->, auto-paired brackets and so on.

In Live Preview, clicking a formula opens it in the editor. Formulas the editor can't handle (aligned, \label, multi-line blocks, unknown macros) are left alone and open as LaTeX text, with a short notice.

Saved LaTeX

• Braces are always written: \frac{4}{3}, \sqrt{2}, x^{2}, never \frac43 or x^2.
• A formula you open and close without changing keeps its original text exactly.
• Empty boxes are saved empty (\frac{1}{}).
• Display math is saved as $$ / formula / $$ on their own lines.
• Matrices are saved on one line: \begin{pmatrix}a & b\\ c & d\end{pmatrix}.

Numbered equations

Choosing Numbered display math adds \tag{n}. Numbers count the note's numbered equations from the top, so inserting or deleting one renumbers the rest. Ctrl+Shift+M on an existing display equation lets you switch numbering on or off. The command Renumber equations fixes numbers after you edit tags by hand.

Formula panel

The Σ ribbon icon (or the command Open LyX formula panel) opens a sidebar of symbol buttons grouped like LyX's math toolbar: fractions & roots, accents, Greek, operators, relations, arrows, big operators, delimiters, matrices, functions, misc. There's a search box at the top (\ optional). Clicking a button inserts into the open editor with the cursor in the first empty box; with no editor open, it starts inline math at the note's cursor. The Matrices group also has + row and + column buttons.

Settings

Copy unsaved formulas to the clipboard (on by default): if the note changes while you are editing a formula (it syncs, or its tab is closed), the formula can't be saved into it. It is always shown in a message; with this on, it is also copied to the clipboard so you can paste it back. This is the only clipboard access by the plugin, and it never reads the clipboard.

Install

From Obsidian (once the plugin is listed): Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for LyX-like Math → Install → Enable.

Manually: download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release, put them in <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/lyx-like-math/, then in Obsidian: Settings → Community plugins → reload the list and enable LyX-like Math. The math fonts are inside styles.css; nothing is downloaded at run time.

With BRAT: add the beta plugin OmerCooper/lyx-like-math.

Ctrl+M and Ctrl+Shift+M can be changed under Settings → Hotkeys (search "math").

Development

Needs Node.js 18 or later.

npm install
npm run build       # main.js and styles.css
npm run deploy      # build + copy to your vault: put the plugin folder path in deploy-target.txt
npm test            # unit tests (vitest)
npm run e2e         # browser tests: real MathLive and CodeMirror in local Chrome (playwright-core)
npm run dev         # rebuild on change

To release: bump the version in manifest.json, package.json and versions.json, commit, then push a tag with the same version (git tag 0.2.0 && git push origin 0.2.0). GitHub Actions builds and publishes the release.

Design and plan: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-10-26-lyx-math-design.md, docs/superpowers/plans/2026-10-27-lyx-math.md.