Text Structure Normalization / Formatting

IWE provides auto-formatting through the LSP formatting feature. This typically triggers when you save your document (if your editor is configured for format-on-save) or manually via a formatting command.

What Gets Normalized

1. Link Title Updates

Link titles are automatically updated to match the header of the linked document.

Before:

See [old title](my-note) for details.

After (if my-note.md has header “# My Updated Note”):

See [My Updated Note](my-note) for details.

2. Header Level Adjustment

Header levels are adjusted to maintain a proper tree structure. This ensures that nested sections have correct relative header levels.

Before:

# Main Document

#### Incorrectly Deep Section

Some content.

After:

# Main Document

## Incorrectly Deep Section

Some content.

3. Ordered List Numbering

Ordered lists are renumbered sequentially, regardless of the original numbers.

Before:

1. First item
5. Second item
3. Third item

After:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

4. List Indentation and Spacing

List structure is normalized with consistent indentation and proper newlines.

Before:

- Item one
    - Badly indented
  - Inconsistent
-No space after marker

After:

- Item one
  - Badly indented
  - Inconsistent
- No space after marker

5. Whitespace Cleanup

Excess blank lines and trailing whitespace are cleaned up.

Usage

Format on Save

Most editors can be configured to format on save:

• VS Code: Enable “Format On Save” in settings
• Neovim: Configure autocommand or use plugin like conform.nvim
• Helix: Set auto-format = true in languages.toml

Manual Formatting

Trigger formatting manually:

• VS Code: Shift+Alt+F / Shift+Option+F
• Neovim: :lua vim.lsp.buf.format()
• Helix: :format

Configuration

Formatting behavior can be configured in .iwe/config.toml:

[markdown]
normalize_headers = true  # Adjust header levels
normalize_lists = true    # Fix list formatting

Tips

• Enable format-on-save for consistent formatting across your library
• Use with version control to easily review formatting changes
• If you notice unexpected formatting, check Header levels normalization for detailed header adjustment rules