For JetBrains IDE users
Open a .qmd file and see a document, not a wall of YAML and code comments.
There is no Quarto plugin on the JetBrains Marketplace. Open a .qmd file today and you get plain text: no syntax highlighting, the YAML front matter shown as a garbled paragraph, and #| chunk options mixed into the code. This plugin adds a real preview — a title block from the front matter, and code chunks labelled with their engine, caption and options instead of raw comment lines — plus a one-click export to a standalone HTML file.
Install the plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace first — the preview is free and works on its own. Pro unlocks HTML export.
A .qmd file is Markdown plus two things
YAML front matter that names the document (title, author, output format), and code chunks — fenced blocks whose language is wrapped in braces, like ```{python}— that Quarto's own toolchain runs when it renders the file. Neither one means anything to a plain Markdown parser.
A plugin search for “quarto” on the JetBrains Marketplace returns nothing, while the VS Code extension has close to half a million installs. That gap is the whole reason this exists.
---
title: Quarterly Review
author: Jane Doe
format: html
---
# Results
```{python}
#| label: fig-population
#| fig-cap: "Population over time"
#| echo: false
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.plot(x, y)
```
What the free preview gets right
- Front matter becomes a title block. Title, author and date are read as document metadata and shown as a heading and byline, not as a paragraph of raw YAML.
- Chunk options are read, not shown as broken comments.
#| label:,#| fig-cap:,#| echo:and#| eval:lines are pulled out of the code and turned into a short caption above the block — both Quarto's own style and R Markdown's inline{r, echo=FALSE}form. - Honest about what it does not do. No chunk is ever executed. The caption says so plainly rather than showing a stale or fabricated result.
- Live update as you type, and the same renderer used by this repo's other Markdown-based plugins, so tables, lists and links inside the prose render correctly too.
Frequently asked
What does the free tier include?
.qmd files get Markdown syntax highlighting, and a Quarto Preview tab reads the YAML front matter (title, author, date) as a title block instead of a raw paragraph. Code chunks — ```{python}, ```{r}, ```{ojs} and so on — are shown with a plain-language caption: engine, label, caption, and whether the chunk is marked eval: false or echo: false, with the #| option lines removed from the code. Both Quarto's #| key: value style and R Markdown's inline {r, echo=FALSE} style are read. Updates live as you type.
What does Pro add?
Export Quarto Document to HTML: a standalone HTML file with the same title block and chunk captions as the preview, with no Quarto CLI, no Pandoc, and no R/Python/Julia install required. Paste your licence key once when prompted; it stays valid while the subscription is active.
Does this run my code chunks?
No, and it never claims to. There is no notebook kernel inside an IntelliJ-platform process. This plugin reads a chunk's own declared metadata (engine, label, caption, echo/eval flags) instead of executing it, so the preview and export show what the chunk is about without ever claiming an output it cannot produce. For a full render — running chunks, resolving cross-references and citations, PDF or revealjs output — use quarto render from the terminal, or an IDE built around the real engine like RStudio or Positron.
Why not just use the bundled Markdown preview?
Because it does not know what a .qmd file is. The front matter renders as a horizontal-rule-delimited paragraph, and a chunk fence like ```{python} with #| label: fig-x, #| fig-cap: "..." on the following lines shows those option lines as if they were broken code comments, because a generic Markdown parser has no concept of a Quarto chunk.
Does the preview use an embedded browser?
No. It paints through Swing, so there is no JCEF process to fail — the preview also works over SSH and JetBrains Remote Development, on Wayland, and on Linux setups where a browser-backed preview shows a blank pane.
Which IDEs does it work in?
Any IntelliJ-platform IDE from 2023.3 onward — PyCharm, IDEA (Community or Ultimate), WebStorm, GoLand, RubyMine, CLion, Rider, DataGrip and Android Studio. There is no declared compatibility ceiling, so it will not stop installing when the next IDE ships.
Is this affiliated with Quarto or Posit?
No. Quarto is an open-source project from Posit; this is an independent plugin that reads the same front-matter and chunk conventions from the public format documentation. It does not bundle or call any Quarto code.
The plugin only reads the file you have open. It does not sync your documents anywhere, does not touch your project's build, and can be disabled without restarting the IDE. The licence check sends only your licence key, and caches its answer so an offline laptop keeps working.