Plugins That Actually Matter: Diagrams, Math, and More Inside Your Documents

Most document tools force a choice: write in a simple editor and lose advanced features, or use a complex tool and spend half your time fighting it.

PaperQuire’s plugin system gives you a third option. Start simple, add capabilities when you need them, and everything renders cleanly in your exported PDFs.

What Plugins Do

Plugins extend what PaperQuire can render from Markdown. Without plugins, you get standard Markdown — headings, lists, tables, links, images, code blocks. With plugins, you get:

• Mermaid — Flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts, ER diagrams, and more
• KaTeX — Publication-quality math equations
• Syntax highlighting — Language-aware code coloring for 190+ languages
• Emoji — Shortcodes rendered as native emoji in your documents
• Footnotes — Proper footnotes with numbered references

Each plugin activates independently. Enable what you need, leave the rest off.

Mermaid: Diagrams That Live in Your Markdown

This is the plugin that changes workflows. Instead of drawing diagrams in a separate tool, exporting PNGs, and embedding them (and then re-doing all of that when something changes), you write the diagram in your Markdown:

```mermaid
graph LR
    A[Write Markdown] --> B[PaperQuire]
    B --> C[Professional PDF]
    B --> D[Branded DOCX]
    B --> E[Clean HTML]
```

PaperQuire renders this as a crisp vector diagram directly in your document. When you update the diagram, you edit text — not an image file.

This works for architecture docs, process flows, project timelines, database schemas, and anything else you’d normally draw in Lucidchart or draw.io.

Supported diagram types:

• Flowcharts (graph TD, graph LR)
• Sequence diagrams
• Gantt charts
• Class diagrams
• Entity-relationship diagrams
• State diagrams
• Git graphs
• Pie charts

All rendered locally. No external service, no API call, no internet required.

KaTeX: Math That Doesn’t Require LaTeX

If you write technical or academic documents, you’ve probably wrestled with equation rendering. KaTeX gives you LaTeX-quality math without the LaTeX toolchain:

Inline math with single dollar signs: $E = mc^2$

Block equations with double dollar signs:

$
\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-x^2} dx = \sqrt{\pi}
$

This renders beautifully in both the preview and the exported PDF. No separate compilation step, no missing fonts, no “why is this equation a blurry image.”

Syntax Highlighting: Code That’s Actually Readable

The syntax highlighting plugin uses Prism to color-code your code blocks. Specify the language after the opening backticks:

```python
def fibonacci(n):
    if n <= 1:
        return n
    return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2)
```

This renders with proper color-coded syntax in your PDF — keywords, strings, comments, and functions all visually distinct. It supports 190+ languages out of the box.

For technical documentation and engineering specs, this is the difference between “readable” and “I’ll just look at the repo.”

How to Enable Plugins

Open PaperQuire, go to Settings > Plugins, and toggle on what you need. That’s it. No package manager, no config files, no restart required.

Plugins activate immediately in the editor preview and in all future exports.

Plugins + Templates: The Full Picture

Here’s where it comes together. Say you’re writing a technical architecture document:

1. Markdown gives you the structure — headings, paragraphs, lists
2. Mermaid plugin gives you the system diagram and sequence flows
3. Syntax highlighting plugin gives you readable code samples
4. KaTeX plugin gives you the performance equations
5. Technical template gives you the professional layout, TOC, and branding

One file. One tool. One export. The output is a document that looks like it took a team of technical writers and a graphic designer to produce.

Building Custom Plugins

PaperQuire’s plugin API is open and documented. If the built-in plugins don’t cover your use case, you can build your own:

• Markdown-it plugins — extend the Markdown parser to support new syntax
• CSS plugins — add custom styles for specific content types
• Transform plugins — modify the HTML output before it reaches the PDF renderer

The plugin documentation has examples and a starter template. If you’ve written a markdown-it plugin before, you already know how it works.

All built-in plugins are included on every plan. See the full plugin list or download PaperQuire and enable them in Settings.