Placeholders

Placeholders let you insert dynamic content into headers and footers. They are replaced at export time with actual values from the document, front matter, or system.

Syntax

Placeholders use curly braces:

{placeholder}
{placeholder:format}

The format argument is optional and only applies to certain placeholders (like date).

Built-in Placeholders

Page Numbers

Placeholder	Description	Rendered As
{page}	Current page number	<span class="pageNumber"></span>
{pages}	Total pages	<span class="totalPages"></span>

Page number placeholders are rendered by Chromium at print time — they're the only way to get accurate page numbers in PDFs.

{
  "footer": {
    "center": {
      "type": "text",
      "content": "Page {page} of {pages}"
    }
  }
}

Date and Time

Placeholder	Description	Example Output
{date}	Current date (ISO)	2025-06-14
{date:FORMAT}	Formatted date	June 14, 2025
{time}	Current time	14:30:00
{datetime}	Date and time	2025-06-14 14:30:00

Date Format Examples

{
  "header": {
    "right": {
      "type": "text",
      "content": "{date:MMMM d, yyyy}"
    }
  }
}

Common formats:

Format	Output
{date}	2025-06-14
{date:yyyy-MM-dd}	2025-06-14
{date:MMMM d, yyyy}	June 14, 2025
{date:MM/dd/yyyy}	06/14/2025
{date:dd.MM.yyyy}	14.06.2025
{date:d MMMM yyyy}	14 June 2025

See Date Formatting for complete format reference.

Document Metadata

Placeholder	Description	Source
{title}	Document title	Front matter title: or filename
{author}	Author name	Front matter author:
{filename}	Source filename	File path

---
title: Quarterly Report
author: Jane Smith
---

{
  "header": {
    "left_text": "{author}",
    "center_text": "{title}"
  }
}

Custom Variables

Any field in your front matter becomes a placeholder:

---
title: Project Report
company: Acme Corporation
department: Engineering
version: 1.2.3
project_code: PRJ-2025-001
---

All these are available:

Front Matter	Placeholder
company: Acme Corporation	{company}
department: Engineering	{department}
version: 1.2.3	{version}
project_code: PRJ-2025-001	{project_code}

Using Custom Variables

---
title: Project Report
company: Acme Corp
version: 2.0.0
pdf:
  header:
    left_text: "{company}"
    center_text: "{title}"
    right_text: "v{version}"
  footer:
    center_text: "Page {page} of {pages}"
---

Using Placeholders in Elements

In Text Elements

{
  "type": "text",
  "content": "Document: {title} | Author: {author}"
}

In page_number Format

{
  "type": "page_number",
  "format": "Page {page}"
}

In date Format

The date element uses a date-fns format string, not placeholders:

{
  "type": "date",
  "format": "MMMM d, yyyy"
}

In title Element

The title element doesn't use placeholders — it automatically uses the document title. Use fallback for a default:

{
  "type": "title",
  "fallback": "Untitled Document"
}

Combining Placeholders

You can combine multiple placeholders and static text:

{
  "type": "text",
  "content": "{company} — {title} — {date:yyyy}"
}

Output: Acme Corp — Quarterly Report — 2025

Escaping

Currently, there's no way to escape curly braces. If you need literal { or } characters, use the Unicode equivalents or avoid the placeholder syntax.

Placeholder Resolution

Placeholders are resolved at export time in this order:

1. Chromium placeholders ({page}, {pages}) → Converted to <span> elements
2. Date placeholders → Formatted using date-fns
3. Document metadata → From front matter or filename
4. Custom variables → From front matter
5. Unknown placeholders → Left as-is (useful for debugging)

Debugging Placeholders

If a placeholder doesn't resolve:

1. Check the front matter field name (case-insensitive)
2. Ensure the front matter is valid YAML
3. Check the debug log: /tmp/zed-markdown-pdf-debug.log

# This works:
---
company: Acme Corp
---

# Also works (YAML flexibility):
---
Company: Acme Corp
---

Both can be used as {company}.

Complete Example

---
title: Q2 Financial Report
author: Jane Smith
company: Acme Corporation
department: Finance
fiscal_year: 2025
confidential: true
pdf:
  header:
    height: 18mm
    padding: 0 15mm
    font_size: 9px
    border_bottom: 1px solid #ddd
    left:
      - type: text
        content: "{company}"
        font_weight: bold
      - type: text
        content: "{department}"
        color: "#666"
    center:
      type: title
      font_style: italic
    right:
      type: date
      format: MMMM d, yyyy
  footer:
    height: 12mm
    padding: 0 15mm
    font_size: 8px
    color: "#666"
    border_top: 1px solid #eee
    left:
      type: text
      content: "FY{fiscal_year}"
    center:
      type: text
      content: "Page {page} of {pages}"
    right:
      type: text
      content: "{author}"
---

# Q2 Financial Report

Content goes here...

Next Steps

• Date Formatting — Complete date-fns format reference
• Elements — All element types
• Front Matter — Configure per-document settings