Ghidra Markdown Notepad Plugin

A feature-rich markdown editor plugin for Ghidra that supports collections of notes without leaving Ghidra.

Markdown Notepad

I wrote this plugin to solve the problem of juggling tabs to navigate between Ghidra and Obsidian when reverse engineering a binary and writing notes.

The result is a nice Markdown Notepad window that can be placed in a convenient space in Ghidra so notes can be taken without needing Obsidian open.

And for the light-mode sadists:

Features

My favourite features:

• Using [0x1234] syntax to make addresses clickable in the preview (makes Ghidra go to that address)
• Using {0x5678} syntax to create an address link that is previewed as the function name at that address (no more fear of inconsistent function names for the same function in notes!)
• Ghidra theme integration (syntax highlighting and preview colours match the selected Ghidra theme)
• Auto-opening of same collection on restart
• Search all documents, easy to flick through results with arrow keys
• Image imports (not as simple as Obsidian but works well)
• Built into Ghidra so no juggling Obsidian window around
• Easy file organisation in the file tree on the left of the window
• Easy to navigate between collections of notes if needed
• Contents listing for easy navigation within long markdown notes

More specific:

• Document Management
  • Create and manage collections of markdown documents
  • Hierarchical directory structure for organizing notes
  • Drag-and-drop file organization
  • File and directory renaming/deletion
  • Unsaved changes indication
• Editor Features
  • Markdown syntax highlighting
  • Real-time preview with split view
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Document and collection-wide search
  • Support for tables
  • Contents listing for easy navigation and overview
  • Zoom support
  • Easy navigation to previous notes with back/forward buttons
• Image Support
  • Drag-and-drop image importing
  • Clipboard paste support for images
• Navigation and Integration
  • Program address linking ([0x1234] syntax for direct navigation)
  • Function address linking ({0x5678} syntax for function name preview + address navigation)
  • Clickable web links in preview
  • Keyboard shortcuts for all major operations
  • Integration with the Ghidra theming system
• Search Capabilities
  • Document search
  • Collection-wide search with context preview
  • Case-sensitive search option
  • Results navigation

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Open Collection	Ctrl+O
Create New Collection	Ctrl+Shift+N
Save Document	Ctrl+S
Undo	Ctrl+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y
New Document	Ctrl+N
New Directory	Ctrl+Shift+D
Import Image	Ctrl+I
Document Search	Ctrl+F
Collection Search	Ctrl+Shift+F
Zoom In	Ctrl+Equals
Zoom Out	Ctrl+Minus
Go Back	Alt+Left
Go Forwards	Alt+Right

Requirements

• Ghidra 11.2.1 installed

Libraries Used

The plugin is built on the following key components:

• RSyntaxTextArea for syntax highlighting
• CommonMark for markdown parsing
• Ghidra's docking framework for UI integration
• Java NIO for file operations

Installation

1. Download the .zip of the plugin
2. Open Ghidra, and on the main window go to File -> Install Extensions
3. Click the green '+' on the rop right, and select the downloaded .zip file
4. Restart Ghidra to install the plugin
5. Open Ghidra, you should get a prompt to configure the plugin, if so, select the tick box on the left to complete the installation
6. Should now be available in Window -> Markdown Notepad (if not, next step)
7. If not available, will need manual configuring, go to File -> Configure
8. Now in the Configure Tool menu, click the Configure in the Miscellaneous section
9. Should see the MarkdownNotepadPlugin in the list, if so, make sure the first tick box in the row is ticked
10. Should now be all good to write some notes!