Charm Glamour

glamour - Terminal Markdown Rendering

charm.land/glamour/v2 renders markdown to styled ANSI output. Built on goldmark, supports GFM (tables, task lists, strikethrough), syntax highlighting via Chroma, emoji, and fully customizable stylesheets.

Quick Start

go get charm.land/glamour/v2@latest

One-liner

import "charm.land/glamour/v2"

out, err := glamour.Render("# Hello\n\nSome **bold** text.", "dark")
fmt.Print(out)

With renderer (reusable)

r, err := glamour.NewTermRenderer(
    glamour.WithStandardStyle("dark"),
    glamour.WithWordWrap(80),
)
if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}

out, err := r.Render(markdown)
fmt.Print(out)

Core API

Package-level functions

TermRenderer

Created via NewTermRenderer(options ...TermRendererOption). Reusable for multiple renders.

Methods:

io.ReadWriter pattern (streaming):

r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(glamour.WithWordWrap(80))
r.Write([]byte("# Streamed\n\nContent here."))
r.Close()

rendered, _ := io.ReadAll(r)
fmt.Print(string(rendered))

Options

Built-in styles

Each has a corresponding StyleConfig variable: styles.DarkStyleConfig, styles.LightStyleConfig, etc.

Common Patterns

Custom style (programmatic)

Start from a built-in config and modify fields. Style fields use pointers for optional values.

import (
    "charm.land/glamour/v2"
    "charm.land/glamour/v2/ansi"
    "charm.land/glamour/v2/styles"
)

func boolPtr(b bool) *bool    { return &b }
func strPtr(s string) *string { return &s }
func uintPtr(u uint) *uint    { return &u }

func customRenderer() (*glamour.TermRenderer, error) {
    style := styles.DarkStyleConfig

    // Custom H1: green text, no background
    style.H1 = ansi.StyleBlock{
        StylePrimitive: ansi.StylePrimitive{
            Color:  strPtr("34"),
            Bold:   boolPtr(true),
            Prefix: "# ",
        },
    }

    // Wider margins
    style.Document.Margin = uintPtr(4)

    // Custom code block theme
    style.CodeBlock.Theme = "monokai"

    return glamour.NewTermRenderer(
        glamour.WithStyles(style),
        glamour.WithWordWrap(100),
    )
}

Custom style (JSON file)

{
    "document": {
        "color": "252",
        "margin": 2,
        "block_prefix": "\n",
        "block_suffix": "\n"
    },
    "heading": {
        "color": "39",
        "bold": true,
        "block_suffix": "\n"
    },
    "h1": {
        "color": "228",
        "background_color": "63",
        "bold": true,
        "prefix": " ",
        "suffix": " "
    },
    "h2": {
        "prefix": "## "
    },
    "code_block": {
        "theme": "dracula",
        "margin": 2
    },
    "link": {
        "color": "123",
        "underline": true
    },
    "strong": {
        "bold": true
    },
    "emph": {
        "italic": true
    }
}

r, err := glamour.NewTermRenderer(
    glamour.WithStylesFromJSONFile("./my-style.json"),
    glamour.WithWordWrap(80),
)

StyleConfig structure reference

StyleConfig
  Document, BlockQuote, Paragraph     -> StyleBlock
  List                                -> StyleList (StyleBlock + LevelIndent)
  Heading, H1-H6                     -> StyleBlock
  Text, Emph, Strong, Strikethrough  -> StylePrimitive
  HorizontalRule                     -> StylePrimitive (use Format for custom rule)
  Item, Enumeration                  -> StylePrimitive (BlockPrefix for bullet char)
  Task                               -> StyleTask (Ticked/Unticked strings)
  Link, LinkText                     -> StylePrimitive
  Image, ImageText                   -> StylePrimitive
  Code                               -> StyleBlock (inline code)
  CodeBlock                          -> StyleCodeBlock (Theme + Chroma)
  Table                              -> StyleTable (separators)
  DefinitionList/Term/Description    -> StyleBlock/StylePrimitive
  HTMLBlock, HTMLSpan                 -> StyleBlock

StyleBlock
  Indent *uint, IndentToken *string, Margin *uint
  + StylePrimitive (all fields below)

StylePrimitive
  Color, BackgroundColor  *string    // ANSI color number or hex "#RRGGBB"
  Bold, Italic, Underline *bool
  CrossedOut, Faint       *bool
  Inverse, Conceal, Blink *bool
  Upper, Lower, Title     *bool      // text transform
  Prefix, Suffix          string     // per-line prefix/suffix
  BlockPrefix, BlockSuffix string    // before/after entire block
  Format                  string     // Go template, e.g. link format

Color downsampling with lipgloss (v2)

Glamour v2 is "pure" - same input always gives same output. It does NOT auto-detect terminal color capabilities. Use lipgloss to downsample colors for the actual terminal.

import (
    "charm.land/glamour/v2"
    "charm.land/lipgloss/v2"
)

r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(glamour.WithWordWrap(80))
out, _ := r.Render(markdown)

// lipgloss detects terminal capabilities and downsamples
lipgloss.Print(out)

Alternative with colorprofile for explicit control:

import "github.com/charmbracelet/colorprofile"

w := colorprofile.NewWriter(os.Stdout, os.Environ())
fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s", out)

Detect terminal background for style selection

import "charm.land/lipgloss/v2"

style := "dark"
if !lipgloss.HasDarkBackground() {
    style = "light"
}
r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(glamour.WithStandardStyle(style))

Environment-based style

export GLAMOUR_STYLE=dracula
# or a file path:
export GLAMOUR_STYLE=/path/to/custom.json

// Picks up GLAMOUR_STYLE, falls back to "dark"
out, err := glamour.RenderWithEnvironmentConfig(markdown)

// Or with a renderer:
r, err := glamour.NewTermRenderer(glamour.WithEnvironmentConfig())

Integration

Bubbletea viewport (scrollable markdown)

import (
    "charm.land/glamour/v2"
    tea "charm.land/bubbletea/v2"
    "charm.land/bubbles/v2/viewport"
)

type model struct {
    viewport viewport.Model
    content  string
}

func initialModel(markdown string) model {
    r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(
        glamour.WithStandardStyle("dark"),
        glamour.WithWordWrap(78), // viewport width minus padding
    )
    rendered, _ := r.Render(markdown)

    vp := viewport.New(viewport.WithWidth(80), viewport.WithHeight(24))
    vp.SetContent(rendered)

    return model{viewport: vp, content: rendered}
}

func (m model) Init() tea.Cmd {
    return nil
}

func (m model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
    var cmd tea.Cmd
    m.viewport, cmd = m.viewport.Update(msg)
    return m, cmd
}

func (m model) View() string {
    return m.viewport.View()
}

Key point: set WithWordWrap to viewport width minus any horizontal padding/margin. Re-render when terminal resizes.

Re-render on resize

func (m model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
    switch msg := msg.(type) {
    case tea.WindowSizeMsg:
        m.viewport.SetWidth(msg.Width)
        m.viewport.SetHeight(msg.Height)

        r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(
            glamour.WithStandardStyle("dark"),
            glamour.WithWordWrap(msg.Width - 2),
        )
        rendered, _ := r.Render(m.rawMarkdown)
        m.viewport.SetContent(rendered)
    }

    var cmd tea.Cmd
    m.viewport, cmd = m.viewport.Update(msg)
    return m, cmd
}

Lipgloss styled container around rendered markdown

import "charm.land/lipgloss/v2"

border := lipgloss.NewStyle().
    Border(lipgloss.RoundedBorder()).
    Padding(1, 2)

r, _ := glamour.NewTermRenderer(
    glamour.WithStandardStyle("dark"),
    glamour.WithWordWrap(76), // account for border + padding (2 border + 4 padding = 6)
)
rendered, _ := r.Render(markdown)

fmt.Println(border.Render(rendered))

Common Mistakes

Using WithAutoStyle() or WithColorProfile() - Removed in v2. Use WithStandardStyle("dark") and lipgloss.Print() for color handling.

Not accounting for margin/padding in word wrap - If you wrap a glamour-rendered block in a lipgloss container with padding/border, subtract that width from the word wrap value or text will overflow.

Creating a new renderer per render when unnecessary - TermRenderer is reusable. Create once, call Render() many times.

Using fmt.Print instead of lipgloss.Print - If colors look wrong on some terminals, you need color downsampling. Use lipgloss.Print(out) instead of fmt.Print(out).

Forgetting Close() when using Write/Read pattern - After writing markdown via r.Write(), you must call r.Close() before reading with r.Read() or io.ReadAll(r).

Import path still on v1 - v2 uses charm.land/glamour/v2, not github.com/charmbracelet/glamour.

Setting style fields directly instead of via pointer - Color, Bold, Italic, etc. are pointer types. Use helper functions like func boolPtr(b bool) *bool { return &b }.

Using WithStandardStyle with a file path - WithStandardStyle only accepts built-in style names. For file paths, use WithStylePath or WithStylesFromJSONFile.

Checklist

• Import charm.land/glamour/v2 (not the old github path)
• Pick a style: built-in name, JSON file, or programmatic StyleConfig
• Set WithWordWrap to match your output width minus borders/padding
• Use lipgloss.Print() for proper color downsampling on real terminals
• For bubbletea: re-render on WindowSizeMsg with updated wrap width
• Handle errors from NewTermRenderer and Render (malformed styles, etc.)
• For env-based config: use WithEnvironmentConfig() or RenderWithEnvironmentConfig()
• Test with "notty" style for CI/non-terminal environments