Markdown in user messages, with a preview in the composer

User messages are rendered with the same Markdown component as the model's
answers; single line breaks are kept (hard breaks outside code blocks), so
plain multi-line messages look as before. The eye button next to the text
field shows the formatted message before sending. The text sent to the model
is unchanged.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@
 All notable changes to CodeCraft. Versions follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/);
 until 1.0, minor versions may contain breaking changes.
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Added
+
+- **Markdown in your messages:** your messages are shown formatted like the model's answers
+  (headings, lists, tables, code blocks, quotes, bold/italic); single line breaks stay as typed.
+  The eye button next to the text field shows a preview of the formatted message before sending.
+
 ## [v202611-00016] – 2026-11-10
 
 ### Fixed

web/src/components/ChatView.tsx

@@ -608,9 +608,10 @@ function UserText({ text }: { text: string }) {
     const last = rest.pop()!;
     if (last.trim().endsWith(":")) break;
   }
+  const body = rest.join("\n").trim();
   return (
     <>
-      {rest.join("\n").trimEnd()}
+      {body && <Markdown text={body} breaks />}
       {files.length > 0 && (
         <div className="user-files">
           {files.map((f) => (

web/src/components/Composer.tsx

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import type { ImageData, Session } from "../types";
 import { ModelSelect } from "./ModelSelect";
 import { EffortSelect } from "./Regenerate";
 import { VoiceButton } from "./Voice";
+import { Markdown } from "./Markdown";
 import { confirmDialog, promptDialog, toast } from "../dialogs";
 
 interface Suggestion {
@@ -67,6 +68,8 @@ export function Composer({
   const [effort, setEffort] = useState("");
   const [interim, setInterim] = useState("");
   const [picker, setPicker] = useState(false);
+  // Rendered Markdown instead of the text field (to check formatting before sending).
+  const [preview, setPreview] = useState(false);
   const models = useModels();
   const [prov, ...mid] = session.model.split("/");
   const reasoning = !!models.find((p) => p.provider === prov)?.models.find((m) => m.id === mid.join("/"))?.reasoning;
@@ -265,7 +268,20 @@ export function Composer({
             ))}
           </div>
         )}
+        {preview && (
+          <div
+            className="composer-preview"
+            role="button"
+            tabIndex={0}
+            title={t("composer.previewEdit")}
+            onClick={() => (setPreview(false), setTimeout(() => ref.current?.focus(), 0))}
+            onKeyDown={(e) => e.key === "Enter" && (setPreview(false), setTimeout(() => ref.current?.focus(), 0))}
+          >
+            {text.trim() ? <Markdown text={text} breaks /> : <span className="hint">{t("composer.previewEmpty")}</span>}
+          </div>
+        )}
         <textarea
+          style={preview ? { display: "none" } : undefined}
           ref={ref}
           rows={1}
           value={text}
@@ -337,6 +353,15 @@ export function Composer({
               }}
             />
           )}
+          <button
+            className={`ghost ${preview ? "active" : ""}`}
+            style={{ padding: "3px 6px" }}
+            onClick={() => setPreview(!preview)}
+            aria-pressed={preview}
+            title={t(preview ? "composer.previewEdit" : "composer.preview")}
+          >
+            <Icon name={preview ? "edit" : "eye"} />
+          </button>
           <VoiceButton onText={(d) => setText(text ? `${text.replace(/\s+$/, "")} ${d}` : d)} onInterim={setInterim} />
           <label className="ghost" style={{ cursor: "pointer", padding: "3px 6px" }} title={t("composer.attach")}>
             <Icon name="clip" />

web/src/components/Markdown.tsx

@@ -44,7 +44,30 @@ export function SvgBlock({ code, children }: { code: string; children?: ReactNod
   );
 }
 
-export const Markdown = memo(function Markdown({ text, baseDir }: { text: string; baseDir?: string }) {
+/**
+ * Keep single line breaks as typed (Markdown would join the lines into one paragraph):
+ * a hard break at the end of every line that continues a paragraph. Code blocks stay as
+ * they are.
+ */
+export function keepLineBreaks(text: string) {
+  let fence: string | null = null;
+  const lines = text.split("\n");
+  return lines
+    .map((line, i) => {
+      const f = line.match(/^\s*(`{3,}|~{3,})/);
+      if (f) {
+        if (!fence) fence = f[1][0];
+        else if (f[1][0] === fence) fence = null;
+        return line;
+      }
+      const next = lines[i + 1];
+      if (fence || next === undefined || !line.trim() || !next.trim() || / {2}$|\\$/.test(line)) return line;
+      return `${line}  `;
+    })
+    .join("\n");
+}
+
+export const Markdown = memo(function Markdown({ text, baseDir, breaks }: { text: string; baseDir?: string; breaks?: boolean }) {
   return (
     <div className="markdown">
       <ReactMarkdown
@@ -81,7 +104,7 @@ export const Markdown = memo(function Markdown({ text, baseDir }: { text: string
           },
         }}
       >
-        {text}
+        {breaks ? keepLineBreaks(text) : text}
       </ReactMarkdown>
     </div>
   );

web/src/i18n/de.ts

@@ -663,6 +663,9 @@ export const de: Messages = {
   "composer.mode": "Modus",
   "composer.model": "Modell",
   "composer.permissionMode": "Berechtigungsmodus",
+  "composer.preview": "Vorschau (Markdown)",
+  "composer.previewEdit": "Zurück zum Bearbeiten",
+  "composer.previewEmpty": "Noch nichts zum Anzeigen.",
   "composer.attach": "Dateien anhängen",
 
   "command.compact": "Unterhaltung zusammenfassen, um Kontext freizugeben",

web/src/i18n/en.ts

@@ -662,6 +662,9 @@ export const en = {
   "composer.mode": "Mode",
   "composer.model": "Model",
   "composer.permissionMode": "Permission mode",
+  "composer.preview": "Preview (Markdown)",
+  "composer.previewEdit": "Back to editing",
+  "composer.previewEmpty": "Nothing to preview yet.",
   "composer.attach": "Attach files",
 
   "command.compact": "Summarize the conversation to free up context",

web/src/styles.css

@@ -527,6 +527,20 @@ button.session-group:hover {
   word-break: break-word;
   position: relative;
 }
+/* User messages are Markdown too; the line breaks come from keepLineBreaks. */
+.msg-user .markdown {
+  white-space: normal;
+}
+.composer-preview {
+  min-height: 44px;
+  max-height: 40vh;
+  overflow-y: auto;
+  padding: 10px 12px;
+  border-radius: var(--radius);
+  border: 1px dashed var(--bg3);
+  background: var(--bg1);
+  cursor: text;
+}
 .msg-user .msg-actions {
   position: absolute;
   top: 4px;

web/src/whatsnew.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
  * under "unreleased"; scripts/release.sh renames the key to the release version.
  */
 export const WHATS_NEW: Record<string, { en: string[]; de: string[] }> = {
+  unreleased: {
+    en: ["Your messages are shown as Markdown; the eye button next to the text field previews it before sending"],
+    de: ["Deine Nachrichten werden als Markdown dargestellt; das Augen-Symbol neben dem Textfeld zeigt vor dem Senden eine Vorschau"],
+  },
   "202611-00014": {
     en: ["Folder picker (new automation, new chat): create a new folder right there"],
     de: ["Ordnerauswahl (neue Automatisierung, neuer Chat): direkt einen neuen Ordner anlegen"],