prosemirror-better-backspace/README.md

A ProseMirror plugin that provides better backspace behavior for list items and empty paragraphs

# ProseMirror Better Backspace Plugin

A ProseMirror plugin that provides enhanced backspace behavior for list items and empty paragraphs.

- [The blog post](https://jkrsp.com/blog/prosemirror-backspace-problem/)
- [The npm package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/prosemirror-better-backspace)

## Features

- **List Item Lifting**: When you backspace on an empty list item, it gets lifted out of the list structure
- **Paragraph Merging**: Empty paragraphs are merged with previous text containers when backspacing
- **Smart Cursor Positioning**: Maintains proper cursor positioning after operations
- **Schema Agnostic**: Works with any ProseMirror schema that includes list items and paragraphs

## Installation

```bash
bun install prosemirror-better-backspace
```

## Usage

```typescript
import { createBackspacePlugin } from 'prosemirror-better-backspace';
import { EditorState } from 'prosemirror-state';
import { Schema } from 'prosemirror-model';

// Create your schema (example with list support)
const schema = new Schema({
  nodes: addListNodes(schema.spec.nodes, 'paragraph block*', 'block'),
  marks: schema.spec.marks
});

// Create editor state with the plugin
const state = EditorState.create({
  doc: schema.node('doc', null, [
    schema.node('paragraph', null, [schema.text('Hello world')])
  ]),
  plugins: [
    // ... your other plugins
    createBackspacePlugin(schema)
  ]
});
```

## How it Works

### List Item Behavior

When you have a list item that becomes empty and you press backspace:

1. The plugin detects the empty list item
2. It lifts the list item out of the list structure using `liftListItem`
3. The list item becomes a regular paragraph

### Empty Paragraph Behavior

When you have an empty paragraph and press backspace:

1. The plugin finds the nearest previous text container
2. It merges the empty paragraph with the previous content
3. The cursor is positioned at the end of the merged content

## API

### `createBackspacePlugin(schema: Schema): Plugin`

Creates a ProseMirror plugin that handles backspace behavior.

**Parameters:**
- `schema`: The ProseMirror schema to use for node type detection

**Returns:**
- A ProseMirror plugin that can be added to your editor state

## Example

Check out the [example app](./src/example/) to see the plugin in action. You can run it with:

```bash
bun run example:dev
```

## Development

```bash
# Install dependencies
bun install

# Build the package
bun run build

# Run the example app
bun run example:dev
```

## License

MIT