Popcase: a lightbox plugin for EmDash

[harryxu]

Popcase is a native EmDash plugin that lets readers click body images to open a lightbox and browse the images in an article. It works with existing content without editing or resaving entries.
It uses Yet Another React Lightbox and supports:

• Image blocks, galleries, images inside columns, and linked images in inline HTML.
• Zoom, keyboard navigation, and touch controls.
• Captions, an image counter, and an optional thumbnail strip.
• Admin settings to enable it for all content types or select individual types.
• Separate preview and full-size images through the image’s Link URL.

Live Demo: https://my-emdash-site.harryzhxu.workers.dev/posts/popcase-demo

The viewer code and styles load when someone first opens an image. Cover images, listing thumbnails, and avatars are outside its scope.
Install it with:

pnpm add emdash-popcase

Then register it in your site’s astro.config.mjs or astro.config.ts. It requires EmDash 1.3.1+, Astro 7, React, React DOM, and @astrojs/react. The README has the full configuration.
Popcase uses Astro rendering components and page hooks, so it ships as a native npm plugin. Installation requires rebuilding and redeploying your site.
The code is MIT licensed:

• GitHub
• npm
  I’d be interested to hear how it works with other themes, especially image layouts and mobile interactions. If something breaks, please share your EmDash version and steps to reproduce it here or in a GitHub issue.

I will keep adding features, including video playback, YouTube integration, and more.