micromark-extension-directive

micromark extensions to support directives (:cite[smith04] and such).

What is this?
When to use this
Install
Use
API
Authoring
HTML
CSS
Syntax
Types
Compatibility
Security
Related
Contribute
License

What is this?

This package contains two extensions that add support for directive syntax in markdown to micromark.

When to use this

This project is useful when you want to solve the need for an infinite number of potential extensions to markdown in a single markdown-esque way.

You can use these extensions when you are working with micromark already.

When you need a syntax tree, you can combine this package with mdast-util-directive.

All these packages are used remark-directive, which focusses on making it easier to transform content by abstracting these internals away.

Install

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

npm:

npm install micromark-extension-directive

In Deno with esm.sh:

import {directive, directiveHtml} from 'https://esm.sh/micromark-extension-directive@3'

In browsers with esm.sh:

<script type="module">
  import {directive, directiveHtml} from 'https://esm.sh/micromark-extension-directive@3?bundle'
</script>

Use

Say our document example.md contains:

A lovely language know as :abbr[HTML]{title="HyperText Markup Language"}.

…and our module example.js looks as follows:

/**
 * @import {Handle} from 'micromark-extension-directive'
 * @import {CompileContext} from 'micromark-util-types'
 */

import fs from 'node:fs/promises'
import {micromark} from 'micromark'
import {directive, directiveHtml} from 'micromark-extension-directive'

const output = micromark(await fs.readFile('example.md'), {
  extensions: [directive()],
  htmlExtensions: [directiveHtml({abbr})]
})

console.log(output)

/**
 * @this {CompileContext}
 * @type {Handle}
 * @returns {undefined}
 */
function abbr(d) {
  if (d.type !== 'textDirective') return false

  this.tag('<abbr')

  if (d.attributes && 'title' in d.attributes) {
    this.tag(' title="' + this.encode(d.attributes.title) + '"')
  }

  this.tag('>')
  this.raw(d.label || '')
  this.tag('</abbr>')
}

…now running node example.js yields:

<p>A lovely language know as <abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr>.</p>

API

This package exports the identifiers directive and directiveHtml. There is no default export.

The export map supports the development condition. Run node --conditions development module.js to get instrumented dev code. Without this condition, production code is loaded.

`directive()`

Create an extension for micromark to enable directive syntax.

Returns

Extension for micromark that can be passed in extensions, to enable directive syntax (Extension).

`directiveHtml(options?)`

Create an extension for micromark to support directives when serializing to HTML.

👉 Note: this uses KaTeX to render math.

Parameters

options (HtmlOptions, default: {}) — configuration

Returns

Extension for micromark that can be passed in htmlExtensions, to support directives when serializing to HTML (HtmlExtension).

`Directive`

Structure representing a directive (TypeScript type).

Fields

type ('containerDirective', 'leafDirective', or 'textDirective') — kind
name (string) — name of directive
label (string or undefined) — compiled HTML content that was in [brackets]
attributes (Record<string, string> or undefined) — object w/ HTML attributes
content (string or undefined) — compiled HTML content inside container directive

`Handle`

Handle a directive (TypeScript type).

Parameters

this (CompileContext) — current context
directive (Directive) — directive

Returns

Signal whether the directive was handled (boolean, default: true). Yield false to let the fallback (a special handle for '*') handle it.

`HtmlOptions`

Configuration (TypeScript type).

👉 Note: the special field '*' can be used to specify a fallback handle to handle all otherwise unhandled directives.

Type

type HtmlOptions = Record<string, Handle>

Authoring

When authoring markdown with directives, keep in mind that they don’t work in most places. On your own site it can be great!

HTML

You can define how directives are turned into HTML. If directives are not handled, they do not emit anything.

CSS

How to display directives is left as an exercise for the reader.

Syntax

The syntax looks like this:

Directives in text can form with a single colon, such as :cite[smith04].
Their syntax is `:name[label]{attributes}`.

Leafs (block without content) can form by using two colons:

::youtube[Video of a cat in a box]{vid=01ab2cd3efg}

Their syntax is `::name[label]{attributes}` on its own line.

Containers (blocks with content) can form by using three colons:

:::spoiler
He dies.
:::

The `name` part is required.  The first character must be a letter, other
characters can be alphanumerical, `-`, and `_`.
`-` or `_` cannot end a name.

The `[label]` part is optional (`:x` and `:x[]` are equivalent)†.
When used, it can include text constructs such as emphasis and so on: `x[a *b*
c]`.

The `{attributes}` part is optional (`:x` and `:x{}` are equivalent)†.
When used, it is handled like HTML attributes, such as that `{a}`, `{a=""}`,
, `{a=''}` but also `{a=b}`, `{a="b"}`, and `{a='b'}` are equivalent.
Shortcuts are available for `id=` (`{#readme}` for `{id=readme}`) and
`class` (`{.big}` for `{class=big}`).
When multiple ids are found, the last is used; when multiple classes are found,
they are combined: `{.red class=green .blue}` is equivalent to
`{.red .green .blue}` and `{class="red green blue"}`.

† there is one case where a name must be followed by an empty label or empty
attributes: a *text* directive that only has a name, cannot be followed by a
colon. So, `:red:` doesn’t work. Use either `:red[]` or `:red{}` instead.
The reason for this is to allow GitHub emoji (gemoji) and directives to coexist.

Containers can be nested by using more colons outside:

::::spoiler
He dies.

:::spoiler
She is born.
:::
::::

The closing fence must include the same or more colons as the opening.
If no closing is found, the container runs to the end of its parent container
(block quote, list item, document, or other container).

::::spoiler
These three are not enough to close
:::
So this line is also part of the container.

Note that while other implementations are sometimes loose in what they allow, this implementation mimics CommonMark as closely as possible:

Whitespace is not allowed between colons and name (~~: a~~), name and label (~~:a []~~), name and attributes (~~:a {}~~), or label and attributes (~~:a[] {}~~) — because it’s not allowed in links either (~~[] ()~~)
No trailing colons allowed on the opening fence of a container (~~:::a:::~~) — because it’s not allowed in fenced code either
The label and attributes in a leaf or container cannot include line endings (~~::a[b\nc]~~) — because it’s not allowed in fenced code either

Types

This package is fully typed with TypeScript. It exports the additional types Directive, Handle, and HtmlOptions.

Compatibility

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, micromark-extension-directive@^3, compatible with Node.js 16.

This package works with micromark version 3 and later.

Security

This package is safe assuming that you write safe handlers. Any vulnerability in your code could open you to a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack.

remark-directive — remark plugin to support directives
mdast-util-directive — mdast utility to support directives

Contribute

See contributing.md in micromark/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.