Comark - Skills Guide

A high-performance markdown parser with Comark (Components in Markdown) support, built on markdown-it, offering both string-based and streaming APIs.

Overview

Comark extends standard markdown with a powerful component system while maintaining full compatibility with CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown. It provides:

• 🚀 High-performance parsing with markdown-it engine
• 📦 Streaming support with buffered and incremental modes
• ⚡ Real-time rendering with auto-close for incomplete syntax
• 🔧 Comark component syntax for custom components
• 🎨 Vue, React, Svelte & Angular renderers with custom component mapping
• 📝 YAML frontmatter support
• 📑 Automatic TOC generation
• 🎯 Full TypeScript support
• 🌈 Syntax highlighting with Shiki integration

Package Information

• Package Name: comark
• Installation: npm install comark or pnpm add comark
• Exports:
  • Main parser: comark
  • Vue components: @comark/vue
  • React components: @comark/react
  • Svelte components: @comark/svelte
  • Angular components: @comark/angular
  • HTML rendering: @comark/html
  • ANSI terminal rendering: @comark/ansi
  • Nuxt module: @comark/nuxt

Quick Start

Basic Usage

import { parseMarkdown } from 'comark'

const content = `---
title: Hello World
---

# Hello World

This is **markdown** with :icon component.

::alert{type="info"}
Important message
::
`

const result = await parseMarkdown(content)
console.log(result.nodes)       // Markdown AST
console.log(result.frontmatter) // { title: 'Hello World' }
console.log(result.meta)    // Additional metadata

Vue Rendering

<template>
  <Markdown :value="content" />
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
import { Markdown } from '@comark/vue'

const content = `# Hello World`
</script>

React Rendering

import { Markdown } from '@comark/react'

export default function App() {
  return <Markdown value={content} />
}

Svelte Rendering

<script lang="ts">
  import { Markdown } from '@comark/svelte'

  const content = `# Hello World`
</script>

<Markdown value={content} />

Angular Rendering

import { Component } from '@angular/core'
import { Markdown } from '@comark/angular'

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [Markdown],
  template: `<comark-markdown [value]="content" />`,
})
export class AppComponent {
  content = `# Hello World`
}

Documentation Sections

This guide is organized into focused sections covering different aspects of the package:

📝 1. Markdown Syntax

Learn how to write Comark documents with complete syntax reference:

• Standard Markdown: headings, text formatting, lists, links, images, blockquotes
• Frontmatter: YAML metadata with special fields (title, depth, searchDepth)
• Comark Components: block components (::component), inline components (:component), properties, slots, nesting
• Attributes: custom attributes on native markdown elements using {...} syntax
• Code Blocks: language specification, filename metadata, line highlighting, special characters
• Task Lists: GFM-style checkboxes with [x] and [ ] syntax
• Tables: GFM tables with alignment and inline markdown support

→ Read Full Markdown Syntax Guide

🔧 2. Parsing & Document Model

Complete guide for parsing and working with MarkdownDocument:

• String Parsing: parseMarkdown() function with options (autoUnwrap, autoClose)
• Async Parsing: parseMarkdown() with Shiki syntax highlighting
• Document Structure: serializable MarkdownDocument with compact array-based nodes
• Rendering Documents: convert to HTML (renderHtmlFromDocument via @comark/html) or markdown (renderMarkdown via comark/render)
• Auto-close: automatic closing of unclosed syntax
• Auto-unwrap: remove unnecessary paragraph wrappers from container components

→ Read Full Parsing & Document Model Guide

⚛️ 3. Vue Rendering

Comprehensive guide for rendering in Vue applications:

• Basic Usage: Markdown component setup
• Custom Components: mapping custom Vue components to Comark elements
• Dynamic Loading: componentsManifest for lazy-loaded components
• Slots Support: named slots with #slot-name syntax
• Streaming Mode: real-time rendering with reactive content
• Prose Components: pre-built styled components for standard elements
• Error Handling: built-in error capture for streaming scenarios
• Props Access: accessing __node and parsed properties

→ Read Full Vue Rendering Guide

⚛️ 4. React Rendering

Comprehensive guide for rendering in React applications:

• Basic Usage: Markdown component setup
• Custom Components: mapping custom React components to Comark elements
• Dynamic Loading: componentsManifest for lazy-loaded components
• Props Conversion: automatic HTML attribute conversion (class → className, etc.)
• Streaming Mode: real-time rendering with reactive content
• Prose Components: pre-built styled components for standard elements
• Custom Props: accessing parsed properties and __node
• CSS Class Name: custom wrapper classes and Tailwind CSS integration

→ Read Full React Rendering Guide

🎡 5. Svelte Rendering

Comprehensive guide for rendering in Svelte 5 applications:

• Basic Usage: Markdown component setup with $state
• Custom Components: mapping custom Svelte components to Comark elements
• Dynamic Loading: componentsManifest for lazy-loaded components
• Props Mapping: attribute-to-prop conversion (close to HTML semantics)
• Streaming Mode: real-time rendering with reactive $state
• Experimental Async: MarkdownAsync with <svelte:boundary>
• Prose Components: Prose prefix for overriding native HTML elements

→ Read Full Svelte Rendering Guide

🅰️ 6. Angular Rendering

Comprehensive guide for rendering in Angular 17+ applications:

• Basic Usage: Markdown standalone component setup
• Custom Components: mapping Angular components to Comark elements
• Component Resolution: Prose{PascalTag}, PascalTag, tag priority order
• Content Projection: named slots via <ng-content select="[slot=name]">
• Streaming Mode: real-time rendering with caret indicator
• Data Binding: :binding resolution with ambient data input
• Pre-configured Components: defineMarkdownComponent and defineMarkdownDocumentComponent
• Plugins: Math (KaTeX), Mermaid, Binding with Angular component wrappers

→ Read Full Angular Rendering Guide

🤖 7. Using with AI Agents

Guide for integrating Comark in AI agent and LLM streaming workflows:

• Streaming from LLMs: rendering incremental AI output in real time
• Auto-Close: handling incomplete syntax from partial LLM tokens
• Caret Indicator: showing a live cursor during generation
• Framework Examples: Vue, React, Svelte, Angular streaming patterns
• ANSI for CLIs: rendering AI output in terminal agents

→ Read Full Agents Guide

Key Features Deep Dive

Comark Component Syntax

Comark extends markdown with custom components while preserving readability:

<!-- Block Component -->
::alert{type="warning" .important}
This is a **warning** message with markdown support.
::

<!-- Inline Component -->
Check out this :icon-star{.text-yellow} component.

<!-- Component with Slots -->
::card
#header
## Title

#content
Main content

#footer
Footer
::

Markdown Document Model

Lightweight array-based structure for efficient processing:

interface MarkdownDocument {
  nodes: [
    ["h1", { "id": "hello" }, "Hello"],
    ["p", {}, "Text with ", ["strong", {}, "bold"], " word"],
    ["alert", { "type": "info" }, "Message"]
  ],
  frontmatter: {},
  meta: {}
}

Common Use Cases

1. Static Site Generator

import { parseMarkdown } from 'comark'
import { renderHtmlFromDocument } from '@comark/html'
import shiki from '@comark/html/plugins/shiki'

async function processMarkdownFile(filePath: string) {
  const content = await readFile(filePath, 'utf-8')

  const doc = await parseMarkdown(content, {
    plugins: [
      shiki({
        themes: { light: 'github-dark', dark: 'github-dark' },
      }),
    ],
  })

  return {
    html: await renderHtmlFromDocument(doc),
    frontmatter: doc.frontmatter,
    toc: doc.meta.toc
  }
}

2. Real-time Markdown Editor

import { useState } from 'react'
import { Markdown } from '@comark/react'

export default function Editor() {
  const [content, setContent] = useState('# Hello')

  return (
    <div className="split-editor">
      <textarea value={content} onChange={e => setContent(e.target.value)} />
      <Markdown value={content} />
    </div>
  )
}

3. Batch File Processing

import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
import { parseMarkdown } from 'comark'

async function processMultipleFiles(files: string[]) {
  const results = await Promise.all(
    files.map(async (file) => {
      const content = await readFile(file, 'utf-8')
      return await parseMarkdown(content)
    })
  )

  results.forEach((result, i) => {
    console.log(`File ${files[i]}:`)
    console.log(`  - ${result.nodes.length} nodes`)
  })
}

4. Documentation Platform

<template>
  <article class="prose">
    <Markdown :value="markdownContent" :components="docComponents" />
  </article>
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
import { Markdown } from '@comark/vue'
import { docComponents } from './components'
</script>

API Reference Summary

Core Functions (comark)

// Asynchronous parsing
parseMarkdown(source: string, options?: ParserOptions): Promise<MarkdownDocument>

// Auto-close unclosed syntax
autoCloseMarkdown(source: string): string

HTML Rendering Functions (@comark/html)

// Render markdown to HTML string (parse + render in one step)
renderHtml(markdown: string, options?: ParserOptions & RendererOptions): Promise<string>

// Render a pre-parsed document to HTML
renderHtmlFromDocument(document: MarkdownDocument, options?: RendererOptions): Promise<string>

// Create a reusable render function with shared parser instance
createHtmlRenderer(options?: ParserOptions & RendererOptions): (markdown: string) => Promise<string>

Vue Components (@comark/vue)

<Markdown :value="markdownString" :components="customComponents" />

React Components (@comark/react)

<Markdown value={markdownString} components={customComponents} />

Svelte Components (@comark/svelte)

<Markdown value={markdownString} components={customComponents} />

Angular Components (@comark/angular)

<comark-markdown [value]="markdownString" [components]="customComponents" />

Performance Characteristics

• Serializable document model - compact array-based nodes
• Lazy component loading - only load what's needed
• Shiki highlighter caching - avoid re-initialization
• Parallel processing - batch parse multiple files efficiently

TypeScript Support

Full TypeScript definitions included:

import type {
  MarkdownDocument,
  Node,
  ParserOptions,
} from 'comark'

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Markdown Input (String)         │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Auto-close     │ (Optional)
        │  Unclosed       │
        │  Syntax         │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Parse          │
        │  Frontmatter    │ (YAML)
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  MarkdownIt     │
        │  + Plugins      │ (Comark, Tasks)
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Token          │
        │  Processing     │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Comark         │
        │  AST            │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Auto-unwrap    │ (Optional)
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  Generate TOC   │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
        ┌────────▼────────┐
        │  MarkdownDocument     │
        │  (nodes + data  │
        │   + meta)       │
        └────────┬────────┘
                 │
     ┌───────────┬──────┴──────┬───────────┐
     ▼           ▼            ▼           ▼
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│   Vue   │ │  React  │ │ Svelte  │ │ Angular │
│ Renderer│ │ Renderer│ │ Renderer│ │ Renderer│
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Contributing & Testing

See the test specifications for examples of all supported syntax features.

Run tests:

pnpm test

Run specific test:

pnpm test -- tests/parse.test.ts

Resources

• README: README.md - Installation and quick start
• Specifications: SPEC/ - Complete syntax test cases

Summary

Comark is a comprehensive solution for parsing and rendering markdown with component support. It excels at:

1. Extending Markdown - Component syntax without breaking compatibility
2. Streaming Support - Real-time rendering with auto-close
3. Serializable Documents - Efficient MarkdownDocument model with compact nodes
4. Framework Support - First-class Vue, React, Svelte, and Angular integration
5. Developer Experience - Full TypeScript support and comprehensive documentation

Choose Comark when you need:

• Markdown with custom components
• Streaming/incremental parsing
• Real-time markdown editors
• AI-generated content rendering
• Documentation platforms
• Static site generation with custom components

Next Steps:

• 📝 Learn Markdown Syntax
• 🔧 Master Parsing & AST
• ⚛️ Explore Vue Rendering
• ⚛️ Explore React Rendering
• 🎡 Explore Svelte Rendering
• 🅰️ Explore Angular Rendering
• 🤖 Use with AI Agents