astro/packages/integrations/markdoc

@astrojs/markdoc (experimental) 📝

This Astro integration enables the usage of Markdoc to create components, pages, and content collection entries.

• Why Markdoc?
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Examples
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• Changelog

Why Markdoc?

Markdoc allows you to enhance your Markdown with Astro components. If you have existing content authored in Markdoc, this integration allows you to bring those files to your Astro project using content collections.

Installation

Quick Install

The astro add command-line tool automates the installation for you. Run one of the following commands in a new terminal window. (If you aren't sure which package manager you're using, run the first command.) Then, follow the prompts, and type "y" in the terminal (meaning "yes") for each one.

# Using NPM
npx astro add markdoc
# Using Yarn
yarn astro add markdoc
# Using PNPM
pnpm astro add markdoc

If you run into any issues, feel free to report them to us on GitHub and try the manual installation steps below.

Manual Install

First, install the @astrojs/markdoc package using your package manager. If you're using npm or aren't sure, run this in the terminal:

npm install @astrojs/markdoc

Then, apply this integration to your astro.config.* file using the integrations property:

  // astro.config.mjs
  import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
+ import markdoc from '@astrojs/markdoc';
  export default defineConfig({
    // ...
    integrations: [markdoc()],
    //             ^^^^^^^^^
  });

Editor Integration

VS Code supports Markdown by default. However, for Markdoc editor support, you may wish to add the following setting in your VSCode config. This ensures authoring Markdoc files provides a Markdown-like editor experience.

{
  "files.associations": {
    "*.mdoc": "markdown"
  }
}

Usage

Markdoc files can only be used within content collections. Add entries to any content collection using the .mdoc extension:

src/content/docs/
  why-markdoc.mdoc
  quick-start.mdoc

Then, query your collection using the Content Collection APIs:

---
import { getEntryBySlug } from 'astro:content';

const entry = await getEntryBySlug('docs', 'why-markdoc');
const { Content } = await entry.render();
---

<!--Access frontmatter properties with `data`-->
<h1>{entry.data.title}</h1>
<!--Render Markdoc contents with the Content component-->
<Content />

📚 See the Astro Content Collection docs for more information.

Markdoc config

@astrojs/markdoc offers configuration options to use all of Markdoc's features and connect UI components to your content.

Use Astro components as Markdoc tags

You can configure Markdoc tags that map to .astro components. You can add a new tag by creating a markdoc.config.mjs|ts file at the root of your project and configuring the tag attribute.

This example renders an Aside component, and allows a type prop to be passed as a string:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, component } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  tags: {
    aside: {
      render: component('./src/components/Aside.astro'),
      attributes: {
        // Markdoc requires type defs for each attribute.
        // These should mirror the `Props` type of the component
        // you are rendering.
        // See Markdoc's documentation on defining attributes
        // https://markdoc.dev/docs/attributes#defining-attributes
        type: { type: String },
      },
    },
  },
});

This component can now be used in your Markdoc files with the {% aside %} tag. Children will be passed to your component's default slot:

# Welcome to Markdoc 👋

{% aside type="tip" %}

Use tags like this fancy "aside" to add some _flair_ to your docs.

{% /aside %}

Use Astro components from npm packages and TypeScript files

You may need to use Astro components exposed as named exports from TypeScript or JavaScript files. This is common when using npm packages and design systems.

You can pass the import name as the second argument to the component() function:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, component } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  tags: {
    tabs: {
      render: component('@astrojs/starlight/components', 'Tabs'),
    },
  },
});

This generates the following import statement internally:

import { Tabs } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';

Custom headings

@astrojs/markdoc automatically adds anchor links to your headings, and generates a list of headings via the content collections API. To further customize how headings are rendered, you can apply an Astro component as a Markdoc node.

This example renders a Heading.astro component using the render property:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, nodes, component } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  nodes: {
    heading: {
      ...nodes.heading, // Preserve default anchor link generation
      render: component('./src/components/Heading.astro'),
    },
  },
});

All Markdown headings will render the Heading.astro component and pass the following attributes as component props:

• level: number The heading level 1 - 6
• id: string An id generated from the heading's text contents. This corresponds to the slug generated by the content render() function.

For example, the heading ### Level 3 heading! will pass level: 3 and id: 'level-3-heading' as component props.

Syntax highlighting

@astrojs/markdoc provides Shiki and Prism extensions to highlight your code blocks.

Shiki

Apply the shiki() extension to your Markdoc config using the extends property. You can optionally pass a shiki configuration object:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';
import shiki from '@astrojs/markdoc/shiki';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  extends: [
    shiki({
      // Choose from Shiki's built-in themes (or add your own)
      // Default: 'github-dark'
      // https://github.com/shikijs/shiki/blob/main/docs/themes.md
      theme: 'dracula',
      // Enable word wrap to prevent horizontal scrolling
      // Default: false
      wrap: true,
      // Pass custom languages
      // Note: Shiki has countless langs built-in, including `.astro`!
      // https://github.com/shikijs/shiki/blob/main/docs/languages.md
      langs: [],
    }),
  ],
});

Prism

Apply the prism() extension to your Markdoc config using the extends property.

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';
import prism from '@astrojs/markdoc/prism';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  extends: [prism()],
});

📚 To learn about configuring Prism stylesheets, see our syntax highlighting guide.

Set the root HTML element

Markdoc wraps documents with an <article> tag by default. This can be changed from the document Markdoc node. This accepts an HTML element name or null if you prefer to remove the wrapper element:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, nodes } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  nodes: {
    document: {
      ...nodes.document, // Apply defaults for other options
      render: null, // default 'article'
    },
  },
});

Custom Markdoc nodes / elements

You may want to render standard Markdown elements, such as paragraphs and bolded text, as Astro components. For this, you can configure a Markdoc node. If a given node receives attributes, they will be available as component props.

This example renders blockquotes with a custom Quote.astro component:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, nodes, component } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  nodes: {
    blockquote: {
      ...nodes.blockquote, // Apply Markdoc's defaults for other options
      render: component('./src/components/Quote.astro'),
    },
  },
});

📚 Find all of Markdoc's built-in nodes and node attributes on their documentation.

Use client-side UI components

Tags and nodes are restricted to .astro files. To embed client-side UI components in Markdoc, use a wrapper .astro component that renders a framework component with your desired client: directive.

This example wraps a React Aside.tsx component with a ClientAside.astro component:

---
// src/components/ClientAside.astro
import Aside from './Aside';
---

<Aside {...Astro.props} client:load />

This Astro component can now be passed to the render prop for any tag or node in your config:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig, component } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  tags: {
    aside: {
      render: component('./src/components/ClientAside.astro'),
      attributes: {
        type: { type: String },
      },
    },
  },
});

Markdoc config

The markdoc.config.mjs|ts file accepts all Markdoc configuration options, including tags and functions.

You can pass these options from the default export in your markdoc.config.mjs|ts file:

// markdoc.config.mjs
import { defineMarkdocConfig } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  functions: {
    getCountryEmoji: {
      transform(parameters) {
        const [country] = Object.values(parameters);
        const countryToEmojiMap = {
          japan: '🇯🇵',
          spain: '🇪🇸',
          france: '🇫🇷',
        };
        return countryToEmojiMap[country] ?? '🏳';
      },
    },
  },
});

Now, you can call this function from any Markdoc content entry:

¡Hola {% getCountryEmoji("spain") %}!

📚 See the Markdoc documentation for more on using variables or functions in your content.

Markdoc Language Server

If you are using VS Code, there is an official Markdoc language extension that includes syntax highlighting and autocomplete for configured tags. See the language server on GitHub for more information.

To set up the extension, create a markdoc.config.json file into the project root with following content:

[
  {
    "id": "my-site",
    "path": "src/content",
    "schema": {
      "path": "markdoc.config.mjs",
      "type": "esm",
      "property": "default",
      "watch": true
    }
  }
]

The schema property contains all information to configure the language server for Astro content collections. It accepts following properties:

• path: The path to the configuration file.
• type: The type of module your configuration file uses (esm allows import syntax).
• property: The exported property name that contains the configuration object.
• watch: Tell the server to watch for changes in the configuration.

The top-level path property tells the server where content is located. Since Markdoc is specific to content collections, you can use src/content.

Pass Markdoc variables

You may need to pass variables to your content. This is useful when passing SSR parameters like A/B tests.

Variables can be passed as props via the Content component:

---
import { getEntryBySlug } from 'astro:content';

const entry = await getEntryBySlug('docs', 'why-markdoc');
const { Content } = await entry.render();
---

<!--Pass the `abTest` param as a variable-->
<Content abTestGroup={Astro.params.abTestGroup} />

Now, abTestGroup is available as a variable in docs/why-markdoc.mdoc:

{% if $abTestGroup === 'image-optimization-lover' %}

Let me tell you about image optimization...

{% /if %}

To make a variable global to all Markdoc files, you can use the variables attribute from your markdoc.config.mjs|ts:

import { defineMarkdocConfig } from '@astrojs/markdoc/config';

export default defineMarkdocConfig({
  variables: {
    environment: process.env.IS_PROD ? 'prod' : 'dev',
  },
});

Access frontmatter from your Markdoc content

To access frontmatter, you can pass the entry data property as a variable where you render your content:

---
import { getEntry } from 'astro:content';

const entry = await getEntry('docs', 'why-markdoc');
const { Content } = await entry.render();
---

<Content frontmatter={entry.data} />

This can now be accessed as $frontmatter in your Markdoc.

Integration config options

The Astro Markdoc integration handles configuring Markdoc options and capabilities that are not available through the markdoc.config.js file.

allowHTML

Enables writing HTML markup alongside Markdoc tags and nodes.

By default, Markdoc will not recognize HTML markup as semantic content.

To achieve a more Markdown-like experience, where HTML elements can be included alongside your content, set allowHTML:true as a markdoc integration option. This will enable HTML parsing in Markdoc markup.

  // astro.config.mjs
  import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
  import markdoc from '@astrojs/markdoc';

  export default defineConfig({
    // ...
+   integrations: [markdoc({ allowHTML: true })],
    //                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  });

Warning

When allowHTML is enabled, HTML markup inside Markdoc documents will be rendered as actual HTML elements (including <script>), making attack vectors like XSS possible. Ensure that any HTML markup comes from trusted sources.

ignoreIndentation

By default, any content that is indented by four spaces is treated as a code block. Unfortunately, this behavior makes it difficult to use arbitrary levels of indentation to improve the readability of documents with complex structure.

When using nested tags in Markdoc, it can be helpful to indent the content inside of tags so that the level of depth is clear. To support arbitrary indentation, we have to disable the indent-based code blocks and modify several other markdown-it parsing rules that account for indent-based code blocks. These changes can be applied by enabling the ignoreIndentation option.

  // astro.config.mjs
  import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
  import markdoc from '@astrojs/markdoc';

  export default defineConfig({
    // ...
+   integrations: [markdoc({ ignoreIndentation: true })],
    //                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  });

# Welcome to Markdoc with indented tags 👋

# Note: Can use either spaces or tabs for indentation

{% custom-tag %}
{% custom-tag %} ### Tags can be indented for better readability

    {% another-custom-tag %}
      This is easier to follow when there is a lot of nesting
    {% /another-custom-tag %}

{% /custom-tag %}
{% /custom-tag %}

Examples

• The Astro Markdoc starter template shows how to use Markdoc files in your Astro project.

Troubleshooting

For help, check out the #support channel on Discord. Our friendly Support Squad members are here to help!

You can also check our Astro Integration Documentation for more on integrations.

Contributing

This package is maintained by Astro's Core team. You're welcome to submit an issue or PR!

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a history of changes to this integration.