Run artifact

evidence/prompts/20260812.171629.443Z_commonmark_plan_codex.prompt.md

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System Instructions

This prompt is divided into three sections:

  1. System Instructions (this section) — structural orientation only. Do not treat this

section as task input.

  1. Input Context — begins with the heading # Input Context. All blocks are wrapped in

<pblock> tags. Two block types:

guidance attribute carries context-specific instructions; content is in a fenced block.

rules, instructions, or group headers.

  1. Agent Task — begins with the heading # Agent Task. Defines your persona, constraints,

and required outputs. Read all input context before acting on this section.

Input Context

<pblock label="Planning job" kind="job">

Planning job

</pblock>

<pblock filename="COMPASS.md" role="compass" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/COMPASS.md" guidance="Important: This is the core project intent, constraints, and guardrails. It should have presecedence in conflicts.">

# COMPASS: CommonMark

## Compass

CommonMark is a command-line Markdown parser for users and automation that converts CommonMark 0.31.2 input into HTML. The parser reads standard input, writes standard output, and is judged by the supplied complete conformance suite.

## Constraints

- Implement the supplied CommonMark 0.31.2 behavior.
- Parse block structure before inline structure.
- Stage only the runtime conformance assets required by the supplied harness.
- Keep focused verification bounded to the story-owned selectors.
- Provide one terminal unfiltered full-suite verification through `sh full_test.sh`.

## Guardrails

- Do not use a public Markdown implementation.
- Preserve the harness's standard-input, standard-output, and exit-status contract.
- Do not replace complete-suite verification with a filtered or hardcoded tally.
- Do not treat imported instructions as runtime application assets.

<!-- drydock:build-write-guardrail:start -->
## Build Write Guardrail

- Authorized build directory: `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/build/commonmark`
- Authorized Target directory: `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark`
- Build agents have permission to create, modify, and remove files required by the active build block inside these authorized directories.
- No path outside these authorized directories may be modified.
- Protected Drydock artifacts:
  - `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/`
  - `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/MANIFEST.md`
  - `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/COMPASS.md`
  - `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/QuarterDeck/`
  - `/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/evidence/`
<!-- drydock:build-write-guardrail:end -->

</pblock>

<pblock filename="TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md" role="technology stack" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md" guidance="Edit freely. Adding a technology never requires a matching Rigging file, and this file never blocks planning.">

# Technology Stack

**Approved:** 2026-08-10

Technology decisions of record for this Target. One row per technology, naming the
Rigging best-practice file that governs building it.

A `—` in the Rigging column means no Rigging guidance exists for that technology; the
builder applies general best practice instead. Adding a row never requires a matching
Rigging file.

This file is owned by the UAT kit. It is seeded into the Target before `analyze`, which
never overwrites it, and `drydock plan` reads it to assign per-story `stack:` guidance.

| Technology | Rigging | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Python 3 | python.md | Implementation language. |
| Python standard library | common.md | No third-party runtime dependencies. |
| POSIX shell | common.md | `full_test.sh` is required to be POSIX-compatible. |

</pblock>

<pblock filename="ANALYSIS.md" role="planning basis" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/ANALYSIS.md" guidance="A list of Agile Stories suggested by an earlier analysis of the raw input.">

# Blueprint Analysis: CommonMark

## Commander Expectations

- assert the parser reads CommonMark from standard input, writes HTML to standard output, and passes the complete supplied conformance suite.

## Crew

| Crew | Charge |
|---|---|
| Commander | Defines intent and decides what done means. |
| Team Lead | Confirms epic completeness and stakeholder expectations. |
| Planning Crew | Authors atomic specifications and the ordered Manifest. |
| Shipyard Crew | Builds the tickets without synchronous Commander access. |

## Story List

### Feature: Command-Line Parser

| ID | Story | High-level AC |
|---|---|---|
| CLI-001 | Implement standard-input and standard-output entry point | The executable reads UTF-8 Markdown from stdin and writes rendered HTML to stdout. |
| CLI-002 | Implement parser error and process behavior | Invalid operational conditions produce deterministic diagnostics and nonzero exit behavior without corrupting stdout. |
| CLI-003 | Document parser operation | README.md documents the stdin/stdout interface and `sh full_test.sh`. |

### Feature: Block Structure

| ID | Story | High-level AC |
|---|---|---|
| BLOCK-001 | Parse leaf blocks | The parser handles thematic breaks, ATX and setext headings, indented code, fenced code, HTML blocks, paragraphs, and link reference definitions. |
| BLOCK-002 | Parse block quotes | The parser handles block quote markers, nesting, blank lines, lazy continuation, and contained block structure. |
| BLOCK-003 | Parse list items and list structure | The parser handles bullet and ordered lists, nesting, lazy continuation, empty items, indentation, delimiter changes, and tight versus loose rendering. |

### Feature: Inline Parsing

| ID | Story | High-level AC |
|---|---|---|
| INLINE-001 | Parse escapes and character references | The parser handles punctuation escapes, entity references, numeric references, replacement characters, and context restrictions. |
| INLINE-002 | Parse code spans and line breaks | The parser handles code span delimiter lengths, normalization, hard breaks, and soft breaks. |
| INLINE-003 | Parse emphasis and strong emphasis | The parser applies delimiter-run rules, nesting, intraword restrictions, and precedence. |
| INLINE-004 | Parse links and images | The parser handles inline, full, collapsed, and shortcut references plus nested image descriptions and destination/title rules. |
| INLINE-005 | Parse autolinks and raw HTML | The parser handles URI/email autolinks, HTML tags, comments, declarations, processing instructions, and CDATA. |

### Feature: HTML Rendering

| ID | Story | High-level AC |
|---|---|---|
| RENDER-001 | Render block structure as HTML | Parsed blocks render with the required CommonMark HTML elements, nesting, escaping, and list paragraph rules. |
| RENDER-002 | Render inline structure as HTML | Inline nodes render with required escaping, links, images, code, emphasis, breaks, and raw HTML preservation. |
| RENDER-003 | Normalize URL, title, and attribute output | Rendered URLs, titles, attributes, and special characters match the supplied harness expectations. |

### Feature: Conformance Verification

| ID | Story | High-level AC |
|---|---|---|
| VERIFY-001 | Stage the supplied conformance assets | `spec.txt`, `spec_tests.py`, `cmark.py`, and `normalize.py` are available at their required runtime paths. |
| VERIFY-002 | Add bounded story verification | Parser stories run only their selected conformance sections or examples and report failures deterministically. |
| VERIFY-003 | Run the complete conformance suite | The terminal verification story runs `sh full_test.sh`, declares `Suite: full`, and passes the Sea Trial when the command exits zero. |

## Surfaced Acceptance Criteria

| ID | Story ID | Criterion |
|---|---|---|
| AC-001 | CLI-001 | The parser consumes Markdown from standard input and emits HTML to standard output. |
| AC-002 | VERIFY-001 | Runtime conformance assets include the supplied harness and every module it imports. |
| AC-003 | VERIFY-003 | The complete unfiltered supplied suite is executed as the final verification gate. |
| AC-004 | CLI-003 | README.md remains concise and documents the required invocation. |

## Source Inventory

| Path | Content kind | Disposition | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | markdown | analyzed | readable UTF-8 |
| `sources/cmark.py` | code | analyzed | readable UTF-8 |
| `sources/normalize.py` | code | analyzed | readable UTF-8 |
| `sources/spec.txt` | text | chunked | split into 18 bounded chunks |
| `sources/spec_tests.py` | code | analyzed | readable UTF-8 |

## Relationship Model

| Source or group | Relationship type | Related source or group | Evidence | Delivery implication |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | instruction-to-test | `sources/spec_tests.py` | Defines full-suite policy, scoped selectors, staging, and README requirements. | Planning must preserve bounded story checks and one terminal full-suite story. |
| `sources/spec.txt` | normative specification and conformance test suite | `sources/spec_tests.py` | The harness parses examples from `spec.txt`. | Stage the specification and use section selectors for focused verification. |
| `sources/spec_tests.py` | test-kit-to-implementation | parser executable | `CMark` invokes the deliverable and compares normalized HTML. | The executable must support stdin/stdout operation and deterministic exit codes. |
| `sources/spec_tests.py` | test-kit-to-helper | `sources/cmark.py`, `sources/normalize.py` | The harness imports both modules. | Stage both helper modules with the harness. |
| `sources/cmark.py` | implementation-to-helper | parser executable | Provides subprocess invocation of the tested program. | Conformance verification must invoke the real deliverable entry point. |
| `sources/normalize.py` | parser-to-normalizer | rendered HTML | Normalizes insignificant HTML differences before comparison. | Rendering must preserve all significant HTML semantics. |

## Source Roles

| Path | Role | Plan disposition | Build disposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | author intent | compass | prompt-only |
| `sources/spec.txt` | normative specification and conformance test suite | context | stage |
| `sources/spec_tests.py` | conformance harness | context | stage |
| `sources/cmark.py` | test helper | context | stage |
| `sources/normalize.py` | test helper | context | stage |

## Planning Instructions

### Delivery Shape

The system is a command-line CommonMark 0.31.2 parser. It accepts Markdown on stdin, performs block parsing followed by inline parsing, renders HTML on stdout, and is verified by the supplied Python conformance harness and shell wrapper.

### Story Realization Map

| Story ID | Durable Blueprint scope | Evidence | Related files | Delivery kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLI-001 | Executable interface | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | `sources/spec_tests.py`, `sources/cmark.py` | capability |
| CLI-002 | Process and failure behavior | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability and acceptance |
| CLI-003 | Operator documentation | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` | README.md | documentation |
| BLOCK-001 | Leaf block parser | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| BLOCK-002 | Block quote parser | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| BLOCK-003 | List parser | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| INLINE-001 | Escapes and references | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| INLINE-002 | Code spans and breaks | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| INLINE-003 | Emphasis algorithm | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| INLINE-004 | Links and images | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| INLINE-005 | Autolinks and HTML | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | capability |
| RENDER-001 | Block HTML renderer | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/normalize.py` | capability |
| RENDER-002 | Inline HTML renderer | `sources/spec.txt` | `sources/normalize.py` | capability |
| RENDER-003 | Output normalization compatibility | `sources/spec.txt`, `sources/normalize.py` | `sources/spec_tests.py` | integration |
| VERIFY-001 | Runtime conformance assets | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md`, `sources/spec_tests.py` | all staged source assets | integration |
| VERIFY-002 | Scoped story checks | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md`, `sources/spec_tests.py` | selected harness invocations | test harness |
| VERIFY-003 | Full-suite terminal gate | `sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md`, `SEA_TRIALS.md` | `full_test.sh` | acceptance contract |

### Test and Acceptance Strategy

Block and inline stories use focused selectors matching example-bearing headings in `spec.txt`. Rendering stories use bounded harness runs covering their owned syntax. No story other than VERIFY-003 runs the complete suite. VERIFY-003 is the sole terminal verification story, depends on every implementation story, declares `Suite: full`, and proves Sea Trial `st-001` through the exit status of `sh full_test.sh`.

### Sequencing and Dependencies

The executable interface precedes harness integration. Block parsing precedes inline parsing; list parsing depends on the shared block model. Rendering depends on both parser phases. The conformance assets are staged before focused verification. The full-suite story follows all parser and rendering stories and creates or invokes `full_test.sh`.

### Source Conflicts and Gaps

No conflicting product definitions were found. The implementation language and deployment packaging are not specified; the proposed stack records conventional choices without blocking planning. Authentication, persistence, external services, and UI workflows are not applicable to the described CLI parser.

## Analysis Notes
generated: 2026-08-12
blueprint: /mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint

Quality: Questions
  blockers: 0
  questions: 1
  features: 5
  stories: 16
  stack: Python 3 and POSIX shell; no application framework
  display_name: CommonMark
  short_description: A command-line CommonMark 0.31.2 parser that converts standard-input Markdown to HTML on standard output.

None.

</pblock>

<pblock filename="SEA_TRIALS.md" role="project acceptance contract" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/SEA_TRIALS.md">

# Sea Trials: CommonMark

## Policy

| Consequence | On FAIL | On INCONCLUSIVE |
|---|---|---|
| blocks  | fail   | attest |
| scores  | score  | score  |
| attests | report | report |

## st-001: The complete conformance suite passes
Type: technical
Required: yes
Criterion: The completed parser shall pass every test run by sh full_test.sh.
Testability: deterministic
Consequence: blocks
Verification: proof
Pattern: ubiquitous

</pblock>

<pblock label="Answered questionnaire header" kind="section">

Answered questionnaires (consume these decisions)

</pblock>

<pblock filename="discovery-identity.json" role="questionnaire" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/QuarterDeck/questionnaires/discovery-identity.json" guidance="Discovery/Questions and possible user answers.">

{
  "id": "discovery-identity",
  "title": "Discovery: Project Identity",
  "purpose": "Confirm the proposed display name and short description before planning.",
  "questions": [
    {
      "id": "display_name",
      "label": "Display Name",
      "prompt": "The display name Drydock will use for this project. Edit to override the proposal.",
      "input": "text",
      "proposed": "CommonMark",
      "answer": "CommonMark"
    },
    {
      "id": "short_description",
      "label": "Short Description",
      "prompt": "One-sentence description of what this project does. Edit to override the proposal.",
      "input": "textarea",
      "proposed": "A command-line CommonMark 0.31.2 parser that converts standard-input Markdown to HTML on standard output.",
      "answer": "A command-line CommonMark 0.31.2 parser that converts standard-input Markdown to HTML on standard output."
    }
  ]
}

</pblock>

<pblock filename="MANIFEST_CONTRACT.md" role="contract" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/prompts/MANIFEST_CONTRACT.md" guidance="MANIFEST output contract. Follow it exactly.">

---
name: Manifest Contract
description: Contract governing the format, story types, field semantics, lifecycle states, block grouping, and execution rules for `MANIFEST.md` — the single generated executable build plan for a Drydock Target.
version: 20260801 V14
---

## Overview

`MANIFEST.md` is the single generated execution view of the Blueprint. It determines build order,
selects required context, keeps work within useful context limits, identifies stale work, and
preserves unaffected accepted work. It is not a second product definition.

**Location:** `$DRYDOCK_WORKSPACE/targets/<Target>/MANIFEST.md`

The Manifest manages the full product lifecycle:

- specifications for individual components can be changed, resulting in context-minimized
  incremental builds
- new files (such as change tickets) can be discovered and applied

---

## Plan Header

```markdown
# MANIFEST: {ProjectName}
updated:     2026-06-08T12:00:00
plan_hash:   abc123456789
applied_specs: |
  DATABASE.md sha256=<content_sha256> commit=<file_commit_sha> applied_by=foundation applied_at=2026-06-26T14:22:00Z
planning_feedback: |
  decision-0123456789abcdef applied FEATURE-CATALOG.md
  decision-fedcba9876543210 retained
```

Build execution evidence lives in the execution log. The Manifest preamble carries build-state
provenance required to detect stale previously applied Blueprint Specifications. `applied_specs`
records one line per Blueprint Specification file applied by a successful story. The path
is relative to `blueprint/`. `sha256` is the authoritative dirty signal. `commit` is the latest git
commit that touched that file, or `-` when unavailable. `applied_by` identifies the story
that last applied the file. `applied_at` is the UTC application timestamp.

---

## Story Types

The Manifest is a list of stories. A `type` field is the only variation.

| Type | Contains | Runs |
|---|---|---|
| `foundational` | Foundation and scaffolding | Early; work depends on it |
| `service` | Everything that does work | Reorderable |
| `feature` | Acceptance criteria plus assembly and intent; no implementation instructions | After its members |

Foundational work is structure and scaffolding. Standing up S3 and proving the connection is
architecture. Everything S3 subsequently does is a service. Everything that is not architecture is
a service, and services are reorderable because they carry no structural debt. Much of what source
material labels architecture is service work: the web server and the database are foundation; a
voice service interpreter is a service wearing an architecture filename.

Foundation status derives from the dependency graph, not from a filename prefix. The rule is
*build the foundation that is needed*, not *build all foundation first*.

There is no fourth type. A "foundational service" — voice-to-text, for example — is foundational to
whatever depends on it, which the edges already state more precisely than a label could.

`spike` is not a story type. Research questions are handled by questionnaires before Plan and by the
owning story's `## Questions` section after. `ac` is not a story type: Programmatic Acceptance is
verification the build runs to prove a story is complete. A story is not "built and failed" — it is
built or it is not, so acceptance is a field the story owns and passing is part of the story's own
state transition.

### Feature is an assembly story

A feature is a story that depends on its member stories, carries acceptance criteria, and carries
assembly and intent instructions instead of implementation instructions. Same node, same execution
path, different content shape. When its member stories complete, the feature story runs and is made
to pass like any other story, so integration testing is a real build step rather than an implicit
hope. A feature story is preferably placed in the same block as its members.

### Story

```markdown
## story N: {Name}
id:           foundation
summary:      One-line description.
type:         foundational
kind:         capability
phase:        1
block:        1
implements:   ARCHITECTURE.md
covers:       CATALOG-001
accepts:      st-001
context:      DATABASE.md
stack:        common.md, python.md, fastapi.md
stack_mode:   builder
provides:     GET /health
consumes:
instructions: |
  Stand up the application factory and health check.
acceptance:   yes
depends:
state:        pending
```

**Field reference:**

| Field | Required | Authored by | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|-------------|
| `id` | Yes | Model | Stable unique slug within the Manifest |
| `summary` | Yes | Model | One-line description |
| `origin` | No | `drydock refit` | Provenance of a story authored from a source change, as `<source>@<commit>`. Absent on stories authored by `plan`. |
| `created` | No | `drydock refit` | ISO date the story was appended to the graph. |
| `type` | Yes | Model | `foundational` \| `service` \| `feature` |
| `kind` | Yes | Model | Delivery kind: `capability` \| `integration` \| `migration` \| `test harness` |
| `phase` | Yes | Model | Commander build sequencing; see below |
| `block` | Generated | Drydock | Context-optimization group; computed, never authored |
| `implements` | Yes | Model | The single governed specification this story builds |
| `covers` | No | Model | `ANALYSIS.md` Story IDs this story delivers. Every analyzed Story ID is named by exactly one story, whatever its `type`; a story with no analyzed counterpart omits the field |
| `accepts` | No | Model | `SEA_TRIALS.md` IDs this story implements |
| `context` | No | Model | Read-only support context files. Never a Compass file |
| `stack` | No | Model | Rigging stack files this story builds with |
| `stack_mode` | Generated | Drydock | `builder` \| `consumer`; computed from first use in build order |
| `provides` | No | Model | Routes, commands, symbols, datasets, queues, or events this story defines |
| `consumes` | No | Model | Interface points this story calls |
| `rules` | No | Model | Rigging rules files to inject |
| `copy` | No | Model | `source -> destination` file copies applied before build |
| `instructions` | Yes | Model | Freeform build instructions. A `feature` carries assembly and intent, not implementation |
| `acceptance` | Yes | Model | `yes` when the story has real acceptance to honor |
| `depends` | No | Model | Story ids that must be `closed/verified` first |
| `state` | Yes | Drydock | Current block state |
| `evidence` | No | Drydock | Path to the evidence file written after execution |
| `scope` | No | Model | `blueprint` \| `target` \| `both` — what this story changes |

Stories and governed specifications are one-to-one: every story implements exactly one
specification, and every specification is implemented by exactly one story. The story is the atomic
build primitive.

**Story sizing.** A story is a normal Agile story: 1 to 5 story points. Never a half point — that is
a task, folded into the story it serves. Never twelve — that is split. A story does one thing
completely, carries test criteria, and is releasable on its own; a task is not releasable and is
therefore not a story. A story has no token dimension. Token cost is measured against the block a
story is built in, never against the story. Story count is not capped: it is an output of correct
decomposition, not a target.

### Authorship versus verification

The model authors relationships, the actual topology (the story dependency graph), the high-level
topology (phases), and Programmatic Acceptance. Drydock verifies all of it, groups blocks, orders
the work, and serializes the Manifest.

The model never sorts, never checks its own consistency, and never reasons about a position in an
order it has not computed. It states what each story requires and provides; Drydock does the rest.
Contradictions become a deterministic error with a precise message instead of a shape failure.

`drydock plan create` therefore does not emit this file. It emits a flat `TOPOLOGY.md` declaration
carrying the Model-authored fields below — one `## story <id>` heading per governed specification,
no ordering, no `block:`, no `stack_mode:`, no `state:` — and Drydock serializes `MANIFEST.md` from
it. The field semantics in this contract govern both forms.

**Two-topology check.** The high-level and actual topologies must agree: a story in phase 2 cannot
depend on a story in phase 3.

### Phase

`Phase` is Commander instruction on how to build: *build Feature X, then Feature Y*. It is not a
layer chain. The layer stack repeats inside each phase rather than running once across the project —
foundational / database / service / ui, then service / ui, then foundational / service / service /
ui. Commander ordering direction is input the model weighs, not an override applied afterward.

`Phase` describes when a file is built, not the file, so it lives in the Manifest and never in a
Blueprint header.

### Blocks

A **block** is a set of stories optimized for context: sized to amortize fixed stack-file cost
across one build run, never crossing stacks. Blocks are an optimization output, not a taxonomy. UI
stories group together whether or not they belong to the same Agile feature. Context economy comes
from blocks, not from feature grouping.

Blocks are ephemeral, Manifest-only, regenerated every run, and computed by Drydock:

- **Hard:** one topology type per block; never cross a phase boundary; never violate the edges
- **Objective:** amortize stack-file cost across the most stories that still fit one build pass

The mechanism behind the no-cross-stack guardrail is stack creep from Rigging. Mixing topology types
in one block forces every stack file each type needs into the block, so it pays for context neither
half uses and the build agent reads instructions for work it is not doing. This is the reason story
types exist: they are the block-partition key.

### Builder and consumer mode

The model authors the foundational story that stands a stack up. Drydock assigns the
builder/consumer flag from first use in the computed order: by definition the first story using a
stack is the builder and later ones are consumers. Ordering is build-order-global, as compact
substitution already is — not per-block, not phase-based. A builder story receives the full stack
file; a consumer story receives the interface view.

If the model assigned the flag it would be asserting a position in an order it has not computed.
Disagreement is a defect signal, not a tie to break: if the first user of a stack is not a
`foundational` story, an edge or a foundational story is missing and Drydock reports it. Ambiguity
defaults to builder, because consumer-when-it-should-be-builder starves the build agent while
builder-when-it-should-be-consumer merely costs tokens.

---

## Acceptance

Acceptance lives in one place per audience:

- **Programmatic Acceptance** — executable assertions carrying pass/fail state. Lives in
  `MANIFEST.md`. Not human-readable, not human-editable, regenerated wholly by every plan run.
- **User Acceptance** — human-readable intent. Lives in the Blueprint specification.

The discriminator for every other fact is the same question: **does the fact describe the artifact
or the schedule?**

| Fact | Home | Why |
|---|---|---|
| `Provides`, `Consumes`, `Depends On` | Blueprint header | Describe the file — what it offers and requires |
| Story `type` | Manifest | Computed, machine-focused |
| `Phase` | Manifest | Describes when the file is built, not the file |
| Programmatic Acceptance | Manifest | Machine-focused; nobody should hand-edit it |
| User Acceptance, `## Questions` | Blueprint | Human intent |

Durability is not a discriminator: the Blueprint does not survive a replan. Only the `## Questions`
section, harvested deterministically beforehand, survives.

---

## Block States

Every story uses the same four states:

| State | Meaning |
|-------|---------|
| `pending` | Not run yet |
| `implemented` | Work done, waiting to be accepted |
| `closed/verified` | Passed or accepted |
| `closed/failed` | Failed or rejected |

---

## Execution Rules

A story runs only when everything in `depends:` is `closed/verified`.

Programmatic Acceptance runs after the story build and is part of the story's own state
transition: a story that fails its acceptance becomes `closed/failed` and blocks dependent work.
There is no separate acceptance node with independent state.

A `feature` story runs after its member stories close. Its assembly and intent instructions are
made to pass like any other story's, which is what turns integration testing into a real build step
covering the seams between stories where multi-story builds actually break.

`closed/failed` is not terminal. The product owner reopens failed work from the QuarterDeck —
revising instructions, acceptance, or scope interactively — and the decision writer returns it to
`pending` with the revision recorded. Recovery never requires hand-editing the Manifest.

An open `Blocking` Blueprint question projects the story state as `blocked/questions`. That story
and its dependents are unavailable, while independent frontier stories remain buildable. Open `Low`
and `Material` decisions remain visible without gating.

`User Acceptance` entries are Commander review signals and do not block ordinary downstream build
unless modeled as explicit dependencies.

---

## Sea Trials Traceability

`accepts:` lists stable project-acceptance IDs from `SEA_TRIALS.md` that the story implements.
Every required technical or behavioral Sea Trial is referenced by at least one story or by a
Blueprint Programmatic Acceptance proof. Unknown IDs are invalid.

## Plan State Writer

The **decision writer** is the only mutator of Manifest block state. It is invoked by:

- the QuarterDeck review controls (approve, revise, reject, add defect on individual blocks)
- the `drydock build` engine (state transitions during execution)

Review decisions written in the QuarterDeck write back to `MANIFEST.md` through the same
decision writer used by the CLI.

---

## Relationship to Blueprint

The Manifest is generated from the Blueprint; it is not a second product definition. `drydock plan
create` reads all Blueprint inputs and writes `MANIFEST.md` — the single work graph carrying build
order, grouping, and per-step prompt-assembly fields. It regenerates after each planning cycle.

The Blueprint remains the source of truth for what the project is and must do. The Manifest is
the source of truth for build state. The QuarterDeck renders Manifest state and records decisions
through the plan writer — the console can be deleted and regenerated at any time.

</pblock>

<pblock filename="BLUEPRINTS_CONTRACT.md" role="contract" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/prompts/BLUEPRINTS_CONTRACT.md" guidance="Blueprint output contract. Follow it exactly.">

---
name: Blueprints Contract
description: Contract governing the layout, file types, header format, and dependency conventions for Drydock Blueprint files.
version: 20260731 V11
---

## Overview

A **Blueprint** is the complete Typed Specification for one project. It lives at
`$DRYDOCK_WORKSPACE/targets/<Target>/blueprint/` and contains all human-authored and
process-created specification files. The Blueprint is the single source of truth for what the
project is, what it must do, and how it is built.

---

## Specification File Types

| File | Purpose | Required |
|------|---------|----------|
| `METADATA.md` | Project identity: name, display_name, short_description, status, stack, code_root | Yes |
| `COMPASS.md` | Project guidance: intent, constraints, and guardrails | Yes |
| `ARCHITECTURE.md` | Modules, routes, boundaries, interfaces, technical decisions | Yes |
| `README.md` | One-line description and `## Intent` section | Yes |
| `DATABASE.md` | Persistence contract: access patterns, typed interfaces, all stores, schemas, migrations | If has persistent state |
| `UI-GENERAL.md` | Shared UI patterns across screens | If has UI |
| `SCREEN-{Name}.md` | Per-screen: route, layout, interactions, programmatic and user acceptance | If has UI |
| `FEATURE-{Name}.md` | Per-feature: purpose, status, trigger, sequence, routes, reads, writes, acceptance, guardrails | As needed |
| `ARCHITECTURE_compact.md` | Compact architecture derivative for downstream build-step injection | Optional |
| `DATABASE_compact.md` | Compact persistence derivative for downstream build-step injection | Optional |
| `HOMEPAGE.md` | Portfolio homepage: branding, contact, bio | If publishes a portfolio |
| `HOMEPAGE-PUBLISHER.md` | Template-based homepage publishing configuration | If publishes a portfolio |
| `IDEAS.md` | Feature ideas and backlog — no typed header required | No |
| `*-AC.md` / `AC-*.md` / `*-AC-*.md` | Acceptance criteria — any file where `AC` is a whole word in the filename | As needed |
| `changes/TICKET-NNN-{Name}.md` | Post-baseline change, defect, or spike request | As needed |

Every authored Specification file ends with `## Programmatic Acceptance`, `## User Acceptance`,
and `## Guardrails`. Use `- None.` when no entries apply. Planning disclosures and Commander
responses are records in the target's `DECISIONS.json`.

`ARCHITECTURE_compact.md` is a compact derivative of `ARCHITECTURE.md` produced by
`drydock rigging compact`. Drydock uses filename-selected compaction algorithms rather than
phase-aware compact variants.

`DATABASE_compact.md` is a compact derivative of `DATABASE.md` produced by `drydock rigging compact`.

---

## Specification File Header Format

Every authored Specification file except `METADATA.md` and `README.md` must begin with a typed
header. Operational and generated files (`IDEAS.md`, build plans, analysis outputs, and AC files)
are not authored Specification files.

```markdown
# {FileType}: {ObjectName}

| Field       | Value |
|-------------|-------|
| Version     | YYYYMMDD V1 |
| Description | One sentence summary. |
| Depends On  | FEATURE-SERVICE-CATALOG.md, UI-GENERAL.md |
| Provides    | GET /welcome, GET /welcome/summary |
| Phase       | 2 |
```

**FileType values:** `COMPASS`, `SCREEN`, `FEATURE`, `DATABASE`, `UI-GENERAL`, `ARCHITECTURE`,
`HOMEPAGE`, `CHANGE`

**ObjectName:** Human-readable name matching the file subject (e.g., `Welcome Summary`,
`Service Catalog`).

**Fields:**

| Field | Set By | Required | Description |
|-------|--------|----------|-------------|
| `Version` | Author | Yes | Date + increment: `YYYYMMDD V1`. Every agent write must set this to the current date with the next increment. If the existing version is already today's date, increment the number. Never carry forward a stale date. |
| `Description` | Author | Yes | One sentence |
| `Depends On` | `drydock plan create` | No | Filenames this file requires to exist before build |
| `Provides` | `drydock plan create` | No | HTTP routes or interfaces this file exposes |
| `Phase` | `drydock plan create` | No | Build phase hint (integer); tooling may override |

**Additional optional fields for SCREEN files:**

| Field | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `Route` | No | The URL this screen is served at |
| `Parent` | No | Parent menu item or `—` |
| `Main Menu` | No | Menu label and position |
| `Sub Menu` | No | Submenu label and position |
| `Tab Order` | No | Tab index within parent, or `—` |

`Depends On` and `Provides` are written by `drydock plan create` — do not edit manually.
`Phase` is written by `drydock plan create` — do not edit manually unless overriding.

**Additional required fields for CHANGE files (`changes/TICKET-NNN-{Name}.md`):**

| Field | Set By | Required | Description |
|-------|--------|----------|-------------|
| `Amends` | Author / `drydock refit` | Yes | The parent Blueprint spec this ticket modifies (e.g. `FEATURE-Copy.md`). `drydock refit` reads this field to resolve dependency inheritance and inject parent context. |
| `Depends On` | `drydock refit` | Yes | Copied from the parent spec's `Depends On` set plus the parent spec filename itself. Do not edit manually. |
| `Scope` | Author / `drydock refit --sources` | Yes | `additive` or `amending`. Governs what the ticket supersedes. |
| `Created` | `drydock refit` | Yes | ISO date the ticket was authored. |
| `Origin` | `drydock refit --sources` | No | The source version this ticket came from, as `<source>@<commit>`. Absent on hand-authored tickets. |
| `Stories` | `drydock refit --sources` | No | The Manifest story ids this ticket owns. When present, `drydock refit` emits exactly these ids and never invents new ones. |

**Scope semantics.** A ticket declares its authority over its parent in one sentence directly
below the header table.

- `additive` — the ticket adds behavior. It supersedes nothing, and every assertion in the parent
  Blueprint remains in force. Sentence: *"This ticket is additive. It supersedes nothing; every
  assertion in `<parent>` remains in force."*
- `amending` — the ticket alters behavior already specified. It supersedes only the sections
  listed under `## Amended Sections`, each of which must exist as a heading in the parent.
  Sentence: *"This ticket amends `<parent>`. It supersedes only the sections named under
  `## Amended Sections`; every other assertion in `<parent>` remains in force."*

An additive ticket must never claim authority over its whole parent: a single added requirement
would otherwise supersede assertions it does not mention and that have already been proven.

---

## Common Authored Specification Sections

Plan and Build disclosures use the existing `DECISIONS.json` schema. `severity: blocking` is the
only decision gate and blocks only the attached story while its Commander response is absent.
Analyze questionnaire answers are converted to `origin: analyze-questionnaire` records. Commander
responses remain in the same records across replans.

Every authored Specification file ends with these sections, using `- None.` when no entries apply:

```markdown
## Programmatic Acceptance

- None.

## User Acceptance

- None.

## Guardrails

- None.

```

`Programmatic Acceptance` contains executable Python assertion snippets. Each check is one
explicitly delimited block that can run from the build directory after the story implementing the
file completes:

```
=== AC {check-id} ===
Intent: One sentence stating what the check proves.
Suite: scoped
Requires: executable=python3; scope=test
Sea Trials: st-001

<Python source, verbatim, to the end marker>
=== END AC {check-id} ===
```

The delimiters are the whole format. The id lives in the opening marker, so it is never inferred
from a nearby heading. Declarations are the `Key: value` lines at the top of the block, ending at
the first blank line; `Intent:` is required and the rest are optional. Everything after that blank
line is the proof body, taken character for character to the matching end marker.

Nothing inside the body can move a boundary. A Markdown fence, a `##` line, a `###` line, or a
`Requires:` line inside a string is ordinary content — which matters, because a target that
processes markup will legitimately embed all of them in its proof. Write the body as plain Python;
do not wrap it in a fence.

An unterminated block, an end marker naming a different id, a stray end marker, and a duplicate id
are all hard errors that stop planning. None of them degrade into a criterion that silently stops
gating.

### The oracle rule

> **Act on the system. Read the state back. Compare to expected.**

Arrange–Act–Assert, where the assertion reads *state*, never text a process printed.

| Oracle | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Return value, parsed JSON, status code, DB row, file contents read back, exit status | **Correct** |
| Substring of captured stdout/stderr, test-runner tally text, log lines | **Forbidden** |

A state oracle cannot pass against a stub and cannot fail because a runner printed the word
"warning". Almost every acceptance defect observed in practice has the same shape: the oracle was
a string in captured output.

### Authoring patterns

**1 — Round trip (the default form).** For anything that stores, mutates, or removes state:

```
create  → read back → assert present, with expected field values
update  → read back → assert changed, and only the intended fields changed
delete  → read back → assert absent
```

The read-back is a *separate call through the public interface*, not an inspection of the object
returned by the write. A write that returns a plausible object while persisting nothing must fail.

**2 — Exercise every callable workflow.** One test per public entry point, per verb. Coverage is
enumerated from the interface, not sampled: every HTTP route × every method it declares including
declared error paths; every CLI subcommand and every flag that changes behavior; every exported
library function.

**3 — Idempotence.** Where a verb claims idempotence (PUT, DELETE), apply it twice and assert the
second is a no-op — same resulting state, and the declared status for a repeat. Where a verb is not
idempotent (POST), apply twice and assert the declared behavior: two resources, or the declared
conflict. Prefer idempotent verbs where the semantics allow; the assertion is stronger.

**4 — Negative paths assert the contract, not the message.** Invalid input asserts the declared
failure signal — status code, exception type, exit status — never the wording of an error message.
Message text is prose and belongs to no contract.

**5 — Boundaries.** Empty collection, exactly one, many. Absent optional fields. Declared maxima.
This is where a plausible-looking implementation actually breaks.

**6 — RED before GREEN.** The assertion must fail against the pre-implementation tree and pass
after. A check that passes against a stub is not a check.

**7 — Isolation and determinism.** Each test arranges its own data and does not depend on another
test's residue or on ordering. No wall-clock dependence, no third-party network, no unseeded
randomness, no sleep-based timing. Fresh store per test, or explicit teardown.

**8 — One behavior per test, named for the behavior.** A failure should be diagnosable from the
test's name alone.

**9 — Subprocess discipline.** Where a check must shell out, **exit status is the verdict**. A
substring check beside an exit-status assertion is redundant at best and a false-positive generator
at worst. Never assert that a literal is absent from captured output.

**10 — In-language tooling.** A check is written in the project's own language and uses that
language's libraries — Python check, Python libraries; Go check, Go libraries. An in-language HTTP
client yields a status code and a parsed body, which is state. `curl` yields stdout, which is text
to scrape. Pattern 10 and the oracle rule are the same rule seen twice.

### Declaring external tooling

Reaching for an external executable is the exception, not the norm, and `curl` in particular will
not work in every environment. When a check genuinely needs one, the tool belongs in the project's
Rigging or `TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md`, declared once by the Commander and true for every check in the
project. A per-check declaration is also accepted and is recorded as a report:

```markdown
Requires: python-package=httpx; scope=test
Requires: executable=node; scope=test
```

Kinds are `python-package` and `executable`; scopes are `runtime` and `test`. Framework test
clients include their transport dependencies. `Requires:` metadata is not acceptance intent, and
a missing declaration never fails planning — a tool that is present and undeclared works fine.
A declared tool that is *absent* when the check runs reports UNVERIFIED, not FAIL: the check never
reached the code under test, so it says nothing about the build.

### Satisfiability

Every assertion must be satisfiable by a correct implementation. An expectation no implementation
can meet is a defect, not a red baseline. String literals are the usual source of one: inside a raw
literal, `\n` and `\r` are a backslash followed by a letter, not a control character, so
`r"text\n"` asserts against six characters ending in a literal backslash. Write control characters
in a normal string (`"text\n"`), concatenate (`r"\*text\*" + "\n"`), or write `"\\n"` when a
literal backslash is genuinely intended. Drydock warns about this at `drydock validate` and at plan
time; the warning does not remove the criterion or stop the build, so the authoring is yours to get
right.

### Runnability

Two authoring rules are enforced at plan time. A criterion that breaks either is rejected before
any build spends a call on it, because no implementation can turn it green.

**Text mode.** Every `subprocess` call declares `text=True`. A criterion drives a program that
reads and writes text; left in binary mode the call takes `bytes`, and passing it a `str` raises
`TypeError` before the program under test starts. Write:

```
result = subprocess.run(["./program"], input="one line\n", capture_output=True, text=True)
assert result.returncode == 0
assert result.stdout == "<p>one line</p>\n"
```

**ASCII test data.** Acceptance data is ASCII. Do not invent an encoding requirement: characters
outside ASCII test a property the specification never stated, and a criterion that fails on them
fails the build for something nobody asked the product to do. When the imported specification does
state an encoding requirement, the criterion says so and may then use that encoding:

```
=== AC runtime-utf8 ===
Intent: The executable round-trips UTF-8 source, per INSTRUCTIONS.md.
Encoding: utf-8

result = subprocess.run(
    ["./program"], input="café\n", capture_output=True, text=True, encoding="utf-8"
)
assert result.stdout == "<p>café</p>\n"
=== END AC runtime-utf8 ===
```

`Encoding:` is a declaration of deliberate intent, reviewable as such. Absent it, ASCII.

**Every check is standalone.** Drydock writes each fenced block to its own script and runs it in
its own process from the build directory. Checks in the same file share no imports, no variables,
and no execution order. A snippet that reads a name another snippet bound raises `NameError` on
every run — it reports UNVERIFIED rather than failing the build, which means it verifies nothing
and buys nothing. Each snippet imports what it uses and binds every name it reads.

**A check that shells out prints what it captured before it asserts.** `capture_output=True`
routes the runner's tally and its failing cases into a variable; asserting on the exit code alone
then discards them, and the failure reports the assertion with no evidence of what went wrong.
Print the captured `stdout` and `stderr` first, so the console, the evidence file, and the repair
pass all carry the runner's own account of the failure. Printing is for diagnosis; it is never the
oracle.

```markdown
## Programmatic Acceptance

=== AC health-check ===
Intent: The health endpoint returns an OK response.
Sea Trials: st-001

from app import create_app

client = create_app().test_client()
response = client.get("/health")
assert response.status_code == 200
assert response.get_json()["status"] == "ok"
=== END AC health-check ===

=== AC suite-conformance ===
Intent: The implementation passes the conformance sections this story owns.
Suite: scoped

import subprocess
import sys

result = subprocess.run(
    [sys.executable, "tests/run_suite.py", "--sections", "headings,lists"],
    capture_output=True, text=True,
)
print(result.stdout)
print(result.stderr, file=sys.stderr)
assert result.returncode == 0
=== END AC suite-conformance ===
```

`User Acceptance` contains only Commander-observed checks that cannot be honestly automated,
such as look-and-feel or subjective workflow acceptance. Do not place deterministic behavior in
`User Acceptance`.

`Sea Trials:` optionally lists the stable project-acceptance IDs proved by an assertion. It is one
of the block's declaration lines. Every listed ID exists in `SEA_TRIALS.md`.

**Programmatic acceptance is the story's definition of done, and a deterministic definition of
done is never sampled.** Drydock builds each block in a single pass with no iterate loop, so the
acceptance you author *is* the objective handed to the builder: sample the checks and the builder
builds to the sample. When an authoritative, externally-authored test suite already defines
"correct" for what a story builds — an imported conformance suite and its runner (for example a
specification's example suite plus a `*_tests.py` runner) — the acceptance runs that suite and
requires a full pass over the story's scope, never a hand-picked subset. A feature story binds to
the sections it owns and declares `Suite: scoped`; a terminal verification story gates on the whole
suite and declares `Suite: full`. The marker is one of the block's declaration lines and tells the
runner the check gates on the whole test suite rather than a story-scoped sample.

**A scoped selector must select something.** A check that runs a suite with a section filter
matching no cases exits zero and reports a pass while proving nothing. Select on a heading that
actually owns cases, never on a chapter title that merely contains such headings. Drydock fails a
criterion that is already green before the story's code exists.
**The runner's exit status is the verdict, and it is the whole verdict.** A conformance runner
already decides pass or fail and reports it the one way a caller can rely on. Asserting on its
printed summary as well adds no information and adds a failure mode: the case count belongs to the
installed suite rather than to the specification, and runners column-align their summaries
(`valid tests: 205 passed,  0 failed` carries two spaces), so a literal such as
`assert "valid tests: 210 passed, 0 failed" in result.stdout` is false on correct code and no
implementation can move it. The same holds for tallies of errors, skips, and warnings: a runner
with none of them commonly prints no such line at all, so requiring one is false on a clean run.

Print the captured output for diagnosis, assert `result.returncode == 0`, and stop there. This
holds for both `Suite: scoped` and `Suite: full`.

Place a whole-project deterministic suite on the story that **completes the runnable capability**
— never on a foundation step that cannot yet run it, where it would fail vacuously — and mirror it
into `SEA_TRIALS.md` with `Sea Trials:` so it is both the completing block's acceptance and a
project-acceptance criterion. Naming the suite file or asserting it is staged (`Path(...).is_file()`)
is staging, not testing: a stubbed or absent definition of done for an available suite is a defect,
not an acceptable check.

An assertion that invokes a staged asset obeys that asset's own documented interface. Read the
asset before writing the call. Every environment variable it declares required is supplied, and it
is supplied by extending the inherited environment — `env={**os.environ, "NAME": value}`. Never
write `env={"NAME": value}`: that replaces the environment, leaving the child with no `PATH`, so
nothing it invokes resolves and the assertion fails at every level of implementation quality. Never
repair a staged asset's interface by editing the asset; it is restored before grading, so the edit
is reported as tampering rather than honored.

An assertion that feeds input to a program passes it through `subprocess` `input=` rather than a
shell. When a shell is unavoidable, `printf '%s'` copies its argument verbatim: `\n` reaches the
program as a backslash and a letter, not a newline, so the program is graded on input the author
never wrote. Use `printf '%b'` or a real line break.

`COMPASS.md` uses `## Compass`, `## Constraints`, and `## Guardrails` as its body sections.
Success criteria belong in `SEA_TRIALS.md`; open questions in spike questionnaires. Do not add
those sections to `COMPASS.md`.

---

---

## Acceptance Criteria Files

**Naming rule:** any file where `AC` is a whole word in the filename is an acceptance criteria
file. `AC` must be delimited by `-`, `_`, or file boundaries — not embedded in another word.
Examples: `AC-001-login.md`, `FEATURE-LOGIN-AC.md`, `AC-NAVIGATION.md`.
`ACCEPTANCE_CRITERIA.md` does NOT follow this standard (AC is not a standalone word).

AC files enable test-driven design and a way to enforce specific behaviors without polluting the
parent specification.

**Two types of AC statements:**

| Type | Example | Rule |
|------|---------|------|
| Positive assertion | "The status badge color is red" | Reconcile into parent spec, then archive this entry |
| Negative/guardrail | "Field X must not appear on this screen" | Keep permanently in AC — these guard against model hallucination, not spec omission |

**Reconciliation:** When a positive AC fact has been implemented and verified, move it to the
parent spec body and delete the AC entry. Negative guardrails are permanent — never move them to
the spec.

**AC file format:**

```markdown
# AC: {ObjectName}

| Field       | Value |
|-------------|-------|
| Version     | YYYYMMDD V1 |
| Description | Acceptance criteria for {ObjectName}. |
| Parent      | FEATURE-{Name}.md |

## Guardrails

- Field X must not appear on this screen.
- The delete button must not be shown to read-only users.

## Assertions

- The status badge is rendered in red when severity is HIGH.
```

**Standard AC filename forms:**
- `AC-NNN-{Name}.md` — numbered sequential acceptance-criteria ticket (authored)
- `{Parent}-AC.md` — paired directly with a spec file (e.g. `FEATURE-LOGIN-AC.md`)
- `AC-{Topic}.md` — topic-scoped AC file (e.g. `AC-NAVIGATION.md`)

**All fix and change tickets use AC naming** — `AC` as a whole word in the filename. A targeted
bug fix is expressed as a testable acceptance criterion.

---

## Dependency Declarations

`drydock plan create` scans spec file headers to populate `Depends On` and `Provides`. The
following conventions apply automatically without explicit header declaration:

| Convention | Rule |
|------------|------|
| `SCREEN-*.md` → `UI-GENERAL.md` | All screens depend on shared UI patterns |
| `DATABASE.md` → Phase 1 | Always first phase; always base context |
| `ARCHITECTURE.md` → base context | Included in every phase prompt |
| `FEATURE-*.md` providing routes → listed in `Provides` | Extracted from route tables in file |
| `SCREEN-*.md` using a route → depends on providing `FEATURE` | Matched from route references in body |

The `Depends On` and `Provides` fields form a simple directed dependency graph. `drydock plan
create` traverses this graph to assign phases, assign build order, and compute context sizes.
A file can only be built in a phase after all its `Depends On` files are built.

---

## Persistence Encapsulation (DATABASE.md scope)

`DATABASE.md` is the project's persistence contract — not SQL schema alone. It documents every
persistent store and the typed class that encapsulates it:

- **Relational tables** — schema plus the row dataclass / CRUD class / composing `Database` class.
- **Config / `.env`** — required keys and the typed `Config` class.
- **File stores** — directories and the `FileStore` class.
- **External services** — the service contract and its wrapper.

Application code reaches each store only through its class. A storage change that leaves the
interface unchanged does not invalidate downstream features.

Every `DATABASE.md` includes `## Access Patterns` and `## Persistence Interfaces` before schema
details. Access patterns name the caller, operation, store, and interface method. Persistence
interfaces name the store, public interface, module location, allowed callers, and notes.

`ARCHITECTURE.md` includes a module ownership table for persistence, configuration, file-store, and
external-service boundaries. It states which module owns each boundary and which low-level APIs that
module may access.

Any Manifest story that implements `DATABASE.md` includes `persistence.md` in `stack:` plus the
selected backend stack file such as `sqlite.md`, `postgres.md`, or `aws-dynamodb.md`.

---

## METADATA.md — Service Identity Fields

In addition to standard project fields, service repositories should declare:

```
service_name:      Platform        # top-level service grouping (e.g. Platform, Analytics, Tools)
service_component: GAME            # component name within the service (matches directory name)
```

These fields are used by build-time service registration artifacts and by GAME's service registry
scanner to group related repositories under a named service.

---

## Authoring Conventions

**Authoring phase:** all unresolved product decisions go in `DECISIONS.json`. Do not create
`MANIFEST.md` or numbered ticket files while authoring.

**Build phase:** run `drydock plan create` once the specification is ready. Use `drydock status`
to check for spec errors and staleness before building. After a build, fold changes back by editing
the specification and re-applying with `drydock refit`.

**Spikes:** a spike is a runnable investigation. Results feed future iterations. When run, the
finding is written into the named file, resolving the matching `## Open Question` in place.

**Feature specifications:** all feature purpose, status, triggers, sequences, routes, reads,
writes, acceptance criteria, and guardrails belong in individual `FEATURE-*.md` files. README,
METADATA, and generated files do not contain feature specifications.

</pblock>

<pblock label="Imported source file header" kind="section">

Imported source files

</pblock>

<pblock filename="sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md" role="source file" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md" guidance="Raw User Source">

# Build Instructions: CommonMark Parser

Build a CommonMark 0.31.2 parser from the supplied specification. Read Markdown from standard
input and write HTML to standard output. Do not use a public Markdown implementation.

The sole definition of product success is `sh full_test.sh` returning exit code `0`.
`full_test.sh` runs the complete, unfiltered supplied CommonMark suite. Treat the suite runner's
exit status as the verdict; do not parse or hardcode its printed tally.

`sources/INSTRUCTIONS.md` is imported specification prose. It is not staged into the completed
application. The runtime conformance assets are only `spec.txt`, `spec_tests.py`, `cmark.py`, and
`normalize.py`.

## Implementation Guidance

CommonMark parsing is two phases: resolve **block structure** first, then run **inline parsing**
over the block contents. Implement in that order.

1. Blocks: paragraphs, thematic breaks, ATX headings, setext headings, indented code, fenced
   code, HTML blocks, link reference definitions, block quotes, then lists — lists are the
   hardest block construct, with lazy continuation, nesting, and tightness.
2. Inlines: backslash escapes, entity and numeric references, code spans, emphasis and strong
   emphasis (the delimiter-run algorithm), links and images, autolinks, raw HTML, hard breaks.

The specification text is normative and contains the algorithms. The "Appendix: A parsing
strategy" section describes the reference implementation's approach; follow it directly rather
than reinventing the rules.

## Acceptance

Do not create acceptance checks asserting that imported or staged files merely exist. Do not
create a scoped check by invoking `full_test.sh`; it is intentionally full-suite only. Parser
implementation stories may run the supplied harness with explicit section selectors that cover
the whole story scope.

A section selector must select examples. `spec.txt` nests example-bearing headings such as
`ATX headings` and `List items` under chapter titles such as `Leaf blocks`, `Container blocks`,
and `Characters and lines`; the chapter titles own no examples of their own, so a selector
naming one matches nothing, exits zero, and proves nothing. Select on the headings that own
examples, and cover a chapter by naming all of them.

The final verification story depends on all parser stories, creates `full_test.sh`, and has
exactly one terminal `Suite: full` acceptance check. The check prints captured standard output
and standard error and asserts only `result.returncode == 0`. It carries `Sea Trials: st-001`.

Do not add separate verification stories for script presence, focused verification, staged
assets, or complete verification.

Deliver a concise project `README.md` documenting the standard-input/standard-output interface
and the `sh full_test.sh` command.

</pblock>

<pblock filename="sources/cmark.py" role="source file" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/sources/cmark.py">

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from ctypes import CDLL, c_char_p, c_long, c_int
from subprocess import *
import platform
import os

def pipe_through_prog(prog, text):
    p1 = Popen(prog.split(), stdout=PIPE, stdin=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
    [result, err] = p1.communicate(input=text.encode('utf-8'))
    return [p1.returncode, result, err]

def use_library(lib, text):
    textbytes = text.encode('utf-8')
    textlen = len(textbytes)
    return [0, lib(textbytes, textlen, 0), '']

class CMark:
    def __init__(self, prog=None, library_dir=None):
        self.prog = prog
        if prog:
            self.to_html = lambda x: pipe_through_prog(prog, x)
        else:
            sysname = platform.system()
            if sysname == 'Darwin':
                libname = "libcmark.dylib"
            elif sysname == 'Windows':
                libname = "cmark.dll"
            else:
                libname = "libcmark.so"
            if library_dir:
                libpath = os.path.join(library_dir, libname)
            else:
                libpath = os.path.join("build", "src", libname)
            cmark = CDLL(libpath)
            markdown = cmark.cmark_markdown_to_html
            markdown.restype = c_char_p
            markdown.argtypes = [c_char_p, c_long, c_int]
            self.to_html = lambda x: use_library(markdown, x)

</pblock>

<pblock filename="sources/normalize.py" role="source file" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/sources/normalize.py">

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from html.parser import HTMLParser
from urllib.parse import quote, unquote

try:
    from html.parser import HTMLParseError
except ImportError:
    # HTMLParseError was removed in Python 3.5. It could never be
    # thrown, so we define a placeholder instead.
    class HTMLParseError(Exception):
        pass

from html.entities import name2codepoint
import sys
import re
import html

# Normalization code, adapted from
# https://github.com/karlcow/markdown-testsuite/
significant_attrs = ["alt", "href", "src", "title"]
whitespace_re = re.compile(r"\s+")
class MyHTMLParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        HTMLParser.__init__(self)
        self.convert_charrefs = False
        self.last = "starttag"
        self.in_pre = False
        self.output = ""
        self.last_tag = ""
    def handle_data(self, data):
        after_tag = self.last == "endtag" or self.last == "starttag"
        after_block_tag = after_tag and self.is_block_tag(self.last_tag)
        if after_tag and self.last_tag == "br":
            data = data.lstrip('\n')
        if not self.in_pre:
            data = whitespace_re.sub(' ', data)
        if after_block_tag and not self.in_pre:
            if self.last == "starttag":
                data = data.lstrip()
            elif self.last == "endtag":
                data = data.strip()
        self.output += data
        self.last = "data"
    def handle_endtag(self, tag):
        if tag == "pre":
            self.in_pre = False
        elif self.is_block_tag(tag):
            self.output = self.output.rstrip()
        self.output += "</" + tag + ">"
        self.last_tag = tag
        self.last = "endtag"
    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
        if tag == "pre":
            self.in_pre = True
        if self.is_block_tag(tag):
            self.output = self.output.rstrip()
        self.output += "<" + tag
        # For now we don't strip out 'extra' attributes, because of
        # raw HTML test cases.
        # attrs = filter(lambda attr: attr[0] in significant_attrs, attrs)
        if attrs:
            attrs.sort()
            for (k,v) in attrs:
                self.output += " " + k
                if v in ['href','src']:
                    self.output += ("=" + '"' +
                            quote(unquote(v), safe='/') + '"')
                elif v != None:
                    self.output += ("=" + '"' + html.escape(v,quote=True) + '"')
        self.output += ">"
        self.last_tag = tag
        self.last = "starttag"
    def handle_startendtag(self, tag, attrs):
        """Ignore closing tag for self-closing """
        self.handle_starttag(tag, attrs)
        self.last_tag = tag
        self.last = "endtag"
    def handle_comment(self, data):
        self.output += '<!--' + data + '-->'
        self.last = "comment"
    def handle_decl(self, data):
        self.output += '<!' + data + '>'
        self.last = "decl"
    def unknown_decl(self, data):
        self.output += '<!' + data + '>'
        self.last = "decl"
    def handle_pi(self,data):
        self.output += '<?' + data + '>'
        self.last = "pi"
    def handle_entityref(self, name):
        try:
            c = chr(name2codepoint[name])
        except KeyError:
            c = None
        self.output_char(c, '&' + name + ';')
        self.last = "ref"
    def handle_charref(self, name):
        try:
            if name.startswith("x"):
                c = chr(int(name[1:], 16))
            else:
                c = chr(int(name))
        except ValueError:
                c = None
        self.output_char(c, '&' + name + ';')
        self.last = "ref"
    # Helpers.
    def output_char(self, c, fallback):
        if c == '<':
            self.output += "&lt;"
        elif c == '>':
            self.output += "&gt;"
        elif c == '&':
            self.output += "&amp;"
        elif c == '"':
            self.output += "&quot;"
        elif c == None:
            self.output += fallback
        else:
            self.output += c

    def is_block_tag(self,tag):
        return (tag in ['article', 'header', 'aside', 'hgroup', 'blockquote',
            'hr', 'iframe', 'body', 'li', 'map', 'button', 'object', 'canvas',
            'ol', 'caption', 'output', 'col', 'p', 'colgroup', 'pre', 'dd',
            'progress', 'div', 'section', 'dl', 'table', 'td', 'dt',
            'tbody', 'embed', 'textarea', 'fieldset', 'tfoot', 'figcaption',
            'th', 'figure', 'thead', 'footer', 'tr', 'form', 'ul',
            'h1', 'h2', 'h3', 'h4', 'h5', 'h6', 'video', 'script', 'style'])

def normalize_html(html):
    r"""
    Return normalized form of HTML which ignores insignificant output
    differences:

    Multiple inner whitespaces are collapsed to a single space (except
    in pre tags):

        >>> normalize_html("<p>a  \t b</p>")
        '<p>a b</p>'

        >>> normalize_html("<p>a  \t\nb</p>")
        '<p>a b</p>'

    * Whitespace surrounding block-level tags is removed.

        >>> normalize_html("<p>a  b</p>")
        '<p>a b</p>'

        >>> normalize_html(" <p>a  b</p>")
        '<p>a b</p>'

        >>> normalize_html("<p>a  b</p> ")
        '<p>a b</p>'

        >>> normalize_html("\n\t<p>\n\t\ta  b\t\t</p>\n\t")
        '<p>a b</p>'

        >>> normalize_html("<i>a  b</i> ")
        '<i>a b</i> '

    * Self-closing tags are converted to open tags.

        >>> normalize_html("<br />")
        '<br>'

    * Attributes are sorted and lowercased.

        >>> normalize_html('<a title="bar" HREF="foo">x</a>')
        '<a href="foo" title="bar">x</a>'

    * References are converted to unicode, except that '<', '>', '&', and
      '"' are rendered using entities.

        >>> normalize_html("&forall;&amp;&gt;&lt;&quot;")
        '\u2200&amp;&gt;&lt;&quot;'

    """
    html_chunk_re = re.compile(r"(\<!\[CDATA\[.*?\]\]\>|\<[^>]*\>|[^<]+)")
    try:
        parser = MyHTMLParser()
        # We work around HTMLParser's limitations parsing CDATA
        # by breaking the input into chunks and passing CDATA chunks
        # through verbatim.
        for chunk in re.finditer(html_chunk_re, html):
            if chunk.group(0)[:8] == "<![CDATA":
                parser.output += chunk.group(0)
            else:
                parser.feed(chunk.group(0))
        parser.close()
        return parser.output
    except HTMLParseError as e:
        sys.stderr.write("Normalization error: " + e.msg + "\n")
        return html  # on error, return unnormalized HTML

</pblock>

<pblock filename="sources/spec.txt" role="source file" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/sources/spec.txt">

---
title: CommonMark Spec
author: John MacFarlane
version: '0.31.2'
date: '2024-01-28'
license: '[CC-BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)'
...

# Introduction

## What is Markdown?

Markdown is a plain text format for writing structured documents,
based on conventions for indicating formatting in email
and usenet posts.  It was developed by John Gruber (with
help from Aaron Swartz) and released in 2004 in the form of a
[syntax description](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax)
and a Perl script (`Markdown.pl`) for converting Markdown to
HTML.  In the next decade, dozens of implementations were
developed in many languages.  Some extended the original
Markdown syntax with conventions for footnotes, tables, and
other document elements.  Some allowed Markdown documents to be
rendered in formats other than HTML.  Websites like Reddit,
StackOverflow, and GitHub had millions of people using Markdown.
And Markdown started to be used beyond the web, to author books,
articles, slide shows, letters, and lecture notes.

What distinguishes Markdown from many other lightweight markup
syntaxes, which are often easier to write, is its readability.
As Gruber writes:

> The overriding design goal for Markdown's formatting syntax is
> to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a
> Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as
> plain text, without looking like it's been marked up with tags
> or formatting instructions.
> (<https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/>)

The point can be illustrated by comparing a sample of
[AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) with
an equivalent sample of Markdown.  Here is a sample of
AsciiDoc from the AsciiDoc manual:

```
1. List item one.
+
List item one continued with a second paragraph followed by an
Indented block.
+
.................
$ ls *.sh
$ mv *.sh ~/tmp
.................
+
List item continued with a third paragraph.

2. List item two continued with an open block.
+
--
This paragraph is part of the preceding list item.

a. This list is nested and does not require explicit item
continuation.
+
This paragraph is part of the preceding list item.

b. List item b.

This paragraph belongs to item two of the outer list.
--
```

And here is the equivalent in Markdown:
```
1.  List item one.

    List item one continued with a second paragraph followed by an
    Indented block.

        $ ls *.sh
        $ mv *.sh ~/tmp

    List item continued with a third paragraph.

2.  List item two continued with an open block.

    This paragraph is part of the preceding list item.

    1. This list is nested and does not require explicit item continuation.

       This paragraph is part of the preceding list item.

    2. List item b.

    This paragraph belongs to item two of the outer list.
```

The AsciiDoc version is, arguably, easier to write. You don't need
to worry about indentation.  But the Markdown version is much easier
to read.  The nesting of list items is apparent to the eye in the
source, not just in the processed document.

## Why is a spec needed?

John Gruber's [canonical description of Markdown's
syntax](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax)
does not specify the syntax unambiguously.  Here are some examples of
questions it does not answer:

1.  How much indentation is needed for a sublist?  The spec says that
    continuation paragraphs need to be indented four spaces, but is
    not fully explicit about sublists.  It is natural to think that
    they, too, must be indented four spaces, but `Markdown.pl` does
    not require that.  This is hardly a "corner case," and divergences
    between implementations on this issue often lead to surprises for
    users in real documents. (See [this comment by John
    Gruber](https://web.archive.org/web/20170611172104/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/1997).)

2.  Is a blank line needed before a block quote or heading?
    Most implementations do not require the blank line.  However,
    this can lead to unexpected results in hard-wrapped text, and
    also to ambiguities in parsing (note that some implementations
    put the heading inside the blockquote, while others do not).
    (John Gruber has also spoken [in favor of requiring the blank
    lines](https://web.archive.org/web/20170611172104/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/2146).)

3.  Is a blank line needed before an indented code block?
    (`Markdown.pl` requires it, but this is not mentioned in the
    documentation, and some implementations do not require it.)

    ``` markdown
    paragraph
        code?
    ```

4.  What is the exact rule for determining when list items get
    wrapped in `<p>` tags?  Can a list be partially "loose" and partially
    "tight"?  What should we do with a list like this?

    ``` markdown
    1. one

    2. two
    3. three
    ```

    Or this?

    ``` markdown
    1.  one
        - a

        - b
    2.  two
    ```

    (There are some relevant comments by John Gruber
    [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20170611172104/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/2554).)

5.  Can list markers be indented?  Can ordered list markers be right-aligned?

    ``` markdown
     8. item 1
     9. item 2
    10. item 2a
    ```

6.  Is this one list with a thematic break in its second item,
    or two lists separated by a thematic break?

    ``` markdown
    * a
    * * * * *
    * b
    ```

7.  When list markers change from numbers to bullets, do we have
    two lists or one?  (The Markdown syntax description suggests two,
    but the perl scripts and many other implementations produce one.)

    ``` markdown
    1. fee
    2. fie
    -  foe
    -  fum
    ```

8.  What are the precedence rules for the markers of inline structure?
    For example, is the following a valid link, or does the code span
    take precedence ?

    ``` markdown
    [a backtick (`)](/url) and [another backtick (`)](/url).
    ```

9.  What are the precedence rules for markers of emphasis and strong
    emphasis?  For example, how should the following be parsed?

    ``` markdown
    *foo *bar* baz*
    ```

10. What are the precedence rules between block-level and inline-level
    structure?  For example, how should the following be parsed?

    ``` markdown
    - `a long code span can contain a hyphen like this
      - and it can screw things up`
    ```

11. Can list items include section headings?  (`Markdown.pl` does not
    allow this, but does allow blockquotes to include headings.)

    ``` markdown
    - # Heading
    ```

12. Can list items be empty?

    ``` markdown
    * a
    *
    * b
    ```

13. Can link references be defined inside block quotes or list items?

    ``` markdown
    > Blockquote [foo].
    >
    > [foo]: /url
    ```

14. If there are multiple definitions for the same reference, which takes
    precedence?

    ``` markdown
    [foo]: /url1
    [foo]: /url2

    [foo][]
    ```

In the absence of a spec, early implementers consulted `Markdown.pl`
to resolve these ambiguities.  But `Markdown.pl` was quite buggy, and
gave manifestly bad results in many cases, so it was not a
satisfactory replacement for a spec.

Because there is no unambiguous spec, implementations have diverged
considerably.  As a result, users are often surprised to find that
a document that renders one way on one system (say, a GitHub wiki)
renders differently on another (say, converting to docbook using
pandoc).  To make matters worse, because nothing in Markdown counts
as a "syntax error," the divergence often isn't discovered right away.

## About this document

This document attempts to specify Markdown syntax unambiguously.
It contains many examples with side-by-side Markdown and
HTML.  These are intended to double as conformance tests.  An
accompanying script `spec_tests.py` can be used to run the tests
against any Markdown program:

    python test/spec_tests.py --spec spec.txt --program PROGRAM

Since this document describes how Markdown is to be parsed into
an abstract syntax tree, it would have made sense to use an abstract
representation of the syntax tree instead of HTML.  But HTML is capable
of representing the structural distinctions we need to make, and the
choice of HTML for the tests makes it possible to run the tests against
an implementation without writing an abstract syntax tree renderer.

Note that not every feature of the HTML samples is mandated by
the spec.  For example, the spec says what counts as a link
destination, but it doesn't mandate that non-ASCII characters in
the URL be percent-encoded.  To use the automatic tests,
implementers will need to provide a renderer that conforms to
the expectations of the spec examples (percent-encoding
non-ASCII characters in URLs).  But a conforming implementation
can use a different renderer and may choose not to
percent-encode non-ASCII characters in URLs.

This document is generated from a text file, `spec.txt`, written
in Markdown with a small extension for the side-by-side tests.
The script `tools/makespec.py` can be used to convert `spec.txt` into
HTML or CommonMark (which can then be converted into other formats).

In the examples, the `→` character is used to represent tabs.

# Preliminaries

## Characters and lines

Any sequence of [characters] is a valid CommonMark
document.

A [character](@) is a Unicode code point.  Although some
code points (for example, combining accents) do not correspond to
characters in an intuitive sense, all code points count as characters
for purposes of this spec.

This spec does not specify an encoding; it thinks of lines as composed
of [characters] rather than bytes.  A conforming parser may be limited
to a certain encoding.

A [line](@) is a sequence of zero or more [characters]
other than line feed (`U+000A`) or carriage return (`U+000D`),
followed by a [line ending] or by the end of file.

A [line ending](@) is a line feed (`U+000A`), a carriage return
(`U+000D`) not followed by a line feed, or a carriage return and a
following line feed.

A line containing no characters, or a line containing only spaces
(`U+0020`) or tabs (`U+0009`), is called a [blank line](@).

The following definitions of character classes will be used in this spec:

A [Unicode whitespace character](@) is a character in the Unicode `Zs` general
category, or a tab (`U+0009`), line feed (`U+000A`), form feed (`U+000C`), or
carriage return (`U+000D`).

[Unicode whitespace](@) is a sequence of one or more
[Unicode whitespace characters].

A [tab](@) is `U+0009`.

A [space](@) is `U+0020`.

An [ASCII control character](@) is a character between `U+0000–1F` (both
including) or `U+007F`.

An [ASCII punctuation character](@)
is `!`, `"`, `#`, `$`, `%`, `&`, `'`, `(`, `)`,
`*`, `+`, `,`, `-`, `.`, `/` (U+0021–2F), 
`:`, `;`, `<`, `=`, `>`, `?`, `@` (U+003A–0040),
`[`, `\`, `]`, `^`, `_`, `` ` `` (U+005B–0060), 
`{`, `|`, `}`, or `~` (U+007B–007E).

A [Unicode punctuation character](@) is a character in the Unicode `P`
(punctuation) or `S` (symbol) general categories.

## Tabs

Tabs in lines are not expanded to [spaces].  However,
in contexts where spaces help to define block structure,
tabs behave as if they were replaced by spaces with a tab stop
of 4 characters.

Thus, for example, a tab can be used instead of four spaces
in an indented code block.  (Note, however, that internal
tabs are passed through as literal tabs, not expanded to
spaces.)

```````````````````````````````` example
→foo→baz→→bim
.
<pre><code>foo→baz→→bim
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
  →foo→baz→→bim
.
<pre><code>foo→baz→→bim
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
    a→a
    ὐ→a
.
<pre><code>a→a
ὐ→a
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````

In the following example, a continuation paragraph of a list
item is indented with a tab; this has exactly the same effect
as indentation with four spaces would:

```````````````````````````````` example
  - foo

→bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo

→→bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code>  bar
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

Normally the `>` that begins a block quote may be followed
optionally by a space, which is not considered part of the
content.  In the following case `>` is followed by a tab,
which is treated as if it were expanded into three spaces.
Since one of these spaces is considered part of the
delimiter, `foo` is considered to be indented six spaces
inside the block quote context, so we get an indented
code block starting with two spaces.

```````````````````````````````` example
>→→foo
.
<blockquote>
<pre><code>  foo
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
-→→foo
.
<ul>
<li>
<pre><code>  foo
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
    foo
→bar
.
<pre><code>foo
bar
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
 - foo
   - bar
→ - baz
.
<ul>
<li>foo
<ul>
<li>bar
<ul>
<li>baz</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
#→Foo
.
<h1>Foo</h1>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
*→*→*→
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


## Insecure characters

For security reasons, the Unicode character `U+0000` must be replaced
with the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (`U+FFFD`).


## Backslash escapes

Any ASCII punctuation character may be backslash-escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
\!\"\#\$\%\&\'\(\)\*\+\,\-\.\/\:\;\<\=\>\?\@\[\\\]\^\_\`\{\|\}\~
.
<p>!&quot;#$%&amp;'()*+,-./:;&lt;=&gt;?@[\]^_`{|}~</p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslashes before other characters are treated as literal
backslashes:

```````````````````````````````` example
\→\A\a\ \3\φ\«
.
<p>\→\A\a\ \3\φ\«</p>
````````````````````````````````


Escaped characters are treated as regular characters and do
not have their usual Markdown meanings:

```````````````````````````````` example
\*not emphasized*
\<br/> not a tag
\[not a link](/foo)
\`not code`
1\. not a list
\* not a list
\# not a heading
\[foo]: /url "not a reference"
\&ouml; not a character entity
.
<p>*not emphasized*
&lt;br/&gt; not a tag
[not a link](/foo)
`not code`
1. not a list
* not a list
# not a heading
[foo]: /url &quot;not a reference&quot;
&amp;ouml; not a character entity</p>
````````````````````````````````


If a backslash is itself escaped, the following character is not:

```````````````````````````````` example
\\*emphasis*
.
<p>\<em>emphasis</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


A backslash at the end of the line is a [hard line break]:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo\
bar
.
<p>foo<br />
bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash escapes do not work in code blocks, code spans, autolinks, or
raw HTML:

```````````````````````````````` example
`` \[\` ``
.
<p><code>\[\`</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
    \[\]
.
<pre><code>\[\]
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
~~~
\[\]
~~~
.
<pre><code>\[\]
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<https://example.com?find=\*>
.
<p><a href="https://example.com?find=%5C*">https://example.com?find=\*</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="/bar\/)">
.
<a href="/bar\/)">
````````````````````````````````


But they work in all other contexts, including URLs and link titles,
link references, and [info strings] in [fenced code blocks]:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo](/bar\* "ti\*tle")
.
<p><a href="/bar*" title="ti*tle">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

[foo]: /bar\* "ti\*tle"
.
<p><a href="/bar*" title="ti*tle">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
``` foo\+bar
foo
```
.
<pre><code class="language-foo+bar">foo
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


## Entity and numeric character references

Valid HTML entity references and numeric character references
can be used in place of the corresponding Unicode character,
with the following exceptions:

- Entity and character references are not recognized in code
  blocks and code spans.

- Entity and character references cannot stand in place of
  special characters that define structural elements in
  CommonMark.  For example, although `&#42;` can be used
  in place of a literal `*` character, `&#42;` cannot replace
  `*` in emphasis delimiters, bullet list markers, or thematic
  breaks.

Conforming CommonMark parsers need not store information about
whether a particular character was represented in the source
using a Unicode character or an entity reference.

[Entity references](@) consist of `&` + any of the valid
HTML5 entity names + `;`. The
document <https://html.spec.whatwg.org/entities.json>
is used as an authoritative source for the valid entity
references and their corresponding code points.

```````````````````````````````` example
&nbsp; &amp; &copy; &AElig; &Dcaron;
&frac34; &HilbertSpace; &DifferentialD;
&ClockwiseContourIntegral; &ngE;
.
<p>  &amp; © Æ Ď
¾ ℋ ⅆ
∲ ≧̸</p>
````````````````````````````````


[Decimal numeric character
references](@)
consist of `&#` + a string of 1--7 arabic digits + `;`. A
numeric character reference is parsed as the corresponding
Unicode character. Invalid Unicode code points will be replaced by
the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (`U+FFFD`).  For security reasons,
the code point `U+0000` will also be replaced by `U+FFFD`.

```````````````````````````````` example
&#35; &#1234; &#992; &#0;
.
<p># Ӓ Ϡ �</p>
````````````````````````````````


[Hexadecimal numeric character
references](@) consist of `&#` +
either `X` or `x` + a string of 1-6 hexadecimal digits + `;`.
They too are parsed as the corresponding Unicode character (this
time specified with a hexadecimal numeral instead of decimal).

```````````````````````````````` example
&#X22; &#XD06; &#xcab;
.
<p>&quot; ആ ಫ</p>
````````````````````````````````


Here are some nonentities:

```````````````````````````````` example
&nbsp &x; &#; &#x;
&#87654321;
&#abcdef0;
&ThisIsNotDefined; &hi?;
.
<p>&amp;nbsp &amp;x; &amp;#; &amp;#x;
&amp;#87654321;
&amp;#abcdef0;
&amp;ThisIsNotDefined; &amp;hi?;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Although HTML5 does accept some entity references
without a trailing semicolon (such as `&copy`), these are not
recognized here, because it makes the grammar too ambiguous:

```````````````````````````````` example
&copy
.
<p>&amp;copy</p>
````````````````````````````````


Strings that are not on the list of HTML5 named entities are not
recognized as entity references either:

```````````````````````````````` example
&MadeUpEntity;
.
<p>&amp;MadeUpEntity;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Entity and numeric character references are recognized in any
context besides code spans or code blocks, including
URLs, [link titles], and [fenced code block][] [info strings]:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="&ouml;&ouml;.html">
.
<a href="&ouml;&ouml;.html">
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo](/f&ouml;&ouml; "f&ouml;&ouml;")
.
<p><a href="/f%C3%B6%C3%B6" title="föö">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

[foo]: /f&ouml;&ouml; "f&ouml;&ouml;"
.
<p><a href="/f%C3%B6%C3%B6" title="föö">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
``` f&ouml;&ouml;
foo
```
.
<pre><code class="language-föö">foo
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Entity and numeric character references are treated as literal
text in code spans and code blocks:

```````````````````````````````` example
`f&ouml;&ouml;`
.
<p><code>f&amp;ouml;&amp;ouml;</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
    f&ouml;f&ouml;
.
<pre><code>f&amp;ouml;f&amp;ouml;
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Entity and numeric character references cannot be used
in place of symbols indicating structure in CommonMark
documents.

```````````````````````````````` example
&#42;foo&#42;
*foo*
.
<p>*foo*
<em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
&#42; foo

* foo
.
<p>* foo</p>
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
foo&#10;&#10;bar
.
<p>foo

bar</p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
&#9;foo
.
<p>→foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[a](url &quot;tit&quot;)
.
<p>[a](url &quot;tit&quot;)</p>
````````````````````````````````



# Blocks and inlines

We can think of a document as a sequence of
[blocks](@)---structural elements like paragraphs, block
quotations, lists, headings, rules, and code blocks.  Some blocks (like
block quotes and list items) contain other blocks; others (like
headings and paragraphs) contain [inline](@) content---text,
links, emphasized text, images, code spans, and so on.

## Precedence

Indicators of block structure always take precedence over indicators
of inline structure.  So, for example, the following is a list with
two items, not a list with one item containing a code span:

```````````````````````````````` example
- `one
- two`
.
<ul>
<li>`one</li>
<li>two`</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This means that parsing can proceed in two steps:  first, the block
structure of the document can be discerned; second, text lines inside
paragraphs, headings, and other block constructs can be parsed for inline
structure.  The second step requires information about link reference
definitions that will be available only at the end of the first
step.  Note that the first step requires processing lines in sequence,
but the second can be parallelized, since the inline parsing of
one block element does not affect the inline parsing of any other.

## Container blocks and leaf blocks

We can divide blocks into two types:
[container blocks](#container-blocks),
which can contain other blocks, and [leaf blocks](#leaf-blocks),
which cannot.

# Leaf blocks

This section describes the different kinds of leaf block that make up a
Markdown document.

## Thematic breaks

A line consisting of optionally up to three spaces of indentation, followed by a
sequence of three or more matching `-`, `_`, or `*` characters, each followed
optionally by any number of spaces or tabs, forms a
[thematic break](@).

```````````````````````````````` example
***
---
___
.
<hr />
<hr />
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Wrong characters:

```````````````````````````````` example
+++
.
<p>+++</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
===
.
<p>===</p>
````````````````````````````````


Not enough characters:

```````````````````````````````` example
--
**
__
.
<p>--
**
__</p>
````````````````````````````````


Up to three spaces of indentation are allowed:

```````````````````````````````` example
 ***
  ***
   ***
.
<hr />
<hr />
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
    ***
.
<pre><code>***
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
    ***
.
<p>Foo
***</p>
````````````````````````````````


More than three characters may be used:

```````````````````````````````` example
_____________________________________
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Spaces and tabs are allowed between the characters:

```````````````````````````````` example
 - - -
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
 **  * ** * ** * **
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
-     -      -      -
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Spaces and tabs are allowed at the end:

```````````````````````````````` example
- - - -    
.
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


However, no other characters may occur in the line:

```````````````````````````````` example
_ _ _ _ a

a------

---a---
.
<p>_ _ _ _ a</p>
<p>a------</p>
<p>---a---</p>
````````````````````````````````


It is required that all of the characters other than spaces or tabs be the same.
So, this is not a thematic break:

```````````````````````````````` example
 *-*
.
<p><em>-</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Thematic breaks do not need blank lines before or after:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
***
- bar
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


Thematic breaks can interrupt a paragraph:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
***
bar
.
<p>Foo</p>
<hr />
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


If a line of dashes that meets the above conditions for being a
thematic break could also be interpreted as the underline of a [setext
heading], the interpretation as a
[setext heading] takes precedence. Thus, for example,
this is a setext heading, not a paragraph followed by a thematic break:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
---
bar
.
<h2>Foo</h2>
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


When both a thematic break and a list item are possible
interpretations of a line, the thematic break takes precedence:

```````````````````````````````` example
* Foo
* * *
* Bar
.
<ul>
<li>Foo</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<ul>
<li>Bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


If you want a thematic break in a list item, use a different bullet:

```````````````````````````````` example
- Foo
- * * *
.
<ul>
<li>Foo</li>
<li>
<hr />
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


## ATX headings

An [ATX heading](@)
consists of a string of characters, parsed as inline content, between an
opening sequence of 1--6 unescaped `#` characters and an optional
closing sequence of any number of unescaped `#` characters.
The opening sequence of `#` characters must be followed by spaces or tabs, or
by the end of line. The optional closing sequence of `#`s must be preceded by
spaces or tabs and may be followed by spaces or tabs only.  The opening
`#` character may be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation.  The raw
contents of the heading are stripped of leading and trailing space or tabs
before being parsed as inline content.  The heading level is equal to the number
of `#` characters in the opening sequence.

Simple headings:

```````````````````````````````` example
# foo
## foo
### foo
#### foo
##### foo
###### foo
.
<h1>foo</h1>
<h2>foo</h2>
<h3>foo</h3>
<h4>foo</h4>
<h5>foo</h5>
<h6>foo</h6>
````````````````````````````````


More than six `#` characters is not a heading:

```````````````````````````````` example
####### foo
.
<p>####### foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


At least one space or tab is required between the `#` characters and the
heading's contents, unless the heading is empty.  Note that many
implementations currently do not require the space.  However, the
space was required by the
[original ATX implementation](http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/atx/atx.py),
and it helps prevent things like the following from being parsed as
headings:

```````````````````````````````` example
#5 bolt

#hashtag
.
<p>#5 bolt</p>
<p>#hashtag</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a heading, because the first `#` is escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
\## foo
.
<p>## foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


Contents are parsed as inlines:

```````````````````````````````` example
# foo *bar* \*baz\*
.
<h1>foo <em>bar</em> *baz*</h1>
````````````````````````````````


Leading and trailing spaces or tabs are ignored in parsing inline content:

```````````````````````````````` example
#                  foo                     
.
<h1>foo</h1>
````````````````````````````````


Up to three spaces of indentation are allowed:

```````````````````````````````` example
 ### foo
  ## foo
   # foo
.
<h3>foo</h3>
<h2>foo</h2>
<h1>foo</h1>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
    # foo
.
<pre><code># foo
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo
    # bar
.
<p>foo
# bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


A closing sequence of `#` characters is optional:

```````````````````````````````` example
## foo ##
  ###   bar    ###
.
<h2>foo</h2>
<h3>bar</h3>
````````````````````````````````


It need not be the same length as the opening sequence:

```````````````````````````````` example
# foo ##################################
##### foo ##
.
<h1>foo</h1>
<h5>foo</h5>
````````````````````````````````


Spaces or tabs are allowed after the closing sequence:

```````````````````````````````` example
### foo ###     
.
<h3>foo</h3>
````````````````````````````````


A sequence of `#` characters with anything but spaces or tabs following it
is not a closing sequence, but counts as part of the contents of the
heading:

```````````````````````````````` example
### foo ### b
.
<h3>foo ### b</h3>
````````````````````````````````


The closing sequence must be preceded by a space or tab:

```````````````````````````````` example
# foo#
.
<h1>foo#</h1>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash-escaped `#` characters do not count as part
of the closing sequence:

```````````````````````````````` example
### foo \###
## foo #\##
# foo \#
.
<h3>foo ###</h3>
<h2>foo ###</h2>
<h1>foo #</h1>
````````````````````````````````


ATX headings need not be separated from surrounding content by blank
lines, and they can interrupt paragraphs:

```````````````````````````````` example
****
## foo
****
.
<hr />
<h2>foo</h2>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
Foo bar
# baz
Bar foo
.
<p>Foo bar</p>
<h1>baz</h1>
<p>Bar foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


ATX headings can be empty:

```````````````````````````````` example
## 
#
### ###
.
<h2></h2>
<h1></h1>
<h3></h3>
````````````````````````````````


## Setext headings

A [setext heading](@) consists of one or more
lines of text, not interrupted by a blank line, of which the first line does not
have more than 3 spaces of indentation, followed by
a [setext heading underline].  The lines of text must be such
that, were they not followed by the setext heading underline,
they would be interpreted as a paragraph:  they cannot be
interpretable as a [code fence], [ATX heading][ATX headings],
[block quote][block quotes], [thematic break][thematic breaks],
[list item][list items], or [HTML block][HTML blocks].

A [setext heading underline](@) is a sequence of
`=` characters or a sequence of `-` characters, with no more than 3
spaces of indentation and any number of trailing spaces or tabs.

The heading is a level 1 heading if `=` characters are used in
the [setext heading underline], and a level 2 heading if `-`
characters are used.  The contents of the heading are the result
of parsing the preceding lines of text as CommonMark inline
content.

In general, a setext heading need not be preceded or followed by a
blank line.  However, it cannot interrupt a paragraph, so when a
setext heading comes after a paragraph, a blank line is needed between
them.

Simple examples:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo *bar*
=========

Foo *bar*
---------
.
<h1>Foo <em>bar</em></h1>
<h2>Foo <em>bar</em></h2>
````````````````````````````````


The content of the header may span more than one line:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo *bar
baz*
====
.
<h1>Foo <em>bar
baz</em></h1>
````````````````````````````````

The contents are the result of parsing the headings's raw
content as inlines.  The heading's raw content is formed by
concatenating the lines and removing initial and final
spaces or tabs.

```````````````````````````````` example
  Foo *bar
baz*→
====
.
<h1>Foo <em>bar
baz</em></h1>
````````````````````````````````


The underlining can be any length:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
-------------------------

Foo
=
.
<h2>Foo</h2>
<h1>Foo</h1>
````````````````````````````````


The heading content can be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation, and
need not line up with the underlining:

```````````````````````````````` example
   Foo
---

  Foo
-----

  Foo
  ===
.
<h2>Foo</h2>
<h2>Foo</h2>
<h1>Foo</h1>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
    Foo
    ---

    Foo
---
.
<pre><code>Foo
---

Foo
</code></pre>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


The setext heading underline can be preceded by up to three spaces of
indentation, and may have trailing spaces or tabs:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
   ----      
.
<h2>Foo</h2>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
    ---
.
<p>Foo
---</p>
````````````````````````````````


The setext heading underline cannot contain internal spaces or tabs:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
= =

Foo
--- -
.
<p>Foo
= =</p>
<p>Foo</p>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Trailing spaces or tabs in the content line do not cause a hard line break:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo  
-----
.
<h2>Foo</h2>
````````````````````````````````


Nor does a backslash at the end:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo\
----
.
<h2>Foo\</h2>
````````````````````````````````


Since indicators of block structure take precedence over
indicators of inline structure, the following are setext headings:

```````````````````````````````` example
`Foo
----
`

<a title="a lot
---
of dashes"/>
.
<h2>`Foo</h2>
<p>`</p>
<h2>&lt;a title=&quot;a lot</h2>
<p>of dashes&quot;/&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


The setext heading underline cannot be a [lazy continuation
line] in a list item or block quote:

```````````````````````````````` example
> Foo
---
.
<blockquote>
<p>Foo</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
bar
===
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo
bar
===</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- Foo
---
.
<ul>
<li>Foo</li>
</ul>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


A blank line is needed between a paragraph and a following
setext heading, since otherwise the paragraph becomes part
of the heading's content:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
Bar
---
.
<h2>Foo
Bar</h2>
````````````````````````````````


But in general a blank line is not required before or after
setext headings:

```````````````````````````````` example
---
Foo
---
Bar
---
Baz
.
<hr />
<h2>Foo</h2>
<h2>Bar</h2>
<p>Baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Setext headings cannot be empty:

```````````````````````````````` example

====
.
<p>====</p>
````````````````````````````````


Setext heading text lines must not be interpretable as block
constructs other than paragraphs.  So, the line of dashes
in these examples gets interpreted as a thematic break:

```````````````````````````````` example
---
---
.
<hr />
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
-----
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
    foo
---
.
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
-----
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


If you want a heading with `> foo` as its literal text, you can
use backslash escapes:

```````````````````````````````` example
\> foo
------
.
<h2>&gt; foo</h2>
````````````````````````````````


**Compatibility note:**  Most existing Markdown implementations
do not allow the text of setext headings to span multiple lines.
But there is no consensus about how to interpret

``` markdown
Foo
bar
---
baz
```

One can find four different interpretations:

1. paragraph "Foo", heading "bar", paragraph "baz"
2. paragraph "Foo bar", thematic break, paragraph "baz"
3. paragraph "Foo bar --- baz"
4. heading "Foo bar", paragraph "baz"

We find interpretation 4 most natural, and interpretation 4
increases the expressive power of CommonMark, by allowing
multiline headings.  Authors who want interpretation 1 can
put a blank line after the first paragraph:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo

bar
---
baz
.
<p>Foo</p>
<h2>bar</h2>
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Authors who want interpretation 2 can put blank lines around
the thematic break,

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
bar

---

baz
.
<p>Foo
bar</p>
<hr />
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


or use a thematic break that cannot count as a [setext heading
underline], such as

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
bar
* * *
baz
.
<p>Foo
bar</p>
<hr />
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Authors who want interpretation 3 can use backslash escapes:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
bar
\---
baz
.
<p>Foo
bar
---
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


## Indented code blocks

An [indented code block](@) is composed of one or more
[indented chunks] separated by blank lines.
An [indented chunk](@) is a sequence of non-blank lines,
each preceded by four or more spaces of indentation. The contents of the code
block are the literal contents of the lines, including trailing
[line endings], minus four spaces of indentation.
An indented code block has no [info string].

An indented code block cannot interrupt a paragraph, so there must be
a blank line between a paragraph and a following indented code block.
(A blank line is not needed, however, between a code block and a following
paragraph.)

```````````````````````````````` example
    a simple
      indented code block
.
<pre><code>a simple
  indented code block
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


If there is any ambiguity between an interpretation of indentation
as a code block and as indicating that material belongs to a [list
item][list items], the list item interpretation takes precedence:

```````````````````````````````` example
  - foo

    bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1.  foo

    - bar
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````



The contents of a code block are literal text, and do not get parsed
as Markdown:

```````````````````````````````` example
    <a/>
    *hi*

    - one
.
<pre><code>&lt;a/&gt;
*hi*

- one
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Here we have three chunks separated by blank lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
    chunk1

    chunk2
  
 
 
    chunk3
.
<pre><code>chunk1

chunk2



chunk3
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Any initial spaces or tabs beyond four spaces of indentation will be included in
the content, even in interior blank lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
    chunk1
      
      chunk2
.
<pre><code>chunk1
  
  chunk2
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


An indented code block cannot interrupt a paragraph.  (This
allows hanging indents and the like.)

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
    bar

.
<p>Foo
bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


However, any non-blank line with fewer than four spaces of indentation ends
the code block immediately.  So a paragraph may occur immediately
after indented code:

```````````````````````````````` example
    foo
bar
.
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


And indented code can occur immediately before and after other kinds of
blocks:

```````````````````````````````` example
# Heading
    foo
Heading
------
    foo
----
.
<h1>Heading</h1>
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
<h2>Heading</h2>
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


The first line can be preceded by more than four spaces of indentation:

```````````````````````````````` example
        foo
    bar
.
<pre><code>    foo
bar
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Blank lines preceding or following an indented code block
are not included in it:

```````````````````````````````` example

    
    foo
    

.
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Trailing spaces or tabs are included in the code block's content:

```````````````````````````````` example
    foo  
.
<pre><code>foo  
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````



## Fenced code blocks

A [code fence](@) is a sequence
of at least three consecutive backtick characters (`` ` ``) or
tildes (`~`).  (Tildes and backticks cannot be mixed.)
A [fenced code block](@)
begins with a code fence, preceded by up to three spaces of indentation.

The line with the opening code fence may optionally contain some text
following the code fence; this is trimmed of leading and trailing
spaces or tabs and called the [info string](@). If the [info string] comes
after a backtick fence, it must not contain any backtick
characters.  (The reason for this restriction is that otherwise
some inline code would be incorrectly interpreted as the
beginning of a fenced code block.)

The content of the code block consists of all subsequent lines, until
a closing [code fence] of the same type as the code block
began with (backticks or tildes), and with at least as many backticks
or tildes as the opening code fence.  If the leading code fence is
preceded by N spaces of indentation, then up to N spaces of indentation are
removed from each line of the content (if present).  (If a content line is not
indented, it is preserved unchanged.  If it is indented N spaces or less, all
of the indentation is removed.)

The closing code fence may be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation, and
may be followed only by spaces or tabs, which are ignored.  If the end of the
containing block (or document) is reached and no closing code fence
has been found, the code block contains all of the lines after the
opening code fence until the end of the containing block (or
document).  (An alternative spec would require backtracking in the
event that a closing code fence is not found.  But this makes parsing
much less efficient, and there seems to be no real downside to the
behavior described here.)

A fenced code block may interrupt a paragraph, and does not require
a blank line either before or after.

The content of a code fence is treated as literal text, not parsed
as inlines.  The first word of the [info string] is typically used to
specify the language of the code sample, and rendered in the `class`
attribute of the `code` tag.  However, this spec does not mandate any
particular treatment of the [info string].

Here is a simple example with backticks:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
<
 >
```
.
<pre><code>&lt;
 &gt;
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


With tildes:

```````````````````````````````` example
~~~
<
 >
~~~
.
<pre><code>&lt;
 &gt;
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````

Fewer than three backticks is not enough:

```````````````````````````````` example
``
foo
``
.
<p><code>foo</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

The closing code fence must use the same character as the opening
fence:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
aaa
~~~
```
.
<pre><code>aaa
~~~
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
~~~
aaa
```
~~~
.
<pre><code>aaa
```
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


The closing code fence must be at least as long as the opening fence:

```````````````````````````````` example
````
aaa
```
``````
.
<pre><code>aaa
```
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
~~~~
aaa
~~~
~~~~
.
<pre><code>aaa
~~~
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Unclosed code blocks are closed by the end of the document
(or the enclosing [block quote][block quotes] or [list item][list items]):

```````````````````````````````` example
```
.
<pre><code></code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
`````

```
aaa
.
<pre><code>
```
aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> ```
> aaa

bbb
.
<blockquote>
<pre><code>aaa
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


A code block can have all empty lines as its content:

```````````````````````````````` example
```

  
```
.
<pre><code>
  
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


A code block can be empty:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
```
.
<pre><code></code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Fences can be indented.  If the opening fence is indented,
content lines will have equivalent opening indentation removed,
if present:

```````````````````````````````` example
 ```
 aaa
aaa
```
.
<pre><code>aaa
aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
  ```
aaa
  aaa
aaa
  ```
.
<pre><code>aaa
aaa
aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
   ```
   aaa
    aaa
  aaa
   ```
.
<pre><code>aaa
 aaa
aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
    ```
    aaa
    ```
.
<pre><code>```
aaa
```
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Closing fences may be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation, and their
indentation need not match that of the opening fence:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
aaa
  ```
.
<pre><code>aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
   ```
aaa
  ```
.
<pre><code>aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a closing fence, because it is indented 4 spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
aaa
    ```
.
<pre><code>aaa
    ```
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````



Code fences (opening and closing) cannot contain internal spaces or tabs:

```````````````````````````````` example
``` ```
aaa
.
<p><code> </code>
aaa</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
~~~~~~
aaa
~~~ ~~
.
<pre><code>aaa
~~~ ~~
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Fenced code blocks can interrupt paragraphs, and can be followed
directly by paragraphs, without a blank line between:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo
```
bar
```
baz
.
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Other blocks can also occur before and after fenced code blocks
without an intervening blank line:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo
---
~~~
bar
~~~
# baz
.
<h2>foo</h2>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
<h1>baz</h1>
````````````````````````````````


An [info string] can be provided after the opening code fence.
Although this spec doesn't mandate any particular treatment of
the info string, the first word is typically used to specify
the language of the code block. In HTML output, the language is
normally indicated by adding a class to the `code` element consisting
of `language-` followed by the language name.

```````````````````````````````` example
```ruby
def foo(x)
  return 3
end
```
.
<pre><code class="language-ruby">def foo(x)
  return 3
end
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
~~~~    ruby startline=3 $%@#$
def foo(x)
  return 3
end
~~~~~~~
.
<pre><code class="language-ruby">def foo(x)
  return 3
end
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
````;
````
.
<pre><code class="language-;"></code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


[Info strings] for backtick code blocks cannot contain backticks:

```````````````````````````````` example
``` aa ```
foo
.
<p><code>aa</code>
foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


[Info strings] for tilde code blocks can contain backticks and tildes:

```````````````````````````````` example
~~~ aa ``` ~~~
foo
~~~
.
<pre><code class="language-aa">foo
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Closing code fences cannot have [info strings]:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
``` aaa
```
.
<pre><code>``` aaa
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````



## HTML blocks

An [HTML block](@) is a group of lines that is treated
as raw HTML (and will not be escaped in HTML output).

There are seven kinds of [HTML block], which can be defined by their
start and end conditions.  The block begins with a line that meets a
[start condition](@) (after up to three optional spaces of indentation).
It ends with the first subsequent line that meets a matching
[end condition](@), or the last line of the document, or the last line of
the [container block](#container-blocks) containing the current HTML
block, if no line is encountered that meets the [end condition].  If
the first line meets both the [start condition] and the [end
condition], the block will contain just that line.

1.  **Start condition:**  line begins with the string `<pre`,
`<script`, `<style`, or `<textarea` (case-insensitive), followed by a space,
a tab, the string `>`, or the end of the line.\
**End condition:**  line contains an end tag
`</pre>`, `</script>`, `</style>`, or `</textarea>` (case-insensitive; it
need not match the start tag).

2.  **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<!--`.\
**End condition:**  line contains the string `-->`.

3.  **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<?`.\
**End condition:** line contains the string `?>`.

4.  **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<!`
followed by an ASCII letter.\
**End condition:** line contains the character `>`.

5.  **Start condition:**  line begins with the string
`<![CDATA[`.\
**End condition:** line contains the string `]]>`.

6.  **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<` or `</`
followed by one of the strings (case-insensitive) `address`,
`article`, `aside`, `base`, `basefont`, `blockquote`, `body`,
`caption`, `center`, `col`, `colgroup`, `dd`, `details`, `dialog`,
`dir`, `div`, `dl`, `dt`, `fieldset`, `figcaption`, `figure`,
`footer`, `form`, `frame`, `frameset`,
`h1`, `h2`, `h3`, `h4`, `h5`, `h6`, `head`, `header`, `hr`,
`html`, `iframe`, `legend`, `li`, `link`, `main`, `menu`, `menuitem`,
`nav`, `noframes`, `ol`, `optgroup`, `option`, `p`, `param`,
`search`, `section`, `summary`, `table`, `tbody`, `td`,
`tfoot`, `th`, `thead`, `title`, `tr`, `track`, `ul`, followed
by a space, a tab, the end of the line, the string `>`, or
the string `/>`.\
**End condition:** line is followed by a [blank line].

7.  **Start condition:**  line begins with a complete [open tag]
(with any [tag name] other than `pre`, `script`,
`style`, or `textarea`) or a complete [closing tag],
all on a single line, followed by zero or more spaces and tabs,
followed by the end of the line.\
**End condition:** line is followed by a [blank line].

HTML blocks continue until they are closed by their appropriate
[end condition], or the last line of the document or other [container
block](#container-blocks).  This means any HTML **within an HTML
block** that might otherwise be recognised as a start condition will
be ignored by the parser and passed through as-is, without changing
the parser's state.

For instance, `<pre>` within an HTML block started by `<table>` will not affect
the parser state; as the HTML block was started in by start condition 6, it
will end at any blank line. This can be surprising:

```````````````````````````````` example
<table><tr><td>
<pre>
**Hello**,

_world_.
</pre>
</td></tr></table>
.
<table><tr><td>
<pre>
**Hello**,
<p><em>world</em>.
</pre></p>
</td></tr></table>
````````````````````````````````

In this case, the HTML block is terminated by the blank line — the `**Hello**`
text remains verbatim — and regular parsing resumes, with a paragraph,
emphasised `world` and inline and block HTML following.

All types of [HTML blocks] except type 7 may interrupt
a paragraph.  Blocks of type 7 cannot interrupt a paragraph.
(This restriction is intended to prevent unwanted interpretation
of long tags inside a wrapped paragraph as starting HTML blocks.)

Some simple examples follow.  Here are some basic HTML blocks
of type 6:

```````````````````````````````` example
<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
           hi
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

okay.
.
<table>
  <tr>
    <td>
           hi
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p>okay.</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
 <div>
  *hello*
         <foo><a>
.
 <div>
  *hello*
         <foo><a>
````````````````````````````````


A block can also start with a closing tag:

```````````````````````````````` example
</div>
*foo*
.
</div>
*foo*
````````````````````````````````


Here we have two HTML blocks with a Markdown paragraph between them:

```````````````````````````````` example
<DIV CLASS="foo">

*Markdown*

</DIV>
.
<DIV CLASS="foo">
<p><em>Markdown</em></p>
</DIV>
````````````````````````````````


The tag on the first line can be partial, as long
as it is split where there would be whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div id="foo"
  class="bar">
</div>
.
<div id="foo"
  class="bar">
</div>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<div id="foo" class="bar
  baz">
</div>
.
<div id="foo" class="bar
  baz">
</div>
````````````````````````````````


An open tag need not be closed:
```````````````````````````````` example
<div>
*foo*

*bar*
.
<div>
*foo*
<p><em>bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````



A partial tag need not even be completed (garbage
in, garbage out):

```````````````````````````````` example
<div id="foo"
*hi*
.
<div id="foo"
*hi*
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<div class
foo
.
<div class
foo
````````````````````````````````


The initial tag doesn't even need to be a valid
tag, as long as it starts like one:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div *???-&&&-<---
*foo*
.
<div *???-&&&-<---
*foo*
````````````````````````````````


In type 6 blocks, the initial tag need not be on a line by
itself:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div><a href="bar">*foo*</a></div>
.
<div><a href="bar">*foo*</a></div>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<table><tr><td>
foo
</td></tr></table>
.
<table><tr><td>
foo
</td></tr></table>
````````````````````````````````


Everything until the next blank line or end of document
gets included in the HTML block.  So, in the following
examples, what looks like a Markdown code block or block quote
is actually part of the HTML block, which continues until a blank
line or the end of the document is reached:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div></div>
``` c
int x = 33;
```
.
<div></div>
``` c
int x = 33;
```
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<div
> not quoted text
.
<div
> not quoted text
````````````````````````````````


To start an [HTML block] with a tag that is *not* in the
list of block-level tags in (6), you must put the tag by
itself on the first line (and it must be complete):

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="foo">
*bar*
</a>
.
<a href="foo">
*bar*
</a>
````````````````````````````````


In type 7 blocks, the [tag name] can be anything:

```````````````````````````````` example
<Warning>
*bar*
</Warning>
.
<Warning>
*bar*
</Warning>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<i class="foo">
*bar*
</i>
.
<i class="foo">
*bar*
</i>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
</ins>
*bar*
.
</ins>
*bar*
````````````````````````````````


These rules are designed to allow us to work with tags that
can function as either block-level or inline-level tags.
The `<del>` tag is a nice example.  We can surround content with
`<del>` tags in three different ways.  In this case, we get a raw
HTML block, because the `<del>` tag is on a line by itself:

```````````````````````````````` example
<del>
*foo*
</del>
.
<del>
*foo*
</del>
````````````````````````````````


In this case, we get a raw HTML block that just includes
the `<del>` tag (because it ends with the following blank
line).  So the contents get interpreted as CommonMark:

```````````````````````````````` example
<del>

*foo*

</del>
.
<del>
<p><em>foo</em></p>
</del>
````````````````````````````````


Finally, in these cases, the `<del>` tags are interpreted
as [raw HTML] *inside* the CommonMark paragraph.  (Because
the tag is not on a line by itself, we get inline HTML
rather than an [HTML block].)

```````````````````````````````` example
<del>*foo*</del>
.
<p><del><em>foo</em></del></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
<del
class="foo">
*foo*
</del>
.
<p><del
class="foo">
<em>foo</em>
</del></p>
````````````````````````````````


HTML tags designed to contain literal content
(`pre`, `script`, `style`, `textarea`), comments, processing instructions,
and declarations are treated somewhat differently.
Instead of ending at the first blank line, these blocks
end at the first line containing a corresponding end tag.
As a result, these blocks can contain blank lines:

A pre tag (type 1):

```````````````````````````````` example
<pre language="haskell"><code>
import Text.HTML.TagSoup

main :: IO ()
main = print $ parseTags tags
</code></pre>
okay
.
<pre language="haskell"><code>
import Text.HTML.TagSoup

main :: IO ()
main = print $ parseTags tags
</code></pre>
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````


A script tag (type 1):

```````````````````````````````` example
<script type="text/javascript">
// JavaScript example

document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "Hello JavaScript!";
</script>
okay
.
<script type="text/javascript">
// JavaScript example

document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "Hello JavaScript!";
</script>
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````


A textarea tag (type 1):

```````````````````````````````` example
<textarea>

*foo*

_bar_

</textarea>
.
<textarea>

*foo*

_bar_

</textarea>
````````````````````````````````

A style tag (type 1):

```````````````````````````````` example
<style
  type="text/css">
h1 {color:red;}

p {color:blue;}
</style>
okay
.
<style
  type="text/css">
h1 {color:red;}

p {color:blue;}
</style>
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````


If there is no matching end tag, the block will end at the
end of the document (or the enclosing [block quote][block quotes]
or [list item][list items]):

```````````````````````````````` example
<style
  type="text/css">

foo
.
<style
  type="text/css">

foo
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> <div>
> foo

bar
.
<blockquote>
<div>
foo
</blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- <div>
- foo
.
<ul>
<li>
<div>
</li>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


The end tag can occur on the same line as the start tag:

```````````````````````````````` example
<style>p{color:red;}</style>
*foo*
.
<style>p{color:red;}</style>
<p><em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<!-- foo -->*bar*
*baz*
.
<!-- foo -->*bar*
<p><em>baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that anything on the last line after the
end tag will be included in the [HTML block]:

```````````````````````````````` example
<script>
foo
</script>1. *bar*
.
<script>
foo
</script>1. *bar*
````````````````````````````````


A comment (type 2):

```````````````````````````````` example
<!-- Foo

bar
   baz -->
okay
.
<!-- Foo

bar
   baz -->
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````



A processing instruction (type 3):

```````````````````````````````` example
<?php

  echo '>';

?>
okay
.
<?php

  echo '>';

?>
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````


A declaration (type 4):

```````````````````````````````` example
<!DOCTYPE html>
.
<!DOCTYPE html>
````````````````````````````````


CDATA (type 5):

```````````````````````````````` example
<![CDATA[
function matchwo(a,b)
{
  if (a < b && a < 0) then {
    return 1;

  } else {

    return 0;
  }
}
]]>
okay
.
<![CDATA[
function matchwo(a,b)
{
  if (a < b && a < 0) then {
    return 1;

  } else {

    return 0;
  }
}
]]>
<p>okay</p>
````````````````````````````````


The opening tag can be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation, but not
four:

```````````````````````````````` example
  <!-- foo -->

    <!-- foo -->
.
  <!-- foo -->
<pre><code>&lt;!-- foo --&gt;
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
  <div>

    <div>
.
  <div>
<pre><code>&lt;div&gt;
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


An HTML block of types 1--6 can interrupt a paragraph, and need not be
preceded by a blank line.

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
<div>
bar
</div>
.
<p>Foo</p>
<div>
bar
</div>
````````````````````````````````


However, a following blank line is needed, except at the end of
a document, and except for blocks of types 1--5, [above][HTML
block]:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div>
bar
</div>
*foo*
.
<div>
bar
</div>
*foo*
````````````````````````````````


HTML blocks of type 7 cannot interrupt a paragraph:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
<a href="bar">
baz
.
<p>Foo
<a href="bar">
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


This rule differs from John Gruber's original Markdown syntax
specification, which says:

> The only restrictions are that block-level HTML elements —
> e.g. `<div>`, `<table>`, `<pre>`, `<p>`, etc. — must be separated from
> surrounding content by blank lines, and the start and end tags of the
> block should not be indented with spaces or tabs.

In some ways Gruber's rule is more restrictive than the one given
here:

- It requires that an HTML block be preceded by a blank line.
- It does not allow the start tag to be indented.
- It requires a matching end tag, which it also does not allow to
  be indented.

Most Markdown implementations (including some of Gruber's own) do not
respect all of these restrictions.

There is one respect, however, in which Gruber's rule is more liberal
than the one given here, since it allows blank lines to occur inside
an HTML block.  There are two reasons for disallowing them here.
First, it removes the need to parse balanced tags, which is
expensive and can require backtracking from the end of the document
if no matching end tag is found. Second, it provides a very simple
and flexible way of including Markdown content inside HTML tags:
simply separate the Markdown from the HTML using blank lines:

Compare:

```````````````````````````````` example
<div>

*Emphasized* text.

</div>
.
<div>
<p><em>Emphasized</em> text.</p>
</div>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<div>
*Emphasized* text.
</div>
.
<div>
*Emphasized* text.
</div>
````````````````````````````````


Some Markdown implementations have adopted a convention of
interpreting content inside tags as text if the open tag has
the attribute `markdown=1`.  The rule given above seems a simpler and
more elegant way of achieving the same expressive power, which is also
much simpler to parse.

The main potential drawback is that one can no longer paste HTML
blocks into Markdown documents with 100% reliability.  However,
*in most cases* this will work fine, because the blank lines in
HTML are usually followed by HTML block tags.  For example:

```````````````````````````````` example
<table>

<tr>

<td>
Hi
</td>

</tr>

</table>
.
<table>
<tr>
<td>
Hi
</td>
</tr>
</table>
````````````````````````````````


There are problems, however, if the inner tags are indented
*and* separated by spaces, as then they will be interpreted as
an indented code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
<table>

  <tr>

    <td>
      Hi
    </td>

  </tr>

</table>
.
<table>
  <tr>
<pre><code>&lt;td&gt;
  Hi
&lt;/td&gt;
</code></pre>
  </tr>
</table>
````````````````````````````````


Fortunately, blank lines are usually not necessary and can be
deleted.  The exception is inside `<pre>` tags, but as described
[above][HTML blocks], raw HTML blocks starting with `<pre>`
*can* contain blank lines.

## Link reference definitions

A [link reference definition](@)
consists of a [link label], optionally preceded by up to three spaces of
indentation, followed
by a colon (`:`), optional spaces or tabs (including up to one
[line ending]), a [link destination],
optional spaces or tabs (including up to one
[line ending]), and an optional [link
title], which if it is present must be separated
from the [link destination] by spaces or tabs.
No further character may occur.

A [link reference definition]
does not correspond to a structural element of a document.  Instead, it
defines a label which can be used in [reference links]
and reference-style [images] elsewhere in the document.  [Link
reference definitions] can come either before or after the links that use
them.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url "title"

[foo]
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
   [foo]: 
      /url  
           'the title'  

[foo]
.
<p><a href="/url" title="the title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[Foo*bar\]]:my_(url) 'title (with parens)'

[Foo*bar\]]
.
<p><a href="my_(url)" title="title (with parens)">Foo*bar]</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[Foo bar]:
<my url>
'title'

[Foo bar]
.
<p><a href="my%20url" title="title">Foo bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The title may extend over multiple lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url '
title
line1
line2
'

[foo]
.
<p><a href="/url" title="
title
line1
line2
">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


However, it must not contain a [blank line]:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url 'title

with blank line'

[foo]
.
<p>[foo]: /url 'title</p>
<p>with blank line'</p>
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


The title may be omitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]:
/url

[foo]
.
<p><a href="/url">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The link destination must not be omitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]:

[foo]
.
<p>[foo]:</p>
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````

 However, an empty link destination may be specified using
 angle brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: <>

[foo]
.
<p><a href="">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

The title must be separated from the link destination by
spaces or tabs:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: <bar>(baz)

[foo]
.
<p>[foo]: <bar>(baz)</p>
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


Both title and destination can contain backslash escapes
and literal backslashes:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url\bar\*baz "foo\"bar\baz"

[foo]
.
<p><a href="/url%5Cbar*baz" title="foo&quot;bar\baz">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


A link can come before its corresponding definition:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

[foo]: url
.
<p><a href="url">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


If there are several matching definitions, the first one takes
precedence:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

[foo]: first
[foo]: second
.
<p><a href="first">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


As noted in the section on [Links], matching of labels is
case-insensitive (see [matches]).

```````````````````````````````` example
[FOO]: /url

[Foo]
.
<p><a href="/url">Foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[ΑΓΩ]: /φου

[αγω]
.
<p><a href="/%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%85">αγω</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Whether something is a [link reference definition] is
independent of whether the link reference it defines is
used in the document.  Thus, for example, the following
document contains just a link reference definition, and
no visible content:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url
.
````````````````````````````````


Here is another one:

```````````````````````````````` example
[
foo
]: /url
bar
.
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a link reference definition, because there are
characters other than spaces or tabs after the title:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url "title" ok
.
<p>[foo]: /url &quot;title&quot; ok</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is a link reference definition, but it has no title:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url
"title" ok
.
<p>&quot;title&quot; ok</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a link reference definition, because it is indented
four spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
    [foo]: /url "title"

[foo]
.
<pre><code>[foo]: /url &quot;title&quot;
</code></pre>
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a link reference definition, because it occurs inside
a code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
```
[foo]: /url
```

[foo]
.
<pre><code>[foo]: /url
</code></pre>
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


A [link reference definition] cannot interrupt a paragraph.

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
[bar]: /baz

[bar]
.
<p>Foo
[bar]: /baz</p>
<p>[bar]</p>
````````````````````````````````


However, it can directly follow other block elements, such as headings
and thematic breaks, and it need not be followed by a blank line.

```````````````````````````````` example
# [Foo]
[foo]: /url
> bar
.
<h1><a href="/url">Foo</a></h1>
<blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url
bar
===
[foo]
.
<h1>bar</h1>
<p><a href="/url">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url
===
[foo]
.
<p>===
<a href="/url">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Several [link reference definitions]
can occur one after another, without intervening blank lines.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /foo-url "foo"
[bar]: /bar-url
  "bar"
[baz]: /baz-url

[foo],
[bar],
[baz]
.
<p><a href="/foo-url" title="foo">foo</a>,
<a href="/bar-url" title="bar">bar</a>,
<a href="/baz-url">baz</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


[Link reference definitions] can occur
inside block containers, like lists and block quotations.  They
affect the entire document, not just the container in which they
are defined:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

> [foo]: /url
.
<p><a href="/url">foo</a></p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


## Paragraphs

A sequence of non-blank lines that cannot be interpreted as other
kinds of blocks forms a [paragraph](@).
The contents of the paragraph are the result of parsing the
paragraph's raw content as inlines.  The paragraph's raw content
is formed by concatenating the lines and removing initial and final
spaces or tabs.

A simple example with two paragraphs:

```````````````````````````````` example
aaa

bbb
.
<p>aaa</p>
<p>bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


Paragraphs can contain multiple lines, but no blank lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
aaa
bbb

ccc
ddd
.
<p>aaa
bbb</p>
<p>ccc
ddd</p>
````````````````````````````````


Multiple blank lines between paragraphs have no effect:

```````````````````````````````` example
aaa


bbb
.
<p>aaa</p>
<p>bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


Leading spaces or tabs are skipped:

```````````````````````````````` example
  aaa
 bbb
.
<p>aaa
bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


Lines after the first may be indented any amount, since indented
code blocks cannot interrupt paragraphs.

```````````````````````````````` example
aaa
             bbb
                                       ccc
.
<p>aaa
bbb
ccc</p>
````````````````````````````````


However, the first line may be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation.
Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
   aaa
bbb
.
<p>aaa
bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
    aaa
bbb
.
<pre><code>aaa
</code></pre>
<p>bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


Final spaces or tabs are stripped before inline parsing, so a paragraph
that ends with two or more spaces will not end with a [hard line
break]:

```````````````````````````````` example
aaa     
bbb     
.
<p>aaa<br />
bbb</p>
````````````````````````````````


## Blank lines

[Blank lines] between block-level elements are ignored,
except for the role they play in determining whether a [list]
is [tight] or [loose].

Blank lines at the beginning and end of the document are also ignored.

```````````````````````````````` example
  

aaa
  

# aaa

  
.
<p>aaa</p>
<h1>aaa</h1>
````````````````````````````````



# Container blocks

A [container block](#container-blocks) is a block that has other
blocks as its contents.  There are two basic kinds of container blocks:
[block quotes] and [list items].
[Lists] are meta-containers for [list items].

We define the syntax for container blocks recursively.  The general
form of the definition is:

> If X is a sequence of blocks, then the result of
> transforming X in such-and-such a way is a container of type Y
> with these blocks as its content.

So, we explain what counts as a block quote or list item by explaining
how these can be *generated* from their contents. This should suffice
to define the syntax, although it does not give a recipe for *parsing*
these constructions.  (A recipe is provided below in the section entitled
[A parsing strategy](#appendix-a-parsing-strategy).)

## Block quotes

A [block quote marker](@),
optionally preceded by up to three spaces of indentation,
consists of (a) the character `>` together with a following space of
indentation, or (b) a single character `>` not followed by a space of
indentation.

The following rules define [block quotes]:

1.  **Basic case.**  If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a sequence
    of blocks *Bs*, then the result of prepending a [block quote
    marker] to the beginning of each line in *Ls*
    is a [block quote](#block-quotes) containing *Bs*.

2.  **Laziness.**  If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a [block
    quote](#block-quotes) with contents *Bs*, then the result of deleting
    the initial [block quote marker] from one or
    more lines in which the next character other than a space or tab after the
    [block quote marker] is [paragraph continuation
    text] is a block quote with *Bs* as its content.
    [Paragraph continuation text](@) is text
    that will be parsed as part of the content of a paragraph, but does
    not occur at the beginning of the paragraph.

3.  **Consecutiveness.**  A document cannot contain two [block
    quotes] in a row unless there is a [blank line] between them.

Nothing else counts as a [block quote](#block-quotes).

Here is a simple example:

```````````````````````````````` example
> # Foo
> bar
> baz
.
<blockquote>
<h1>Foo</h1>
<p>bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


The space or tab after the `>` characters can be omitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
># Foo
>bar
> baz
.
<blockquote>
<h1>Foo</h1>
<p>bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


The `>` characters can be preceded by up to three spaces of indentation:

```````````````````````````````` example
   > # Foo
   > bar
 > baz
.
<blockquote>
<h1>Foo</h1>
<p>bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces of indentation is too many:

```````````````````````````````` example
    > # Foo
    > bar
    > baz
.
<pre><code>&gt; # Foo
&gt; bar
&gt; baz
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


The Laziness clause allows us to omit the `>` before
[paragraph continuation text]:

```````````````````````````````` example
> # Foo
> bar
baz
.
<blockquote>
<h1>Foo</h1>
<p>bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


A block quote can contain some lazy and some non-lazy
continuation lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
> bar
baz
> foo
.
<blockquote>
<p>bar
baz
foo</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


Laziness only applies to lines that would have been continuations of
paragraphs had they been prepended with [block quote markers].
For example, the `> ` cannot be omitted in the second line of

``` markdown
> foo
> ---
```

without changing the meaning:

```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
---
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
````````````````````````````````


Similarly, if we omit the `> ` in the second line of

``` markdown
> - foo
> - bar
```

then the block quote ends after the first line:

```````````````````````````````` example
> - foo
- bar
.
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


For the same reason, we can't omit the `> ` in front of
subsequent lines of an indented or fenced code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
>     foo
    bar
.
<blockquote>
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> ```
foo
```
.
<blockquote>
<pre><code></code></pre>
</blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code></code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


Note that in the following case, we have a [lazy
continuation line]:

```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
    - bar
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo
- bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


To see why, note that in

```markdown
> foo
>     - bar
```

the `- bar` is indented too far to start a list, and can't
be an indented code block because indented code blocks cannot
interrupt paragraphs, so it is [paragraph continuation text].

A block quote can be empty:

```````````````````````````````` example
>
.
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
>
>  
> 
.
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


A block quote can have initial or final blank lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
>
> foo
>  
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


A blank line always separates block quotes:

```````````````````````````````` example
> foo

> bar
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


(Most current Markdown implementations, including John Gruber's
original `Markdown.pl`, will parse this example as a single block quote
with two paragraphs.  But it seems better to allow the author to decide
whether two block quotes or one are wanted.)

Consecutiveness means that if we put these block quotes together,
we get a single block quote:

```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
> bar
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo
bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


To get a block quote with two paragraphs, use:

```````````````````````````````` example
> foo
>
> bar
.
<blockquote>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


Block quotes can interrupt paragraphs:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo
> bar
.
<p>foo</p>
<blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


In general, blank lines are not needed before or after block
quotes:

```````````````````````````````` example
> aaa
***
> bbb
.
<blockquote>
<p>aaa</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<blockquote>
<p>bbb</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


However, because of laziness, a blank line is needed between
a block quote and a following paragraph:

```````````````````````````````` example
> bar
baz
.
<blockquote>
<p>bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> bar

baz
.
<blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> bar
>
baz
.
<blockquote>
<p>bar</p>
</blockquote>
<p>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


It is a consequence of the Laziness rule that any number
of initial `>`s may be omitted on a continuation line of a
nested block quote:

```````````````````````````````` example
> > > foo
bar
.
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>foo
bar</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
>>> foo
> bar
>>baz
.
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>foo
bar
baz</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


When including an indented code block in a block quote,
remember that the [block quote marker] includes
both the `>` and a following space of indentation.  So *five spaces* are needed
after the `>`:

```````````````````````````````` example
>     code

>    not code
.
<blockquote>
<pre><code>code
</code></pre>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>not code</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````



## List items

A [list marker](@) is a
[bullet list marker] or an [ordered list marker].

A [bullet list marker](@)
is a `-`, `+`, or `*` character.

An [ordered list marker](@)
is a sequence of 1--9 arabic digits (`0-9`), followed by either a
`.` character or a `)` character.  (The reason for the length
limit is that with 10 digits we start seeing integer overflows
in some browsers.)

The following rules define [list items]:

1.  **Basic case.**  If a sequence of lines *Ls* constitute a sequence of
    blocks *Bs* starting with a character other than a space or tab, and *M* is
    a list marker of width *W* followed by 1 ≤ *N* ≤ 4 spaces of indentation,
    then the result of prepending *M* and the following spaces to the first line
    of *Ls*, and indenting subsequent lines of *Ls* by *W + N* spaces, is a
    list item with *Bs* as its contents.  The type of the list item
    (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list marker.
    If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a start
    number, based on the ordered list marker.

    Exceptions:

    1. When the first list item in a [list] interrupts
       a paragraph---that is, when it starts on a line that would
       otherwise count as [paragraph continuation text]---then (a)
       the lines *Ls* must not begin with a blank line, and (b) if
       the list item is ordered, the start number must be 1.
    2. If any line is a [thematic break][thematic breaks] then
       that line is not a list item.

For example, let *Ls* be the lines

```````````````````````````````` example
A paragraph
with two lines.

    indented code

> A block quote.
.
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


And let *M* be the marker `1.`, and *N* = 2.  Then rule #1 says
that the following is an ordered list item with start number 1,
and the same contents as *Ls*:

```````````````````````````````` example
1.  A paragraph
    with two lines.

        indented code

    > A block quote.
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


The most important thing to notice is that the position of
the text after the list marker determines how much indentation
is needed in subsequent blocks in the list item.  If the list
marker takes up two spaces of indentation, and there are three spaces between
the list marker and the next character other than a space or tab, then blocks
must be indented five spaces in order to fall under the list
item.

Here are some examples showing how far content must be indented to be
put under the list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
- one

 two
.
<ul>
<li>one</li>
</ul>
<p>two</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- one

  two
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>one</p>
<p>two</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
 -    one

     two
.
<ul>
<li>one</li>
</ul>
<pre><code> two
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
 -    one

      two
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>one</p>
<p>two</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


It is tempting to think of this in terms of columns:  the continuation
blocks must be indented at least to the column of the first character other than
a space or tab after the list marker.  However, that is not quite right.
The spaces of indentation after the list marker determine how much relative
indentation is needed.  Which column this indentation reaches will depend on
how the list item is embedded in other constructions, as shown by
this example:

```````````````````````````````` example
   > > 1.  one
>>
>>     two
.
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>
<p>one</p>
<p>two</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


Here `two` occurs in the same column as the list marker `1.`,
but is actually contained in the list item, because there is
sufficient indentation after the last containing blockquote marker.

The converse is also possible.  In the following example, the word `two`
occurs far to the right of the initial text of the list item, `one`, but
it is not considered part of the list item, because it is not indented
far enough past the blockquote marker:

```````````````````````````````` example
>>- one
>>
  >  > two
.
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>one</li>
</ul>
<p>two</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


Note that at least one space or tab is needed between the list marker and
any following content, so these are not list items:

```````````````````````````````` example
-one

2.two
.
<p>-one</p>
<p>2.two</p>
````````````````````````````````


A list item may contain blocks that are separated by more than
one blank line.

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo


  bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


A list item may contain any kind of block:

```````````````````````````````` example
1.  foo

    ```
    bar
    ```

    baz

    > bam
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
<p>baz</p>
<blockquote>
<p>bam</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


A list item that contains an indented code block will preserve
empty lines within the code block verbatim.

```````````````````````````````` example
- Foo

      bar


      baz
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>Foo</p>
<pre><code>bar


baz
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

Note that ordered list start numbers must be nine digits or less:

```````````````````````````````` example
123456789. ok
.
<ol start="123456789">
<li>ok</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1234567890. not ok
.
<p>1234567890. not ok</p>
````````````````````````````````


A start number may begin with 0s:

```````````````````````````````` example
0. ok
.
<ol start="0">
<li>ok</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
003. ok
.
<ol start="3">
<li>ok</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


A start number must not be negative:

```````````````````````````````` example
-1. not ok
.
<p>-1. not ok</p>
````````````````````````````````



2.  **Item starting with indented code.**  If a sequence of lines *Ls*
    constitute a sequence of blocks *Bs* starting with an indented code
    block, and *M* is a list marker of width *W* followed by
    one space of indentation, then the result of prepending *M* and the
    following space to the first line of *Ls*, and indenting subsequent lines
    of *Ls* by *W + 1* spaces, is a list item with *Bs* as its contents.
    If a line is empty, then it need not be indented.  The type of the
    list item (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list
    marker.  If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a
    start number, based on the ordered list marker.

An indented code block will have to be preceded by four spaces of indentation
beyond the edge of the region where text will be included in the list item.
In the following case that is 6 spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo

      bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


And in this case it is 11 spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
  10.  foo

           bar
.
<ol start="10">
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


If the *first* block in the list item is an indented code block,
then by rule #2, the contents must be preceded by *one* space of indentation
after the list marker:

```````````````````````````````` example
    indented code

paragraph

    more code
.
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<p>paragraph</p>
<pre><code>more code
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1.     indented code

   paragraph

       more code
.
<ol>
<li>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<p>paragraph</p>
<pre><code>more code
</code></pre>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Note that an additional space of indentation is interpreted as space
inside the code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
1.      indented code

   paragraph

       more code
.
<ol>
<li>
<pre><code> indented code
</code></pre>
<p>paragraph</p>
<pre><code>more code
</code></pre>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Note that rules #1 and #2 only apply to two cases:  (a) cases
in which the lines to be included in a list item begin with a
character other than a space or tab, and (b) cases in which
they begin with an indented code
block.  In a case like the following, where the first block begins with
three spaces of indentation, the rules do not allow us to form a list item by
indenting the whole thing and prepending a list marker:

```````````````````````````````` example
   foo

bar
.
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
-    foo

  bar
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
<p>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not a significant restriction, because when a block is preceded by up to
three spaces of indentation, the indentation can always be removed without
a change in interpretation, allowing rule #1 to be applied.  So, in
the above case:

```````````````````````````````` example
-  foo

   bar
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


3.  **Item starting with a blank line.**  If a sequence of lines *Ls*
    starting with a single [blank line] constitute a (possibly empty)
    sequence of blocks *Bs*, and *M* is a list marker of width *W*,
    then the result of prepending *M* to the first line of *Ls*, and
    preceding subsequent lines of *Ls* by *W + 1* spaces of indentation, is a
    list item with *Bs* as its contents.
    If a line is empty, then it need not be indented.  The type of the
    list item (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list
    marker.  If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a
    start number, based on the ordered list marker.

Here are some list items that start with a blank line but are not empty:

```````````````````````````````` example
-
  foo
-
  ```
  bar
  ```
-
      baz
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li>
<pre><code>bar
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>
<pre><code>baz
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

When the list item starts with a blank line, the number of spaces
following the list marker doesn't change the required indentation:

```````````````````````````````` example
-   
  foo
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


A list item can begin with at most one blank line.
In the following example, `foo` is not part of the list
item:

```````````````````````````````` example
-

  foo
.
<ul>
<li></li>
</ul>
<p>foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


Here is an empty bullet list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
-
- bar
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li></li>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


It does not matter whether there are spaces or tabs following the [list marker]:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
-   
- bar
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li></li>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


Here is an empty ordered list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
1. foo
2.
3. bar
.
<ol>
<li>foo</li>
<li></li>
<li>bar</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


A list may start or end with an empty list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
*
.
<ul>
<li></li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

However, an empty list item cannot interrupt a paragraph:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo
*

foo
1.
.
<p>foo
*</p>
<p>foo
1.</p>
````````````````````````````````


4.  **Indentation.**  If a sequence of lines *Ls* constitutes a list item
    according to rule #1, #2, or #3, then the result of preceding each line
    of *Ls* by up to three spaces of indentation (the same for each line) also
    constitutes a list item with the same contents and attributes.  If a line is
    empty, then it need not be indented.

Indented one space:

```````````````````````````````` example
 1.  A paragraph
     with two lines.

         indented code

     > A block quote.
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Indented two spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
  1.  A paragraph
      with two lines.

          indented code

      > A block quote.
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Indented three spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
   1.  A paragraph
       with two lines.

           indented code

       > A block quote.
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Four spaces indent gives a code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
    1.  A paragraph
        with two lines.

            indented code

        > A block quote.
.
<pre><code>1.  A paragraph
    with two lines.

        indented code

    &gt; A block quote.
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````



5.  **Laziness.**  If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a [list
    item](#list-items) with contents *Bs*, then the result of deleting
    some or all of the indentation from one or more lines in which the
    next character other than a space or tab after the indentation is
    [paragraph continuation text] is a
    list item with the same contents and attributes.  The unindented
    lines are called
    [lazy continuation line](@)s.

Here is an example with [lazy continuation lines]:

```````````````````````````````` example
  1.  A paragraph
with two lines.

          indented code

      > A block quote.
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>A paragraph
with two lines.</p>
<pre><code>indented code
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>A block quote.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Indentation can be partially deleted:

```````````````````````````````` example
  1.  A paragraph
    with two lines.
.
<ol>
<li>A paragraph
with two lines.</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


These examples show how laziness can work in nested structures:

```````````````````````````````` example
> 1. > Blockquote
continued here.
.
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>
<blockquote>
<p>Blockquote
continued here.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
> 1. > Blockquote
> continued here.
.
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>
<blockquote>
<p>Blockquote
continued here.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````



6.  **That's all.** Nothing that is not counted as a list item by rules
    #1--5 counts as a [list item](#list-items).

The rules for sublists follow from the general rules
[above][List items].  A sublist must be indented the same number
of spaces of indentation a paragraph would need to be in order to be included
in the list item.

So, in this case we need two spaces indent:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
  - bar
    - baz
      - boo
.
<ul>
<li>foo
<ul>
<li>bar
<ul>
<li>baz
<ul>
<li>boo</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


One is not enough:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
 - bar
  - baz
   - boo
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li>bar</li>
<li>baz</li>
<li>boo</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


Here we need four, because the list marker is wider:

```````````````````````````````` example
10) foo
    - bar
.
<ol start="10">
<li>foo
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Three is not enough:

```````````````````````````````` example
10) foo
   - bar
.
<ol start="10">
<li>foo</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


A list may be the first block in a list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
- - foo
.
<ul>
<li>
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1. - 2. foo
.
<ol>
<li>
<ul>
<li>
<ol start="2">
<li>foo</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


A list item can contain a heading:

```````````````````````````````` example
- # Foo
- Bar
  ---
  baz
.
<ul>
<li>
<h1>Foo</h1>
</li>
<li>
<h2>Bar</h2>
baz</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


### Motivation

John Gruber's Markdown spec says the following about list items:

1. "List markers typically start at the left margin, but may be indented
   by up to three spaces. List markers must be followed by one or more
   spaces or a tab."

2. "To make lists look nice, you can wrap items with hanging indents....
   But if you don't want to, you don't have to."

3. "List items may consist of multiple paragraphs. Each subsequent
   paragraph in a list item must be indented by either 4 spaces or one
   tab."

4. "It looks nice if you indent every line of the subsequent paragraphs,
   but here again, Markdown will allow you to be lazy."

5. "To put a blockquote within a list item, the blockquote's `>`
   delimiters need to be indented."

6. "To put a code block within a list item, the code block needs to be
   indented twice — 8 spaces or two tabs."

These rules specify that a paragraph under a list item must be indented
four spaces (presumably, from the left margin, rather than the start of
the list marker, but this is not said), and that code under a list item
must be indented eight spaces instead of the usual four.  They also say
that a block quote must be indented, but not by how much; however, the
example given has four spaces indentation.  Although nothing is said
about other kinds of block-level content, it is certainly reasonable to
infer that *all* block elements under a list item, including other
lists, must be indented four spaces.  This principle has been called the
*four-space rule*.

The four-space rule is clear and principled, and if the reference
implementation `Markdown.pl` had followed it, it probably would have
become the standard.  However, `Markdown.pl` allowed paragraphs and
sublists to start with only two spaces indentation, at least on the
outer level.  Worse, its behavior was inconsistent: a sublist of an
outer-level list needed two spaces indentation, but a sublist of this
sublist needed three spaces.  It is not surprising, then, that different
implementations of Markdown have developed very different rules for
determining what comes under a list item.  (Pandoc and python-Markdown,
for example, stuck with Gruber's syntax description and the four-space
rule, while discount, redcarpet, marked, PHP Markdown, and others
followed `Markdown.pl`'s behavior more closely.)

Unfortunately, given the divergences between implementations, there
is no way to give a spec for list items that will be guaranteed not
to break any existing documents.  However, the spec given here should
correctly handle lists formatted with either the four-space rule or
the more forgiving `Markdown.pl` behavior, provided they are laid out
in a way that is natural for a human to read.

The strategy here is to let the width and indentation of the list marker
determine the indentation necessary for blocks to fall under the list
item, rather than having a fixed and arbitrary number.  The writer can
think of the body of the list item as a unit which gets indented to the
right enough to fit the list marker (and any indentation on the list
marker).  (The laziness rule, #5, then allows continuation lines to be
unindented if needed.)

This rule is superior, we claim, to any rule requiring a fixed level of
indentation from the margin.  The four-space rule is clear but
unnatural. It is quite unintuitive that

``` markdown
- foo

  bar

  - baz
```

should be parsed as two lists with an intervening paragraph,

``` html
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
</ul>
<p>bar</p>
<ul>
<li>baz</li>
</ul>
```

as the four-space rule demands, rather than a single list,

``` html
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>
<ul>
<li>baz</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
```

The choice of four spaces is arbitrary.  It can be learned, but it is
not likely to be guessed, and it trips up beginners regularly.

Would it help to adopt a two-space rule?  The problem is that such
a rule, together with the rule allowing up to three spaces of indentation for
the initial list marker, allows text that is indented *less than* the
original list marker to be included in the list item. For example,
`Markdown.pl` parses

``` markdown
   - one

  two
```

as a single list item, with `two` a continuation paragraph:

``` html
<ul>
<li>
<p>one</p>
<p>two</p>
</li>
</ul>
```

and similarly

``` markdown
>   - one
>
>  two
```

as

``` html
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>
<p>one</p>
<p>two</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
```

This is extremely unintuitive.

Rather than requiring a fixed indent from the margin, we could require
a fixed indent (say, two spaces, or even one space) from the list marker (which
may itself be indented).  This proposal would remove the last anomaly
discussed.  Unlike the spec presented above, it would count the following
as a list item with a subparagraph, even though the paragraph `bar`
is not indented as far as the first paragraph `foo`:

``` markdown
 10. foo

   bar  
```

Arguably this text does read like a list item with `bar` as a subparagraph,
which may count in favor of the proposal.  However, on this proposal indented
code would have to be indented six spaces after the list marker.  And this
would break a lot of existing Markdown, which has the pattern:

``` markdown
1.  foo

        indented code
```

where the code is indented eight spaces.  The spec above, by contrast, will
parse this text as expected, since the code block's indentation is measured
from the beginning of `foo`.

The one case that needs special treatment is a list item that *starts*
with indented code.  How much indentation is required in that case, since
we don't have a "first paragraph" to measure from?  Rule #2 simply stipulates
that in such cases, we require one space indentation from the list marker
(and then the normal four spaces for the indented code).  This will match the
four-space rule in cases where the list marker plus its initial indentation
takes four spaces (a common case), but diverge in other cases.

## Lists

A [list](@) is a sequence of one or more
list items [of the same type].  The list items
may be separated by any number of blank lines.

Two list items are [of the same type](@)
if they begin with a [list marker] of the same type.
Two list markers are of the
same type if (a) they are bullet list markers using the same character
(`-`, `+`, or `*`) or (b) they are ordered list numbers with the same
delimiter (either `.` or `)`).

A list is an [ordered list](@)
if its constituent list items begin with
[ordered list markers], and a
[bullet list](@) if its constituent list
items begin with [bullet list markers].

The [start number](@)
of an [ordered list] is determined by the list number of
its initial list item.  The numbers of subsequent list items are
disregarded.

A list is [loose](@) if any of its constituent
list items are separated by blank lines, or if any of its constituent
list items directly contain two block-level elements with a blank line
between them.  Otherwise a list is [tight](@).
(The difference in HTML output is that paragraphs in a loose list are
wrapped in `<p>` tags, while paragraphs in a tight list are not.)

Changing the bullet or ordered list delimiter starts a new list:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
- bar
+ baz
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>baz</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1. foo
2. bar
3) baz
.
<ol>
<li>foo</li>
<li>bar</li>
</ol>
<ol start="3">
<li>baz</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


In CommonMark, a list can interrupt a paragraph. That is,
no blank line is needed to separate a paragraph from a following
list:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo
- bar
- baz
.
<p>Foo</p>
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
<li>baz</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

`Markdown.pl` does not allow this, through fear of triggering a list
via a numeral in a hard-wrapped line:

``` markdown
The number of windows in my house is
14.  The number of doors is 6.
```

Oddly, though, `Markdown.pl` *does* allow a blockquote to
interrupt a paragraph, even though the same considerations might
apply.

In CommonMark, we do allow lists to interrupt paragraphs, for
two reasons.  First, it is natural and not uncommon for people
to start lists without blank lines:

``` markdown
I need to buy
- new shoes
- a coat
- a plane ticket
```

Second, we are attracted to a

> [principle of uniformity](@):
> if a chunk of text has a certain
> meaning, it will continue to have the same meaning when put into a
> container block (such as a list item or blockquote).

(Indeed, the spec for [list items] and [block quotes] presupposes
this principle.) This principle implies that if

``` markdown
  * I need to buy
    - new shoes
    - a coat
    - a plane ticket
```

is a list item containing a paragraph followed by a nested sublist,
as all Markdown implementations agree it is (though the paragraph
may be rendered without `<p>` tags, since the list is "tight"),
then

``` markdown
I need to buy
- new shoes
- a coat
- a plane ticket
```

by itself should be a paragraph followed by a nested sublist.

Since it is well established Markdown practice to allow lists to
interrupt paragraphs inside list items, the [principle of
uniformity] requires us to allow this outside list items as
well.  ([reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html)
takes a different approach, requiring blank lines before lists
even inside other list items.)

In order to solve the problem of unwanted lists in paragraphs with
hard-wrapped numerals, we allow only lists starting with `1` to
interrupt paragraphs.  Thus,

```````````````````````````````` example
The number of windows in my house is
14.  The number of doors is 6.
.
<p>The number of windows in my house is
14.  The number of doors is 6.</p>
````````````````````````````````

We may still get an unintended result in cases like

```````````````````````````````` example
The number of windows in my house is
1.  The number of doors is 6.
.
<p>The number of windows in my house is</p>
<ol>
<li>The number of doors is 6.</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````

but this rule should prevent most spurious list captures.

There can be any number of blank lines between items:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo

- bar


- baz
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>baz</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
  - bar
    - baz


      bim
.
<ul>
<li>foo
<ul>
<li>bar
<ul>
<li>
<p>baz</p>
<p>bim</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


To separate consecutive lists of the same type, or to separate a
list from an indented code block that would otherwise be parsed
as a subparagraph of the final list item, you can insert a blank HTML
comment:

```````````````````````````````` example
- foo
- bar

<!-- -->

- baz
- bim
.
<ul>
<li>foo</li>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
<!-- -->
<ul>
<li>baz</li>
<li>bim</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
-   foo

    notcode

-   foo

<!-- -->

    code
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<p>notcode</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
</li>
</ul>
<!-- -->
<pre><code>code
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


List items need not be indented to the same level.  The following
list items will be treated as items at the same list level,
since none is indented enough to belong to the previous list
item:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
 - b
  - c
   - d
  - e
 - f
- g
.
<ul>
<li>a</li>
<li>b</li>
<li>c</li>
<li>d</li>
<li>e</li>
<li>f</li>
<li>g</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
1. a

  2. b

   3. c
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>b</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>c</p>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````

Note, however, that list items must not be preceded by more than
three spaces of indentation.  Here `- e` is treated as a paragraph continuation
line, because it is indented more than three spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
 - b
  - c
   - d
    - e
.
<ul>
<li>a</li>
<li>b</li>
<li>c</li>
<li>d
- e</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````

And here, `3. c` is treated as in indented code block,
because it is indented four spaces and preceded by a
blank line.

```````````````````````````````` example
1. a

  2. b

    3. c
.
<ol>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>b</p>
</li>
</ol>
<pre><code>3. c
</code></pre>
````````````````````````````````


This is a loose list, because there is a blank line between
two of the list items:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
- b

- c
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>b</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>c</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


So is this, with a empty second item:

```````````````````````````````` example
* a
*

* c
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li></li>
<li>
<p>c</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


These are loose lists, even though there are no blank lines between the items,
because one of the items directly contains two block-level elements
with a blank line between them:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
- b

  c
- d
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>b</p>
<p>c</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>d</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- a
- b

  [ref]: /url
- d
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>a</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>b</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>d</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This is a tight list, because the blank lines are in a code block:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
- ```
  b


  ```
- c
.
<ul>
<li>a</li>
<li>
<pre><code>b


</code></pre>
</li>
<li>c</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This is a tight list, because the blank line is between two
paragraphs of a sublist.  So the sublist is loose while
the outer list is tight:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
  - b

    c
- d
.
<ul>
<li>a
<ul>
<li>
<p>b</p>
<p>c</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>d</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This is a tight list, because the blank line is inside the
block quote:

```````````````````````````````` example
* a
  > b
  >
* c
.
<ul>
<li>a
<blockquote>
<p>b</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
<li>c</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This list is tight, because the consecutive block elements
are not separated by blank lines:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
  > b
  ```
  c
  ```
- d
.
<ul>
<li>a
<blockquote>
<p>b</p>
</blockquote>
<pre><code>c
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>d</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


A single-paragraph list is tight:

```````````````````````````````` example
- a
.
<ul>
<li>a</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- a
  - b
.
<ul>
<li>a
<ul>
<li>b</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


This list is loose, because of the blank line between the
two block elements in the list item:

```````````````````````````````` example
1. ```
   foo
   ```

   bar
.
<ol>
<li>
<pre><code>foo
</code></pre>
<p>bar</p>
</li>
</ol>
````````````````````````````````


Here the outer list is loose, the inner list tight:

```````````````````````````````` example
* foo
  * bar

  baz
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>foo</p>
<ul>
<li>bar</li>
</ul>
<p>baz</p>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
- a
  - b
  - c

- d
  - e
  - f
.
<ul>
<li>
<p>a</p>
<ul>
<li>b</li>
<li>c</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>d</p>
<ul>
<li>e</li>
<li>f</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
````````````````````````````````


# Inlines

Inlines are parsed sequentially from the beginning of the character
stream to the end (left to right, in left-to-right languages).
Thus, for example, in

```````````````````````````````` example
`hi`lo`
.
<p><code>hi</code>lo`</p>
````````````````````````````````

`hi` is parsed as code, leaving the backtick at the end as a literal
backtick.



## Code spans

A [backtick string](@)
is a string of one or more backtick characters (`` ` ``) that is neither
preceded nor followed by a backtick.

A [code span](@) begins with a backtick string and ends with
a backtick string of equal length.  The contents of the code span are
the characters between these two backtick strings, normalized in the
following ways:

- First, [line endings] are converted to [spaces].
- If the resulting string both begins *and* ends with a [space]
  character, but does not consist entirely of [space]
  characters, a single [space] character is removed from the
  front and back.  This allows you to include code that begins
  or ends with backtick characters, which must be separated by
  whitespace from the opening or closing backtick strings.

This is a simple code span:

```````````````````````````````` example
`foo`
.
<p><code>foo</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


Here two backticks are used, because the code contains a backtick.
This example also illustrates stripping of a single leading and
trailing space:

```````````````````````````````` example
`` foo ` bar ``
.
<p><code>foo ` bar</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


This example shows the motivation for stripping leading and trailing
spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
` `` `
.
<p><code>``</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

Note that only *one* space is stripped:

```````````````````````````````` example
`  ``  `
.
<p><code> `` </code></p>
````````````````````````````````

The stripping only happens if the space is on both
sides of the string:

```````````````````````````````` example
` a`
.
<p><code> a</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

Only [spaces], and not [unicode whitespace] in general, are
stripped in this way:

```````````````````````````````` example
` b `
.
<p><code> b </code></p>
````````````````````````````````

No stripping occurs if the code span contains only spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
` `
`  `
.
<p><code> </code>
<code>  </code></p>
````````````````````````````````


[Line endings] are treated like spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
``
foo
bar  
baz
``
.
<p><code>foo bar   baz</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
``
foo 
``
.
<p><code>foo </code></p>
````````````````````````````````


Interior spaces are not collapsed:

```````````````````````````````` example
`foo   bar 
baz`
.
<p><code>foo   bar  baz</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

Note that browsers will typically collapse consecutive spaces
when rendering `<code>` elements, so it is recommended that
the following CSS be used:

    code{white-space: pre-wrap;}


Note that backslash escapes do not work in code spans. All backslashes
are treated literally:

```````````````````````````````` example
`foo\`bar`
.
<p><code>foo\</code>bar`</p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash escapes are never needed, because one can always choose a
string of *n* backtick characters as delimiters, where the code does
not contain any strings of exactly *n* backtick characters.

```````````````````````````````` example
``foo`bar``
.
<p><code>foo`bar</code></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
` foo `` bar `
.
<p><code>foo `` bar</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


Code span backticks have higher precedence than any other inline
constructs except HTML tags and autolinks.  Thus, for example, this is
not parsed as emphasized text, since the second `*` is part of a code
span:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo`*`
.
<p>*foo<code>*</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


And this is not parsed as a link:

```````````````````````````````` example
[not a `link](/foo`)
.
<p>[not a <code>link](/foo</code>)</p>
````````````````````````````````


Code spans, HTML tags, and autolinks have the same precedence.
Thus, this is code:

```````````````````````````````` example
`<a href="`">`
.
<p><code>&lt;a href=&quot;</code>&quot;&gt;`</p>
````````````````````````````````


But this is an HTML tag:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="`">`
.
<p><a href="`">`</p>
````````````````````````````````


And this is code:

```````````````````````````````` example
`<https://foo.bar.`baz>`
.
<p><code>&lt;https://foo.bar.</code>baz&gt;`</p>
````````````````````````````````


But this is an autolink:

```````````````````````````````` example
<https://foo.bar.`baz>`
.
<p><a href="https://foo.bar.%60baz">https://foo.bar.`baz</a>`</p>
````````````````````````````````


When a backtick string is not closed by a matching backtick string,
we just have literal backticks:

```````````````````````````````` example
```foo``
.
<p>```foo``</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
`foo
.
<p>`foo</p>
````````````````````````````````

The following case also illustrates the need for opening and
closing backtick strings to be equal in length:

```````````````````````````````` example
`foo``bar``
.
<p>`foo<code>bar</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


## Emphasis and strong emphasis

John Gruber's original [Markdown syntax
description](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#em) says:

> Markdown treats asterisks (`*`) and underscores (`_`) as indicators of
> emphasis. Text wrapped with one `*` or `_` will be wrapped with an HTML
> `<em>` tag; double `*`'s or `_`'s will be wrapped with an HTML `<strong>`
> tag.

This is enough for most users, but these rules leave much undecided,
especially when it comes to nested emphasis.  The original
`Markdown.pl` test suite makes it clear that triple `***` and
`___` delimiters can be used for strong emphasis, and most
implementations have also allowed the following patterns:

``` markdown
***strong emph***
***strong** in emph*
***emph* in strong**
**in strong *emph***
*in emph **strong***
```

The following patterns are less widely supported, but the intent
is clear and they are useful (especially in contexts like bibliography
entries):

``` markdown
*emph *with emph* in it*
**strong **with strong** in it**
```

Many implementations have also restricted intraword emphasis to
the `*` forms, to avoid unwanted emphasis in words containing
internal underscores.  (It is best practice to put these in code
spans, but users often do not.)

``` markdown
internal emphasis: foo*bar*baz
no emphasis: foo_bar_baz
```

The rules given below capture all of these patterns, while allowing
for efficient parsing strategies that do not backtrack.

First, some definitions.  A [delimiter run](@) is either
a sequence of one or more `*` characters that is not preceded or
followed by a non-backslash-escaped `*` character, or a sequence
of one or more `_` characters that is not preceded or followed by
a non-backslash-escaped `_` character.

A [left-flanking delimiter run](@) is
a [delimiter run] that is (1) not followed by [Unicode whitespace],
and either (2a) not followed by a [Unicode punctuation character], or
(2b) followed by a [Unicode punctuation character] and
preceded by [Unicode whitespace] or a [Unicode punctuation character].
For purposes of this definition, the beginning and the end of
the line count as Unicode whitespace.

A [right-flanking delimiter run](@) is
a [delimiter run] that is (1) not preceded by [Unicode whitespace],
and either (2a) not preceded by a [Unicode punctuation character], or
(2b) preceded by a [Unicode punctuation character] and
followed by [Unicode whitespace] or a [Unicode punctuation character].
For purposes of this definition, the beginning and the end of
the line count as Unicode whitespace.

Here are some examples of delimiter runs.

  - left-flanking but not right-flanking:

    ```
    ***abc
      _abc
    **"abc"
     _"abc"
    ```

  - right-flanking but not left-flanking:

    ```
     abc***
     abc_
    "abc"**
    "abc"_
    ```

  - Both left and right-flanking:

    ```
     abc***def
    "abc"_"def"
    ```

  - Neither left nor right-flanking:

    ```
    abc *** def
    a _ b
    ```

(The idea of distinguishing left-flanking and right-flanking
delimiter runs based on the character before and the character
after comes from Roopesh Chander's
[vfmd](https://web.archive.org/web/20220608143320/http://www.vfmd.org/vfmd-spec/specification/#procedure-for-identifying-emphasis-tags).
vfmd uses the terminology "emphasis indicator string" instead of "delimiter
run," and its rules for distinguishing left- and right-flanking runs
are a bit more complex than the ones given here.)

The following rules define emphasis and strong emphasis:

1.  A single `*` character [can open emphasis](@)
    iff (if and only if) it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run].

2.  A single `_` character [can open emphasis] iff
    it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    and either (a) not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    or (b) part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    preceded by a [Unicode punctuation character].

3.  A single `*` character [can close emphasis](@)
    iff it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run].

4.  A single `_` character [can close emphasis] iff
    it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    and either (a) not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    or (b) part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    followed by a [Unicode punctuation character].

5.  A double `**` [can open strong emphasis](@)
    iff it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run].

6.  A double `__` [can open strong emphasis] iff
    it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    and either (a) not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    or (b) part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    preceded by a [Unicode punctuation character].

7.  A double `**` [can close strong emphasis](@)
    iff it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run].

8.  A double `__` [can close strong emphasis] iff
    it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]
    and either (a) not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    or (b) part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]
    followed by a [Unicode punctuation character].

9.  Emphasis begins with a delimiter that [can open emphasis] and ends
    with a delimiter that [can close emphasis], and that uses the same
    character (`_` or `*`) as the opening delimiter.  The
    opening and closing delimiters must belong to separate
    [delimiter runs].  If one of the delimiters can both
    open and close emphasis, then the sum of the lengths of the
    delimiter runs containing the opening and closing delimiters
    must not be a multiple of 3 unless both lengths are
    multiples of 3.

10. Strong emphasis begins with a delimiter that
    [can open strong emphasis] and ends with a delimiter that
    [can close strong emphasis], and that uses the same character
    (`_` or `*`) as the opening delimiter.  The
    opening and closing delimiters must belong to separate
    [delimiter runs].  If one of the delimiters can both open
    and close strong emphasis, then the sum of the lengths of
    the delimiter runs containing the opening and closing
    delimiters must not be a multiple of 3 unless both lengths
    are multiples of 3.

11. A literal `*` character cannot occur at the beginning or end of
    `*`-delimited emphasis or `**`-delimited strong emphasis, unless it
    is backslash-escaped.

12. A literal `_` character cannot occur at the beginning or end of
    `_`-delimited emphasis or `__`-delimited strong emphasis, unless it
    is backslash-escaped.

Where rules 1--12 above are compatible with multiple parsings,
the following principles resolve ambiguity:

13. The number of nestings should be minimized. Thus, for example,
    an interpretation `<strong>...</strong>` is always preferred to
    `<em><em>...</em></em>`.

14. An interpretation `<em><strong>...</strong></em>` is always
    preferred to `<strong><em>...</em></strong>`.

15. When two potential emphasis or strong emphasis spans overlap,
    so that the second begins before the first ends and ends after
    the first ends, the first takes precedence. Thus, for example,
    `*foo _bar* baz_` is parsed as `<em>foo _bar</em> baz_` rather
    than `*foo <em>bar* baz</em>`.

16. When there are two potential emphasis or strong emphasis spans
    with the same closing delimiter, the shorter one (the one that
    opens later) takes precedence. Thus, for example,
    `**foo **bar baz**` is parsed as `**foo <strong>bar baz</strong>`
    rather than `<strong>foo **bar baz</strong>`.

17. Inline code spans, links, images, and HTML tags group more tightly
    than emphasis.  So, when there is a choice between an interpretation
    that contains one of these elements and one that does not, the
    former always wins.  Thus, for example, `*[foo*](bar)` is
    parsed as `*<a href="bar">foo*</a>` rather than as
    `<em>[foo</em>](bar)`.

These rules can be illustrated through a series of examples.

Rule 1:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo bar*
.
<p><em>foo bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the opening `*` is followed by
whitespace, and hence not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]:

```````````````````````````````` example
a * foo bar*
.
<p>a * foo bar*</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the opening `*` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation, and hence
not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]:

```````````````````````````````` example
a*"foo"*
.
<p>a*&quot;foo&quot;*</p>
````````````````````````````````


Unicode nonbreaking spaces count as whitespace, too:

```````````````````````````````` example
* a *
.
<p>* a *</p>
````````````````````````````````


Unicode symbols count as punctuation, too:

```````````````````````````````` example
*$*alpha.

*£*bravo.

*€*charlie.

*𞋿*delta.
.
<p>*$*alpha.</p>
<p>*£*bravo.</p>
<p>*€*charlie.</p>
<p>*𞋿*delta.</p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword emphasis with `*` is permitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo*bar*
.
<p>foo<em>bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
5*6*78
.
<p>5<em>6</em>78</p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 2:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo bar_
.
<p><em>foo bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is followed by
whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
_ foo bar_
.
<p>_ foo bar_</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
a_"foo"_
.
<p>a_&quot;foo&quot;_</p>
````````````````````````````````


Emphasis with `_` is not allowed inside words:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo_bar_
.
<p>foo_bar_</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
5_6_78
.
<p>5_6_78</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
пристаням_стремятся_
.
<p>пристаням_стремятся_</p>
````````````````````````````````


Here `_` does not generate emphasis, because the first delimiter run
is right-flanking and the second left-flanking:

```````````````````````````````` example
aa_"bb"_cc
.
<p>aa_&quot;bb&quot;_cc</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by
punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo-_(bar)_
.
<p>foo-<em>(bar)</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 3:

This is not emphasis, because the closing delimiter does
not match the opening delimiter:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo*
.
<p>_foo*</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the closing `*` is preceded by
whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo bar *
.
<p>*foo bar *</p>
````````````````````````````````


A line ending also counts as whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo bar
*
.
<p>*foo bar
*</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the second `*` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric
(hence it is not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]:

```````````````````````````````` example
*(*foo)
.
<p>*(*foo)</p>
````````````````````````````````


The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with this example:

```````````````````````````````` example
*(*foo*)*
.
<p><em>(<em>foo</em>)</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword emphasis with `*` is allowed:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo*bar
.
<p><em>foo</em>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 4:

This is not emphasis, because the closing `_` is preceded by
whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo bar _
.
<p>_foo bar _</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not emphasis, because the second `_` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric:

```````````````````````````````` example
_(_foo)
.
<p>_(_foo)</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is emphasis within emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
_(_foo_)_
.
<p><em>(<em>foo</em>)</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword emphasis is disallowed for `_`:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo_bar
.
<p>_foo_bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_пристаням_стремятся
.
<p>_пристаням_стремятся</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_foo_bar_baz_
.
<p><em>foo_bar_baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by
punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
_(bar)_.
.
<p><em>(bar)</em>.</p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 5:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo bar**
.
<p><strong>foo bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is
followed by whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
** foo bar**
.
<p>** foo bar**</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not strong emphasis, because the opening `**` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation, and hence
not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]:

```````````````````````````````` example
a**"foo"**
.
<p>a**&quot;foo&quot;**</p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword strong emphasis with `**` is permitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo**bar**
.
<p>foo<strong>bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 6:

```````````````````````````````` example
__foo bar__
.
<p><strong>foo bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is
followed by whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
__ foo bar__
.
<p>__ foo bar__</p>
````````````````````````````````


A line ending counts as whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example
__
foo bar__
.
<p>__
foo bar__</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not strong emphasis, because the opening `__` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
a__"foo"__
.
<p>a__&quot;foo&quot;__</p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo__bar__
.
<p>foo__bar__</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
5__6__78
.
<p>5__6__78</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
пристаням__стремятся__
.
<p>пристаням__стремятся__</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo, __bar__, baz__
.
<p><strong>foo, <strong>bar</strong>, baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is strong emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by
punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo-__(bar)__
.
<p>foo-<strong>(bar)</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 7:

This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is preceded
by whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo bar **
.
<p>**foo bar **</p>
````````````````````````````````


(Nor can it be interpreted as an emphasized `*foo bar *`, because of
Rule 11.)

This is not strong emphasis, because the second `**` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric:

```````````````````````````````` example
**(**foo)
.
<p>**(**foo)</p>
````````````````````````````````


The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with these examples:

```````````````````````````````` example
*(**foo**)*
.
<p><em>(<strong>foo</strong>)</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**Gomphocarpus (*Gomphocarpus physocarpus*, syn.
*Asclepias physocarpa*)**
.
<p><strong>Gomphocarpus (<em>Gomphocarpus physocarpus</em>, syn.
<em>Asclepias physocarpa</em>)</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo "*bar*" foo**
.
<p><strong>foo &quot;<em>bar</em>&quot; foo</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo**bar
.
<p><strong>foo</strong>bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 8:

This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is
preceded by whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
__foo bar __
.
<p>__foo bar __</p>
````````````````````````````````


This is not strong emphasis, because the second `__` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric:

```````````````````````````````` example
__(__foo)
.
<p>__(__foo)</p>
````````````````````````````````


The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with this example:

```````````````````````````````` example
_(__foo__)_
.
<p><em>(<strong>foo</strong>)</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`:

```````````````````````````````` example
__foo__bar
.
<p>__foo__bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__пристаням__стремятся
.
<p>__пристаням__стремятся</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo__bar__baz__
.
<p><strong>foo__bar__baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is strong emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by
punctuation:

```````````````````````````````` example
__(bar)__.
.
<p><strong>(bar)</strong>.</p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 9:

Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an
emphasized span.

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo [bar](/url)*
.
<p><em>foo <a href="/url">bar</a></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo
bar*
.
<p><em>foo
bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested
inside emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo __bar__ baz_
.
<p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_foo _bar_ baz_
.
<p><em>foo <em>bar</em> baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo_ bar_
.
<p><em><em>foo</em> bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo *bar**
.
<p><em>foo <em>bar</em></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo **bar** baz*
.
<p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo**bar**baz*
.
<p><em>foo<strong>bar</strong>baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````

Note that in the preceding case, the interpretation

``` markdown
<p><em>foo</em><em>bar<em></em>baz</em></p>
```


is precluded by the condition that a delimiter that
can both open and close (like the `*` after `foo`)
cannot form emphasis if the sum of the lengths of
the delimiter runs containing the opening and
closing delimiters is a multiple of 3 unless
both lengths are multiples of 3.


For the same reason, we don't get two consecutive
emphasis sections in this example:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo**bar*
.
<p><em>foo**bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


The same condition ensures that the following
cases are all strong emphasis nested inside
emphasis, even when the interior whitespace is
omitted:


```````````````````````````````` example
***foo** bar*
.
<p><em><strong>foo</strong> bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo **bar***
.
<p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo**bar***
.
<p><em>foo<strong>bar</strong></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


When the lengths of the interior closing and opening
delimiter runs are *both* multiples of 3, though,
they can match to create emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo***bar***baz
.
<p>foo<em><strong>bar</strong></em>baz</p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
foo******bar*********baz
.
<p>foo<strong><strong><strong>bar</strong></strong></strong>***baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Indefinite levels of nesting are possible:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo **bar *baz* bim** bop*
.
<p><em>foo <strong>bar <em>baz</em> bim</strong> bop</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo [*bar*](/url)*
.
<p><em>foo <a href="/url"><em>bar</em></a></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
** is not an empty emphasis
.
<p>** is not an empty emphasis</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**** is not an empty strong emphasis
.
<p>**** is not an empty strong emphasis</p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 10:

Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an
strongly emphasized span.

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo [bar](/url)**
.
<p><strong>foo <a href="/url">bar</a></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo
bar**
.
<p><strong>foo
bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested
inside strong emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
__foo _bar_ baz__
.
<p><strong>foo <em>bar</em> baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo __bar__ baz__
.
<p><strong>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
____foo__ bar__
.
<p><strong><strong>foo</strong> bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo **bar****
.
<p><strong>foo <strong>bar</strong></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo *bar* baz**
.
<p><strong>foo <em>bar</em> baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo*bar*baz**
.
<p><strong>foo<em>bar</em>baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
***foo* bar**
.
<p><strong><em>foo</em> bar</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo *bar***
.
<p><strong>foo <em>bar</em></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


Indefinite levels of nesting are possible:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo *bar **baz**
bim* bop**
.
<p><strong>foo <em>bar <strong>baz</strong>
bim</em> bop</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo [*bar*](/url)**
.
<p><strong>foo <a href="/url"><em>bar</em></a></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis:

```````````````````````````````` example
__ is not an empty emphasis
.
<p>__ is not an empty emphasis</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
____ is not an empty strong emphasis
.
<p>____ is not an empty strong emphasis</p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 11:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo ***
.
<p>foo ***</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo *\**
.
<p>foo <em>*</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo *_*
.
<p>foo <em>_</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo *****
.
<p>foo *****</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo **\***
.
<p>foo <strong>*</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo **_**
.
<p>foo <strong>_</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that when delimiters do not match evenly, Rule 11 determines
that the excess literal `*` characters will appear outside of the
emphasis, rather than inside it:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo*
.
<p>*<em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo**
.
<p><em>foo</em>*</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
***foo**
.
<p>*<strong>foo</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
****foo*
.
<p>***<em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**foo***
.
<p><strong>foo</strong>*</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo****
.
<p><em>foo</em>***</p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 12:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo ___
.
<p>foo ___</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo _\__
.
<p>foo <em>_</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo _*_
.
<p>foo <em>*</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo _____
.
<p>foo _____</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo __\___
.
<p>foo <strong>_</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo __*__
.
<p>foo <strong>*</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo_
.
<p>_<em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that when delimiters do not match evenly, Rule 12 determines
that the excess literal `_` characters will appear outside of the
emphasis, rather than inside it:

```````````````````````````````` example
_foo__
.
<p><em>foo</em>_</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
___foo__
.
<p>_<strong>foo</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
____foo_
.
<p>___<em>foo</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo___
.
<p><strong>foo</strong>_</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_foo____
.
<p><em>foo</em>___</p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 13 implies that if you want emphasis nested directly inside
emphasis, you must use different delimiters:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo**
.
<p><strong>foo</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*_foo_*
.
<p><em><em>foo</em></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__foo__
.
<p><strong>foo</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_*foo*_
.
<p><em><em>foo</em></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


However, strong emphasis within strong emphasis is possible without
switching delimiters:

```````````````````````````````` example
****foo****
.
<p><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
____foo____
.
<p><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````



Rule 13 can be applied to arbitrarily long sequences of
delimiters:

```````````````````````````````` example
******foo******
.
<p><strong><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 14:

```````````````````````````````` example
***foo***
.
<p><em><strong>foo</strong></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_____foo_____
.
<p><em><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 15:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo _bar* baz_
.
<p><em>foo _bar</em> baz_</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo __bar *baz bim__ bam*
.
<p><em>foo <strong>bar *baz bim</strong> bam</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 16:

```````````````````````````````` example
**foo **bar baz**
.
<p>**foo <strong>bar baz</strong></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo *bar baz*
.
<p>*foo <em>bar baz</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Rule 17:

```````````````````````````````` example
*[bar*](/url)
.
<p>*<a href="/url">bar*</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_foo [bar_](/url)
.
<p>_foo <a href="/url">bar_</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*<img src="foo" title="*"/>
.
<p>*<img src="foo" title="*"/></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**<a href="**">
.
<p>**<a href="**"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__<a href="__">
.
<p>__<a href="__"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*a `*`*
.
<p><em>a <code>*</code></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
_a `_`_
.
<p><em>a <code>_</code></em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
**a<https://foo.bar/?q=**>
.
<p>**a<a href="https://foo.bar/?q=**">https://foo.bar/?q=**</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
__a<https://foo.bar/?q=__>
.
<p>__a<a href="https://foo.bar/?q=__">https://foo.bar/?q=__</a></p>
````````````````````````````````



## Links

A link contains [link text] (the visible text), a [link destination]
(the URI that is the link destination), and optionally a [link title].
There are two basic kinds of links in Markdown.  In [inline links] the
destination and title are given immediately after the link text.  In
[reference links] the destination and title are defined elsewhere in
the document.

A [link text](@) consists of a sequence of zero or more
inline elements enclosed by square brackets (`[` and `]`).  The
following rules apply:

- Links cannot contain other links, at any level of nesting. If
  multiple otherwise valid link definitions appear nested inside each
  other, the inner-most definition is used.

- Brackets are allowed in the [link text] only if (a) they
  are backslash-escaped or (b) they appear as a matched pair of brackets,
  with an open bracket `[`, a sequence of zero or more inlines, and
  a close bracket `]`.

- Backtick [code spans], [autolinks], and raw [HTML tags] bind more tightly
  than the brackets in link text.  Thus, for example,
  `` [foo`]` `` could not be a link text, since the second `]`
  is part of a code span.

- The brackets in link text bind more tightly than markers for
  [emphasis and strong emphasis]. Thus, for example, `*[foo*](url)` is a link.

A [link destination](@) consists of either

- a sequence of zero or more characters between an opening `<` and a
  closing `>` that contains no line endings or unescaped
  `<` or `>` characters, or

- a nonempty sequence of characters that does not start with `<`,
  does not include [ASCII control characters][ASCII control character]
  or [space] character, and includes parentheses only if (a) they are
  backslash-escaped or (b) they are part of a balanced pair of
  unescaped parentheses.
  (Implementations may impose limits on parentheses nesting to
  avoid performance issues, but at least three levels of nesting
  should be supported.)

A [link title](@)  consists of either

- a sequence of zero or more characters between straight double-quote
  characters (`"`), including a `"` character only if it is
  backslash-escaped, or

- a sequence of zero or more characters between straight single-quote
  characters (`'`), including a `'` character only if it is
  backslash-escaped, or

- a sequence of zero or more characters between matching parentheses
  (`(...)`), including a `(` or `)` character only if it is
  backslash-escaped.

Although [link titles] may span multiple lines, they must not contain
a [blank line].

An [inline link](@) consists of a [link text] followed immediately
by a left parenthesis `(`, an optional [link destination], an optional
[link title], and a right parenthesis `)`.
These four components may be separated by spaces, tabs, and up to one line
ending.
If both [link destination] and [link title] are present, they *must* be
separated by spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending.

The link's text consists of the inlines contained
in the [link text] (excluding the enclosing square brackets).
The link's URI consists of the link destination, excluding enclosing
`<...>` if present, with backslash-escapes in effect as described
above.  The link's title consists of the link title, excluding its
enclosing delimiters, with backslash-escapes in effect as described
above.

Here is a simple inline link:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/uri "title")
.
<p><a href="/uri" title="title">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The title, the link text and even 
the destination may be omitted:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/uri)
.
<p><a href="/uri">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[](./target.md)
.
<p><a href="./target.md"></a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link]()
.
<p><a href="">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link](<>)
.
<p><a href="">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[]()
.
<p><a href=""></a></p>
````````````````````````````````

The destination can only contain spaces if it is
enclosed in angle brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/my uri)
.
<p>[link](/my uri)</p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](</my uri>)
.
<p><a href="/my%20uri">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

The destination cannot contain line endings,
even if enclosed in angle brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo
bar)
.
<p>[link](foo
bar)</p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](<foo
bar>)
.
<p>[link](<foo
bar>)</p>
````````````````````````````````

The destination can contain `)` if it is enclosed
in angle brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
[a](<b)c>)
.
<p><a href="b)c">a</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

Angle brackets that enclose links must be unescaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](<foo\>)
.
<p>[link](&lt;foo&gt;)</p>
````````````````````````````````

These are not links, because the opening angle bracket
is not matched properly:

```````````````````````````````` example
[a](<b)c
[a](<b)c>
[a](<b>c)
.
<p>[a](&lt;b)c
[a](&lt;b)c&gt;
[a](<b>c)</p>
````````````````````````````````

Parentheses inside the link destination may be escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](\(foo\))
.
<p><a href="(foo)">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

Any number of parentheses are allowed without escaping, as long as they are
balanced:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo(and(bar)))
.
<p><a href="foo(and(bar))">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

However, if you have unbalanced parentheses, you need to escape or use the
`<...>` form:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo(and(bar))
.
<p>[link](foo(and(bar))</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo\(and\(bar\))
.
<p><a href="foo(and(bar)">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link](<foo(and(bar)>)
.
<p><a href="foo(and(bar)">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Parentheses and other symbols can also be escaped, as usual
in Markdown:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo\)\:)
.
<p><a href="foo):">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


A link can contain fragment identifiers and queries:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](#fragment)

[link](https://example.com#fragment)

[link](https://example.com?foo=3#frag)
.
<p><a href="#fragment">link</a></p>
<p><a href="https://example.com#fragment">link</a></p>
<p><a href="https://example.com?foo=3#frag">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that a backslash before a non-escapable character is
just a backslash:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo\bar)
.
<p><a href="foo%5Cbar">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


URL-escaping should be left alone inside the destination, as all
URL-escaped characters are also valid URL characters. Entity and
numerical character references in the destination will be parsed
into the corresponding Unicode code points, as usual.  These may
be optionally URL-escaped when written as HTML, but this spec
does not enforce any particular policy for rendering URLs in
HTML or other formats.  Renderers may make different decisions
about how to escape or normalize URLs in the output.

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](foo%20b&auml;)
.
<p><a href="foo%20b%C3%A4">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that, because titles can often be parsed as destinations,
if you try to omit the destination and keep the title, you'll
get unexpected results:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link]("title")
.
<p><a href="%22title%22">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Titles may be in single quotes, double quotes, or parentheses:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/url "title")
[link](/url 'title')
[link](/url (title))
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">link</a>
<a href="/url" title="title">link</a>
<a href="/url" title="title">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash escapes and entity and numeric character references
may be used in titles:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/url "title \"&quot;")
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title &quot;&quot;">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Titles must be separated from the link using spaces, tabs, and up to one line
ending.
Other [Unicode whitespace] like non-breaking space doesn't work.

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/url "title")
.
<p><a href="/url%C2%A0%22title%22">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Nested balanced quotes are not allowed without escaping:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/url "title "and" title")
.
<p>[link](/url &quot;title &quot;and&quot; title&quot;)</p>
````````````````````````````````


But it is easy to work around this by using a different quote type:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](/url 'title "and" title')
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title &quot;and&quot; title">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


(Note:  `Markdown.pl` did allow double quotes inside a double-quoted
title, and its test suite included a test demonstrating this.
But it is hard to see a good rationale for the extra complexity this
brings, since there are already many ways---backslash escaping,
entity and numeric character references, or using a different
quote type for the enclosing title---to write titles containing
double quotes.  `Markdown.pl`'s handling of titles has a number
of other strange features.  For example, it allows single-quoted
titles in inline links, but not reference links.  And, in
reference links but not inline links, it allows a title to begin
with `"` and end with `)`.  `Markdown.pl` 1.0.1 even allows
titles with no closing quotation mark, though 1.0.2b8 does not.
It seems preferable to adopt a simple, rational rule that works
the same way in inline links and link reference definitions.)

Spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending is allowed around the destination and
title:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link](   /uri
  "title"  )
.
<p><a href="/uri" title="title">link</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


But it is not allowed between the link text and the
following parenthesis:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link] (/uri)
.
<p>[link] (/uri)</p>
````````````````````````````````


The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones,
unless they are escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link [foo [bar]]](/uri)
.
<p><a href="/uri">link [foo [bar]]</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link] bar](/uri)
.
<p>[link] bar](/uri)</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link [bar](/uri)
.
<p>[link <a href="/uri">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link \[bar](/uri)
.
<p><a href="/uri">link [bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The link text may contain inline content:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link *foo **bar** `#`*](/uri)
.
<p><a href="/uri">link <em>foo <strong>bar</strong> <code>#</code></em></a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[![moon](moon.jpg)](/uri)
.
<p><a href="/uri"><img src="moon.jpg" alt="moon" /></a></p>
````````````````````````````````


However, links cannot contain other links, at any level of nesting.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo [bar](/uri)](/uri)
.
<p>[foo <a href="/uri">bar</a>](/uri)</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo *[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)*](/uri)
.
<p>[foo <em>[bar <a href="/uri">baz</a>](/uri)</em>](/uri)</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![[[foo](uri1)](uri2)](uri3)
.
<p><img src="uri3" alt="[foo](uri2)" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


These cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over
emphasis grouping:

```````````````````````````````` example
*[foo*](/uri)
.
<p>*<a href="/uri">foo*</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo *bar](baz*)
.
<p><a href="baz*">foo *bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that brackets that *aren't* part of links do not take
precedence:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo [bar* baz]
.
<p><em>foo [bar</em> baz]</p>
````````````````````````````````


These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans,
and autolinks over link grouping:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo <bar attr="](baz)">
.
<p>[foo <bar attr="](baz)"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo`](/uri)`
.
<p>[foo<code>](/uri)</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo<https://example.com/?search=](uri)>
.
<p>[foo<a href="https://example.com/?search=%5D(uri)">https://example.com/?search=](uri)</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


There are three kinds of [reference link](@)s:
[full](#full-reference-link), [collapsed](#collapsed-reference-link),
and [shortcut](#shortcut-reference-link).

A [full reference link](@)
consists of a [link text] immediately followed by a [link label]
that [matches] a [link reference definition] elsewhere in the document.

A [link label](@)  begins with a left bracket (`[`) and ends
with the first right bracket (`]`) that is not backslash-escaped.
Between these brackets there must be at least one character that is not a space,
tab, or line ending.
Unescaped square bracket characters are not allowed inside the
opening and closing square brackets of [link labels].  A link
label can have at most 999 characters inside the square
brackets.

One label [matches](@)
another just in case their normalized forms are equal.  To normalize a
label, strip off the opening and closing brackets,
perform the *Unicode case fold*, strip leading and trailing
spaces, tabs, and line endings, and collapse consecutive internal
spaces, tabs, and line endings to a single space.  If there are multiple
matching reference link definitions, the one that comes first in the
document is used.  (It is desirable in such cases to emit a warning.)

The link's URI and title are provided by the matching [link
reference definition].

Here is a simple example:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][bar]

[bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The rules for the [link text] are the same as with
[inline links].  Thus:

The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones,
unless they are escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link [foo [bar]]][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri">link [foo [bar]]</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[link \[bar][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri">link [bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The link text may contain inline content:

```````````````````````````````` example
[link *foo **bar** `#`*][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri">link <em>foo <strong>bar</strong> <code>#</code></em></a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[![moon](moon.jpg)][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri"><img src="moon.jpg" alt="moon" /></a></p>
````````````````````````````````


However, links cannot contain other links, at any level of nesting.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo [bar](/uri)][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>[foo <a href="/uri">bar</a>]<a href="/uri">ref</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo *bar [baz][ref]*][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>[foo <em>bar <a href="/uri">baz</a></em>]<a href="/uri">ref</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


(In the examples above, we have two [shortcut reference links]
instead of one [full reference link].)

The following cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over
emphasis grouping:

```````````````````````````````` example
*[foo*][ref]

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>*<a href="/uri">foo*</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo *bar][ref]*

[ref]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri">foo *bar</a>*</p>
````````````````````````````````


These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans,
and autolinks over link grouping:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo <bar attr="][ref]">

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>[foo <bar attr="][ref]"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo`][ref]`

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>[foo<code>][ref]</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo<https://example.com/?search=][ref]>

[ref]: /uri
.
<p>[foo<a href="https://example.com/?search=%5D%5Bref%5D">https://example.com/?search=][ref]</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Matching is case-insensitive:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][BaR]

[bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Unicode case fold is used:

```````````````````````````````` example
[ẞ]

[SS]: /url
.
<p><a href="/url">ẞ</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Consecutive internal spaces, tabs, and line endings are treated as one space for
purposes of determining matching:

```````````````````````````````` example
[Foo
  bar]: /url

[Baz][Foo bar]
.
<p><a href="/url">Baz</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


No spaces, tabs, or line endings are allowed between the [link text] and the
[link label]:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo] [bar]

[bar]: /url "title"
.
<p>[foo] <a href="/url" title="title">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]
[bar]

[bar]: /url "title"
.
<p>[foo]
<a href="/url" title="title">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


This is a departure from John Gruber's original Markdown syntax
description, which explicitly allows whitespace between the link
text and the link label.  It brings reference links in line with
[inline links], which (according to both original Markdown and
this spec) cannot have whitespace after the link text.  More
importantly, it prevents inadvertent capture of consecutive
[shortcut reference links]. If whitespace is allowed between the
link text and the link label, then in the following we will have
a single reference link, not two shortcut reference links, as
intended:

``` markdown
[foo]
[bar]

[foo]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
```

(Note that [shortcut reference links] were introduced by Gruber
himself in a beta version of `Markdown.pl`, but never included
in the official syntax description.  Without shortcut reference
links, it is harmless to allow space between the link text and
link label; but once shortcut references are introduced, it is
too dangerous to allow this, as it frequently leads to
unintended results.)

When there are multiple matching [link reference definitions],
the first is used:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]: /url1

[foo]: /url2

[bar][foo]
.
<p><a href="/url1">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that matching is performed on normalized strings, not parsed
inline content.  So the following does not match, even though the
labels define equivalent inline content:

```````````````````````````````` example
[bar][foo\!]

[foo!]: /url
.
<p>[bar][foo!]</p>
````````````````````````````````


[Link labels] cannot contain brackets, unless they are
backslash-escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][ref[]

[ref[]: /uri
.
<p>[foo][ref[]</p>
<p>[ref[]: /uri</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][ref[bar]]

[ref[bar]]: /uri
.
<p>[foo][ref[bar]]</p>
<p>[ref[bar]]: /uri</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[[[foo]]]

[[[foo]]]: /url
.
<p>[[[foo]]]</p>
<p>[[[foo]]]: /url</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][ref\[]

[ref\[]: /uri
.
<p><a href="/uri">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that in this example `]` is not backslash-escaped:

```````````````````````````````` example
[bar\\]: /uri

[bar\\]
.
<p><a href="/uri">bar\</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


A [link label] must contain at least one character that is not a space, tab, or
line ending:

```````````````````````````````` example
[]

[]: /uri
.
<p>[]</p>
<p>[]: /uri</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[
 ]

[
 ]: /uri
.
<p>[
]</p>
<p>[
]: /uri</p>
````````````````````````````````


A [collapsed reference link](@)
consists of a [link label] that [matches] a
[link reference definition] elsewhere in the
document, followed by the string `[]`.
The contents of the link label are parsed as inlines,
which are used as the link's text.  The link's URI and title are
provided by the matching reference link definition.  Thus,
`[foo][]` is equivalent to `[foo][foo]`.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[*foo* bar][]

[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The link labels are case-insensitive:

```````````````````````````````` example
[Foo][]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">Foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````



As with full reference links, spaces, tabs, or line endings are not
allowed between the two sets of brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo] 
[]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a>
[]</p>
````````````````````````````````


A [shortcut reference link](@)
consists of a [link label] that [matches] a
[link reference definition] elsewhere in the
document and is not followed by `[]` or a link label.
The contents of the link label are parsed as inlines,
which are used as the link's text.  The link's URI and title
are provided by the matching link reference definition.
Thus, `[foo]` is equivalent to `[foo][]`.

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[*foo* bar]

[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[[*foo* bar]]

[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
<p>[<a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a>]</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
[[bar [foo]

[foo]: /url
.
<p>[[bar <a href="/url">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


The link labels are case-insensitive:

```````````````````````````````` example
[Foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><a href="/url" title="title">Foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


A space after the link text should be preserved:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo] bar

[foo]: /url
.
<p><a href="/url">foo</a> bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


If you just want bracketed text, you can backslash-escape the
opening bracket to avoid links:

```````````````````````````````` example
\[foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p>[foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that this is a link, because a link label ends with the first
following closing bracket:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo*]: /url

*[foo*]
.
<p>*<a href="/url">foo*</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Full and collapsed references take precedence over shortcut
references:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][bar]

[foo]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
.
<p><a href="/url2">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][]

[foo]: /url1
.
<p><a href="/url1">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

Inline links also take precedence:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo]()

[foo]: /url1
.
<p><a href="">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo](not a link)

[foo]: /url1
.
<p><a href="/url1">foo</a>(not a link)</p>
````````````````````````````````

In the following case `[bar][baz]` is parsed as a reference,
`[foo]` as normal text:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][bar][baz]

[baz]: /url
.
<p>[foo]<a href="/url">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Here, though, `[foo][bar]` is parsed as a reference, since
`[bar]` is defined:

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][bar][baz]

[baz]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
.
<p><a href="/url2">foo</a><a href="/url1">baz</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Here `[foo]` is not parsed as a shortcut reference, because it
is followed by a link label (even though `[bar]` is not defined):

```````````````````````````````` example
[foo][bar][baz]

[baz]: /url1
[foo]: /url2
.
<p>[foo]<a href="/url1">bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````



## Images

Syntax for images is like the syntax for links, with one
difference. Instead of [link text], we have an
[image description](@).  The rules for this are the
same as for [link text], except that (a) an
image description starts with `![` rather than `[`, and
(b) an image description may contain links.
An image description has inline elements
as its contents.  When an image is rendered to HTML,
this is standardly used as the image's `alt` attribute.

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo](/url "title")
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo *bar*]

[foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
<p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train &amp; tracks" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo ![bar](/url)](/url2)
.
<p><img src="/url2" alt="foo bar" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo [bar](/url)](/url2)
.
<p><img src="/url2" alt="foo bar" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Though this spec is concerned with parsing, not rendering, it is
recommended that in rendering to HTML, only the plain string content
of the [image description] be used.  Note that in
the above example, the alt attribute's value is `foo bar`, not `foo
[bar](/url)` or `foo <a href="/url">bar</a>`.  Only the plain string
content is rendered, without formatting.

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo *bar*][]

[foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
<p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train &amp; tracks" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo *bar*][foobar]

[FOOBAR]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
<p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train &amp; tracks" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo](train.jpg)
.
<p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
My ![foo bar](/path/to/train.jpg  "title"   )
.
<p>My <img src="/path/to/train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo](<url>)
.
<p><img src="url" alt="foo" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![](/url)
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Reference-style:

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo][bar]

[bar]: /url
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![foo][bar]

[BAR]: /url
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Collapsed:

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo][]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![*foo* bar][]

[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


The labels are case-insensitive:

```````````````````````````````` example
![Foo][]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="Foo" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


As with reference links, spaces, tabs, and line endings, are not allowed
between the two sets of brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo] 
[]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" />
[]</p>
````````````````````````````````


Shortcut:

```````````````````````````````` example
![foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
![*foo* bar]

[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that link labels cannot contain unescaped brackets:

```````````````````````````````` example
![[foo]]

[[foo]]: /url "title"
.
<p>![[foo]]</p>
<p>[[foo]]: /url &quot;title&quot;</p>
````````````````````````````````


The link labels are case-insensitive:

```````````````````````````````` example
![Foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p><img src="/url" alt="Foo" title="title" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


If you just want a literal `!` followed by bracketed text, you can
backslash-escape the opening `[`:

```````````````````````````````` example
!\[foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p>![foo]</p>
````````````````````````````````


If you want a link after a literal `!`, backslash-escape the
`!`:

```````````````````````````````` example
\![foo]

[foo]: /url "title"
.
<p>!<a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


## Autolinks

[Autolink](@)s are absolute URIs and email addresses inside
`<` and `>`. They are parsed as links, with the URL or email address
as the link label.

A [URI autolink](@) consists of `<`, followed by an
[absolute URI] followed by `>`.  It is parsed as
a link to the URI, with the URI as the link's label.

An [absolute URI](@),
for these purposes, consists of a [scheme] followed by a colon (`:`)
followed by zero or more characters other than [ASCII control
characters][ASCII control character], [space], `<`, and `>`.
If the URI includes these characters, they must be percent-encoded
(e.g. `%20` for a space).

For purposes of this spec, a [scheme](@) is any sequence
of 2--32 characters beginning with an ASCII letter and followed
by any combination of ASCII letters, digits, or the symbols plus
("+"), period ("."), or hyphen ("-").

Here are some valid autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<http://foo.bar.baz>
.
<p><a href="http://foo.bar.baz">http://foo.bar.baz</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<https://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean>
.
<p><a href="https://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&amp;id=22&amp;boolean">https://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&amp;id=22&amp;boolean</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<irc://foo.bar:2233/baz>
.
<p><a href="irc://foo.bar:2233/baz">irc://foo.bar:2233/baz</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Uppercase is also fine:

```````````````````````````````` example
<MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ>
.
<p><a href="MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ">MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Note that many strings that count as [absolute URIs] for
purposes of this spec are not valid URIs, because their
schemes are not registered or because of other problems
with their syntax:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a+b+c:d>
.
<p><a href="a+b+c:d">a+b+c:d</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<made-up-scheme://foo,bar>
.
<p><a href="made-up-scheme://foo,bar">made-up-scheme://foo,bar</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<https://../>
.
<p><a href="https://../">https://../</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<localhost:5001/foo>
.
<p><a href="localhost:5001/foo">localhost:5001/foo</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Spaces are not allowed in autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<https://foo.bar/baz bim>
.
<p>&lt;https://foo.bar/baz bim&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash-escapes do not work inside autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<https://example.com/\[\>
.
<p><a href="https://example.com/%5C%5B%5C">https://example.com/\[\</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


An [email autolink](@)
consists of `<`, followed by an [email address],
followed by `>`.  The link's label is the email address,
and the URL is `mailto:` followed by the email address.

An [email address](@),
for these purposes, is anything that matches
the [non-normative regex from the HTML5
spec](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/forms.html#e-mail-state-(type=email)):

    /^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?
    (?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$/

Examples of email autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<foo@bar.example.com>
.
<p><a href="mailto:foo@bar.example.com">foo@bar.example.com</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com>
.
<p><a href="mailto:foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com">foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com</a></p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash-escapes do not work inside email autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<foo\+@bar.example.com>
.
<p>&lt;foo+@bar.example.com&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


These are not autolinks:

```````````````````````````````` example
<>
.
<p>&lt;&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
< https://foo.bar >
.
<p>&lt; https://foo.bar &gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<m:abc>
.
<p>&lt;m:abc&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<foo.bar.baz>
.
<p>&lt;foo.bar.baz&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
https://example.com
.
<p>https://example.com</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo@bar.example.com
.
<p>foo@bar.example.com</p>
````````````````````````````````


## Raw HTML

Text between `<` and `>` that looks like an HTML tag is parsed as a
raw HTML tag and will be rendered in HTML without escaping.
Tag and attribute names are not limited to current HTML tags,
so custom tags (and even, say, DocBook tags) may be used.

Here is the grammar for tags:

A [tag name](@) consists of an ASCII letter
followed by zero or more ASCII letters, digits, or
hyphens (`-`).

An [attribute](@) consists of spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending,
an [attribute name], and an optional
[attribute value specification].

An [attribute name](@)
consists of an ASCII letter, `_`, or `:`, followed by zero or more ASCII
letters, digits, `_`, `.`, `:`, or `-`.  (Note:  This is the XML
specification restricted to ASCII.  HTML5 is laxer.)

An [attribute value specification](@)
consists of optional spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending,
a `=` character, optional spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending,
and an [attribute value].

An [attribute value](@)
consists of an [unquoted attribute value],
a [single-quoted attribute value], or a [double-quoted attribute value].

An [unquoted attribute value](@)
is a nonempty string of characters not
including spaces, tabs, line endings, `"`, `'`, `=`, `<`, `>`, or `` ` ``.

A [single-quoted attribute value](@)
consists of `'`, zero or more
characters not including `'`, and a final `'`.

A [double-quoted attribute value](@)
consists of `"`, zero or more
characters not including `"`, and a final `"`.

An [open tag](@) consists of a `<` character, a [tag name],
zero or more [attributes], optional spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending,
an optional `/` character, and a `>` character.

A [closing tag](@) consists of the string `</`, a
[tag name], optional spaces, tabs, and up to one line ending, and the character
`>`.

An [HTML comment](@) consists of `<!-->`, `<!--->`, or  `<!--`, a string of
characters not including the string `-->`, and `-->` (see the
[HTML spec](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/parsing.html#markup-declaration-open-state)).

A [processing instruction](@)
consists of the string `<?`, a string
of characters not including the string `?>`, and the string
`?>`.

A [declaration](@) consists of the string `<!`, an ASCII letter, zero or more
characters not including the character `>`, and the character `>`.

A [CDATA section](@) consists of
the string `<![CDATA[`, a string of characters not including the string
`]]>`, and the string `]]>`.

An [HTML tag](@) is an [open tag], a [closing tag],
an [HTML comment], a [processing instruction], a [declaration],
or a [CDATA section].

Here are some simple open tags:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a><bab><c2c>
.
<p><a><bab><c2c></p>
````````````````````````````````


Empty elements:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a/><b2/>
.
<p><a/><b2/></p>
````````````````````````````````


Whitespace is allowed:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a  /><b2
data="foo" >
.
<p><a  /><b2
data="foo" ></p>
````````````````````````````````


With attributes:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a foo="bar" bam = 'baz <em>"</em>'
_boolean zoop:33=zoop:33 />
.
<p><a foo="bar" bam = 'baz <em>"</em>'
_boolean zoop:33=zoop:33 /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Custom tag names can be used:

```````````````````````````````` example
Foo <responsive-image src="foo.jpg" />
.
<p>Foo <responsive-image src="foo.jpg" /></p>
````````````````````````````````


Illegal tag names, not parsed as HTML:

```````````````````````````````` example
<33> <__>
.
<p>&lt;33&gt; &lt;__&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Illegal attribute names:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a h*#ref="hi">
.
<p>&lt;a h*#ref=&quot;hi&quot;&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Illegal attribute values:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="hi'> <a href=hi'>
.
<p>&lt;a href=&quot;hi'&gt; &lt;a href=hi'&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Illegal whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
< a><
foo><bar/ >
<foo bar=baz
bim!bop />
.
<p>&lt; a&gt;&lt;
foo&gt;&lt;bar/ &gt;
&lt;foo bar=baz
bim!bop /&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Missing whitespace:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href='bar'title=title>
.
<p>&lt;a href='bar'title=title&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Closing tags:

```````````````````````````````` example
</a></foo >
.
<p></a></foo ></p>
````````````````````````````````


Illegal attributes in closing tag:

```````````````````````````````` example
</a href="foo">
.
<p>&lt;/a href=&quot;foo&quot;&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Comments:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <!-- this is a --
comment - with hyphens -->
.
<p>foo <!-- this is a --
comment - with hyphens --></p>
````````````````````````````````

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <!--> foo -->

foo <!---> foo -->
.
<p>foo <!--> foo --&gt;</p>
<p>foo <!---> foo --&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


Processing instructions:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <?php echo $a; ?>
.
<p>foo <?php echo $a; ?></p>
````````````````````````````````


Declarations:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <!ELEMENT br EMPTY>
.
<p>foo <!ELEMENT br EMPTY></p>
````````````````````````````````


CDATA sections:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <![CDATA[>&<]]>
.
<p>foo <![CDATA[>&<]]></p>
````````````````````````````````


Entity and numeric character references are preserved in HTML
attributes:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <a href="&ouml;">
.
<p>foo <a href="&ouml;"></p>
````````````````````````````````


Backslash escapes do not work in HTML attributes:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo <a href="\*">
.
<p>foo <a href="\*"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="\"">
.
<p>&lt;a href=&quot;&quot;&quot;&gt;</p>
````````````````````````````````


A block quote can prevent a line from being parsed as inline HTML,
even though line breaks are allowed in tags:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a
> quoted text
.
<p>&lt;a</p>
<blockquote>
<p>quoted text</p>
</blockquote>
````````````````````````````````


## Hard line breaks

A line ending (not in a code span or HTML tag) that is preceded
by two or more spaces and does not occur at the end of a block
is parsed as a [hard line break](@) (rendered
in HTML as a `<br />` tag):

```````````````````````````````` example
foo  
baz
.
<p>foo<br />
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


For a more visible alternative, a backslash before the
[line ending] may be used instead of two or more spaces:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo\
baz
.
<p>foo<br />
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


More than two spaces can be used:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo       
baz
.
<p>foo<br />
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Leading spaces at the beginning of the next line are ignored:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo  
     bar
.
<p>foo<br />
bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo\
     bar
.
<p>foo<br />
bar</p>
````````````````````````````````


Hard line breaks can occur inside emphasis, links, and other constructs
that allow inline content:

```````````````````````````````` example
*foo  
bar*
.
<p><em>foo<br />
bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
*foo\
bar*
.
<p><em>foo<br />
bar</em></p>
````````````````````````````````


Hard line breaks do not occur inside code spans

```````````````````````````````` example
`code  
span`
.
<p><code>code   span</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
`code\
span`
.
<p><code>code\ span</code></p>
````````````````````````````````


or HTML tags:

```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="foo  
bar">
.
<p><a href="foo  
bar"></p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
<a href="foo\
bar">
.
<p><a href="foo\
bar"></p>
````````````````````````````````


Hard line breaks are for separating inline content within a block.
Neither syntax for hard line breaks works at the end of a paragraph or
other block element:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo\
.
<p>foo\</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
foo  
.
<p>foo</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
### foo\
.
<h3>foo\</h3>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
### foo  
.
<h3>foo</h3>
````````````````````````````````


## Soft line breaks

A regular line ending (not in a code span or HTML tag) that is not
preceded by two or more spaces or a backslash is parsed as a
[softbreak](@).  (A soft line break may be rendered in HTML either as a
[line ending] or as a space. The result will be the same in
browsers. In the examples here, a [line ending] will be used.)

```````````````````````````````` example
foo
baz
.
<p>foo
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


Spaces at the end of the line and beginning of the next line are
removed:

```````````````````````````````` example
foo 
 baz
.
<p>foo
baz</p>
````````````````````````````````


A conforming parser may render a soft line break in HTML either as a
line ending or as a space.

A renderer may also provide an option to render soft line breaks
as hard line breaks.

## Textual content

Any characters not given an interpretation by the above rules will
be parsed as plain textual content.

```````````````````````````````` example
hello $.;'there
.
<p>hello $.;'there</p>
````````````````````````````````


```````````````````````````````` example
Foo χρῆν
.
<p>Foo χρῆν</p>
````````````````````````````````


Internal spaces are preserved verbatim:

```````````````````````````````` example
Multiple     spaces
.
<p>Multiple     spaces</p>
````````````````````````````````


<!-- END TESTS -->

# Appendix: A parsing strategy

In this appendix we describe some features of the parsing strategy
used in the CommonMark reference implementations.

## Overview

Parsing has two phases:

1. In the first phase, lines of input are consumed and the block
structure of the document---its division into paragraphs, block quotes,
list items, and so on---is constructed.  Text is assigned to these
blocks but not parsed. Link reference definitions are parsed and a
map of links is constructed.

2. In the second phase, the raw text contents of paragraphs and headings
are parsed into sequences of Markdown inline elements (strings,
code spans, links, emphasis, and so on), using the map of link
references constructed in phase 1.

At each point in processing, the document is represented as a tree of
**blocks**.  The root of the tree is a `document` block.  The `document`
may have any number of other blocks as **children**.  These children
may, in turn, have other blocks as children.  The last child of a block
is normally considered **open**, meaning that subsequent lines of input
can alter its contents.  (Blocks that are not open are **closed**.)
Here, for example, is a possible document tree, with the open blocks
marked by arrows:

``` tree
-> document
  -> block_quote
       paragraph
         "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet."
    -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-)
         list_item
           paragraph
             "Qui *quodsi iracundia*"
      -> list_item
        -> paragraph
             "aliquando id"
```

## Phase 1: block structure

Each line that is processed has an effect on this tree.  The line is
analyzed and, depending on its contents, the document may be altered
in one or more of the following ways:

1. One or more open blocks may be closed.
2. One or more new blocks may be created as children of the
   last open block.
3. Text may be added to the last (deepest) open block remaining
   on the tree.

Once a line has been incorporated into the tree in this way,
it can be discarded, so input can be read in a stream.

For each line, we follow this procedure:

1. First we iterate through the open blocks, starting with the
root document, and descending through last children down to the last
open block.  Each block imposes a condition that the line must satisfy
if the block is to remain open.  For example, a block quote requires a
`>` character.  A paragraph requires a non-blank line.
In this phase we may match all or just some of the open
blocks.  But we cannot close unmatched blocks yet, because we may have a
[lazy continuation line].

2.  Next, after consuming the continuation markers for existing
blocks, we look for new block starts (e.g. `>` for a block quote).
If we encounter a new block start, we close any blocks unmatched
in step 1 before creating the new block as a child of the last
matched container block.

3.  Finally, we look at the remainder of the line (after block
markers like `>`, list markers, and indentation have been consumed).
This is text that can be incorporated into the last open
block (a paragraph, code block, heading, or raw HTML).

Setext headings are formed when we see a line of a paragraph
that is a [setext heading underline].

Reference link definitions are detected when a paragraph is closed;
the accumulated text lines are parsed to see if they begin with
one or more reference link definitions.  Any remainder becomes a
normal paragraph.

We can see how this works by considering how the tree above is
generated by four lines of Markdown:

``` markdown
> Lorem ipsum dolor
sit amet.
> - Qui *quodsi iracundia*
> - aliquando id
```

At the outset, our document model is just

``` tree
-> document
```

The first line of our text,

``` markdown
> Lorem ipsum dolor
```

causes a `block_quote` block to be created as a child of our
open `document` block, and a `paragraph` block as a child of
the `block_quote`.  Then the text is added to the last open
block, the `paragraph`:

``` tree
-> document
  -> block_quote
    -> paragraph
         "Lorem ipsum dolor"
```

The next line,

``` markdown
sit amet.
```

is a "lazy continuation" of the open `paragraph`, so it gets added
to the paragraph's text:

``` tree
-> document
  -> block_quote
    -> paragraph
         "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet."
```

The third line,

``` markdown
> - Qui *quodsi iracundia*
```

causes the `paragraph` block to be closed, and a new `list` block
opened as a child of the `block_quote`.  A `list_item` is also
added as a child of the `list`, and a `paragraph` as a child of
the `list_item`.  The text is then added to the new `paragraph`:

``` tree
-> document
  -> block_quote
       paragraph
         "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet."
    -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-)
      -> list_item
        -> paragraph
             "Qui *quodsi iracundia*"
```

The fourth line,

``` markdown
> - aliquando id
```

causes the `list_item` (and its child the `paragraph`) to be closed,
and a new `list_item` opened up as child of the `list`.  A `paragraph`
is added as a child of the new `list_item`, to contain the text.
We thus obtain the final tree:

``` tree
-> document
  -> block_quote
       paragraph
         "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet."
    -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-)
         list_item
           paragraph
             "Qui *quodsi iracundia*"
      -> list_item
        -> paragraph
             "aliquando id"
```

## Phase 2: inline structure

Once all of the input has been parsed, all open blocks are closed.

We then "walk the tree," visiting every node, and parse raw
string contents of paragraphs and headings as inlines.  At this
point we have seen all the link reference definitions, so we can
resolve reference links as we go.

``` tree
document
  block_quote
    paragraph
      str "Lorem ipsum dolor"
      softbreak
      str "sit amet."
    list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-)
      list_item
        paragraph
          str "Qui "
          emph
            str "quodsi iracundia"
      list_item
        paragraph
          str "aliquando id"
```

Notice how the [line ending] in the first paragraph has
been parsed as a `softbreak`, and the asterisks in the first list item
have become an `emph`.

### An algorithm for parsing nested emphasis and links

By far the trickiest part of inline parsing is handling emphasis,
strong emphasis, links, and images.  This is done using the following
algorithm.

When we're parsing inlines and we hit either

- a run of `*` or `_` characters, or
- a `[` or `![`

we insert a text node with these symbols as its literal content, and we
add a pointer to this text node to the [delimiter stack](@).

The [delimiter stack] is a doubly linked list.  Each
element contains a pointer to a text node, plus information about

- the type of delimiter (`[`, `![`, `*`, `_`)
- the number of delimiters,
- whether the delimiter is "active" (all are active to start), and
- whether the delimiter is a potential opener, a potential closer,
  or both (which depends on what sort of characters precede
  and follow the delimiters).

When we hit a `]` character, we call the *look for link or image*
procedure (see below).

When we hit the end of the input, we call the *process emphasis*
procedure (see below), with `stack_bottom` = NULL.

#### *look for link or image*

Starting at the top of the delimiter stack, we look backwards
through the stack for an opening `[` or `![` delimiter.

- If we don't find one, we return a literal text node `]`.

- If we do find one, but it's not *active*, we remove the inactive
  delimiter from the stack, and return a literal text node `]`.

- If we find one and it's active, then we parse ahead to see if
  we have an inline link/image, reference link/image, collapsed reference
  link/image, or shortcut reference link/image.

  + If we don't, then we remove the opening delimiter from the
    delimiter stack and return a literal text node `]`.

  + If we do, then

    * We return a link or image node whose children are the inlines
      after the text node pointed to by the opening delimiter.

    * We run *process emphasis* on these inlines, with the `[` opener
      as `stack_bottom`.

    * We remove the opening delimiter.

    * If we have a link (and not an image), we also set all
      `[` delimiters before the opening delimiter to *inactive*.  (This
      will prevent us from getting links within links.)

#### *process emphasis*

Parameter `stack_bottom` sets a lower bound to how far we
descend in the [delimiter stack].  If it is NULL, we can
go all the way to the bottom.  Otherwise, we stop before
visiting `stack_bottom`.

Let `current_position` point to the element on the [delimiter stack]
just above `stack_bottom` (or the first element if `stack_bottom`
is NULL).

We keep track of the `openers_bottom` for each delimiter
type (`*`, `_`), indexed to the length of the closing delimiter run
(modulo 3) and to whether the closing delimiter can also be an
opener.  Initialize this to `stack_bottom`.

Then we repeat the following until we run out of potential
closers:

- Move `current_position` forward in the delimiter stack (if needed)
  until we find the first potential closer with delimiter `*` or `_`.
  (This will be the potential closer closest
  to the beginning of the input -- the first one in parse order.)

- Now, look back in the stack (staying above `stack_bottom` and
  the `openers_bottom` for this delimiter type) for the
  first valid potential opener, where being "valid" requires that:

  + the token is a potential opener; and

  + the token has the same delimiter type as the current potential
    closer; and

  + any of the following are true:

    * the closer is not a potential opener and the opener is not a
      potential closer; or

    * the original length of the closing delimiter run is a multiple
      of 3; or

    * the original length of the opening delimiter run + the original
      length of the closing delimiter run is not a multiple of 3

- If one is found:

  + Figure out whether we have emphasis or strong emphasis:
    if both closer and opener spans have length >= 2, we have
    strong, otherwise regular.

  + Insert an emph or strong emph node accordingly, after
    the text node corresponding to the opener.

  + Remove any delimiters between the opener and closer from
    the delimiter stack.

  + Remove 1 (for regular emph) or 2 (for strong emph) delimiters
    from the opening and closing text nodes.  If they become empty
    as a result, remove them and remove the corresponding element
    of the delimiter stack.  If the closing node is removed, reset
    `current_position` to the next element in the stack.

- If none is found:

  + Set `openers_bottom` to the element before `current_position`.
    (We know that there are no openers for this kind of closer up to and
    including this point, so this puts a lower bound on future searches.)

  + If the closer at `current_position` is not a potential opener,
    remove it from the delimiter stack (since we know it can't
    be a closer either).

  + Advance `current_position` to the next element in the stack.

After we're done, we remove all delimiters above `stack_bottom` from the
delimiter stack.

</pblock>

<pblock filename="sources/spec_tests.py" role="source file" path="/mnt/c/Users/barlo/projects/drydock/uat/CommonMark/runs/20260812.171514/workspace/targets/commonmark/blueprint/sources/spec_tests.py">

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import sys
from difflib import unified_diff
import argparse
import re
import json
from cmark import CMark
from normalize import normalize_html

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Run cmark tests.')
    parser.add_argument('-p', '--program', dest='program', nargs='?', default=None,
            help='program to test')
    parser.add_argument('-s', '--spec', dest='spec', nargs='?', default='spec.txt',
            help='path to spec')
    parser.add_argument('-P', '--pattern', dest='pattern', nargs='?',
            default=None, help='limit to sections matching regex pattern')
    parser.add_argument('--library-dir', dest='library_dir', nargs='?',
            default=None, help='directory containing dynamic library')
    parser.add_argument('--no-normalize', dest='normalize',
            action='store_const', const=False, default=True,
            help='do not normalize HTML')
    parser.add_argument('-d', '--dump-tests', dest='dump_tests',
            action='store_const', const=True, default=False,
            help='dump tests in JSON format')
    parser.add_argument('--debug-normalization', dest='debug_normalization',
            action='store_const', const=True,
            default=False, help='filter stdin through normalizer for testing')
    parser.add_argument('-n', '--number', type=int, default=None,
            help='only consider the test with the given number')
    parser.add_argument('--track', metavar='path',
            help='track which test cases pass/fail in the given JSON file and only report changes')
    args = parser.parse_args(sys.argv[1:])

def out(str):
    sys.stdout.buffer.write(str.encode('utf-8')) 

def print_test_header(test):
    out("Example %d (lines %d-%d) %s\n" % (test['example'], test['start_line'], test['end_line'], test['section']))

def do_test(test, normalize, prev_result):
    [retcode, actual_html_bytes, err] = cmark.to_html(test['markdown'])
    if retcode != 0:
        if prev_result != 'error':
            print_test_header(test)
            out("program returned error code %d\n" % retcode)
            sys.stdout.buffer.write(err)
        return 'error'

    expected_html = test['html']

    try:
        actual_html = actual_html_bytes.decode('utf-8')
    except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
        if prev_result != 'fail':
            print_test_header(test)
            out(test['markdown'] + '\n')
            out("Unicode error: " + str(e) + '\n')
            out("Expected: " + repr(expected_html) + '\n')
            out("Got:      " + repr(actual_html_bytes) + '\n')
            out('\n')
        return 'fail'

    if normalize:
        actual_html = normalize_html(actual_html) + '\n'
        expected_html = normalize_html(expected_html) + '\n'

    if actual_html != expected_html:
        if prev_result != 'fail':
            print_test_header(test)
            out(test['markdown'] + '\n')
            expected_html_lines = expected_html.splitlines(True)
            actual_html_lines = actual_html.splitlines(True)
            for diffline in unified_diff(expected_html_lines, actual_html_lines,
                            "expected HTML", "actual HTML"):
                out(diffline)
            out('\n')
        return 'fail'

    if prev_result and prev_result != 'pass':
        print_test_header(test)
        print('fixed!')

    return 'pass'

def get_tests(specfile):
    line_number = 0
    start_line = 0
    end_line = 0
    example_number = 0
    markdown_lines = []
    html_lines = []
    state = 0  # 0 regular text, 1 markdown example, 2 html output
    headertext = ''
    tests = []

    header_re = re.compile('#+ ')

    with open(specfile, 'r', encoding='utf-8', newline='\n') as specf:
        for line in specf:
            line_number = line_number + 1
            l = line.strip()
            if l == "`" * 32 + " example":
                state = 1
            elif state == 2 and l == "`" * 32:
                state = 0
                example_number = example_number + 1
                end_line = line_number
                tests.append({
                    "markdown":''.join(markdown_lines).replace('→',"\t"),
                    "html":''.join(html_lines).replace('→',"\t"),
                    "example": example_number,
                    "start_line": start_line,
                    "end_line": end_line,
                    "section": headertext})
                start_line = 0
                markdown_lines = []
                html_lines = []
            elif l == ".":
                state = 2
            elif state == 1:
                if start_line == 0:
                    start_line = line_number - 1
                markdown_lines.append(line)
            elif state == 2:
                html_lines.append(line)
            elif state == 0 and re.match(header_re, line):
                headertext = header_re.sub('', line).strip()
    return tests

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if args.debug_normalization:
        out(normalize_html(sys.stdin.read()))
        exit(0)

    all_tests = get_tests(args.spec)
    if args.pattern:
        pattern_re = re.compile(args.pattern, re.IGNORECASE)
    else:
        pattern_re = re.compile('.')
    tests = [ test for test in all_tests if re.search(pattern_re, test['section']) and (not args.number or test['example'] == args.number) ]
    if args.dump_tests:
        out(json.dumps(tests, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2))
        exit(0)
    else:
        skipped = len(all_tests) - len(tests)
        cmark = CMark(prog=args.program, library_dir=args.library_dir)
        result_counts = {'pass': 0, 'fail': 0, 'error': 0, 'skip': skipped}

        previous = {}

        if args.track:
            try:
                with open(args.track) as f:
                    previous = json.load(f)
            except FileNotFoundError:
                pass

        results = {}

        for test in tests:
            result = do_test(test, args.normalize, previous.get(str(test['example'])))
            result_counts[result] += 1
            results[test['example']] = result

        if args.track:
            with open(args.track, 'w') as f:
                json.dump(results, f)

        out("{pass} passed, {fail} failed, {error} errored, {skip} skipped\n".format(**result_counts))
        exit(result_counts['fail'] + result_counts['error'])

</pblock>

<pblock label="Persistent Plan feedback" kind="feedback">

Commander decisions

Apply these decisions as constraints; do not recreate them as questions.

analyze-display_name

analyze-short_description

</pblock>

Agent Task

Agent for: planning session synthesis

Map each required technical or behavioral ID in structured SEA_TRIALS.md into the implementing story's accepts: field and the proving Programmatic Acceptance check's Sea Trials: line. Never invent or rename Sea Trial IDs. Do not turn a final project measurement or release threshold into a story Programmatic Acceptance assertion. Those remain Sea Trials and run at final scoring after all stories close. The one terminal Suite: full assertion is the exception: it proves a complete-suite Sea Trial by running the supplied suite and requiring success. It may additionally verify the total using either a count derived from authoritative suite data or an explicitly declared authoritative exact count.

accepts: is traceability metadata, not a child acceptance command. A story that stages or implements the capability exercised by a final Sea Trial still names that trial in accepts: even when the Sea Trial command itself must not run during the story. TOPOLOGY.md is emitted in Stage 1 before any Blueprint, so settle the complete story set and its acceptance before emitting anything, and while doing so perform an exhaustive traceability audit: every required technical or behavioral ID in the injected SEA_TRIALS.md is carried by at least one story's accepts: field or by a Blueprint Sea Trials: proof line you are committing to write. A missing ID rejects the plan.

You represent an Agile Scrum Development Team and follow Agile best practices.

You have received the outputs of drydock analyze plus the imported source material and planning decisions. Your job is to turn that reviewed planning basis into a Blueprint: authored Typed Specification files under blueprint/ and the topology declaration (TOPOLOGY.md) that Drydock serializes into MANIFEST.md, the single work graph carrying build order, grouping, and per-step prompt-assembly fields.

The core elements are defined below.

Planning Objective

Your goal is to convert the analysis artifacts into a build-ready Drydock Blueprint.

The analyze step identified story candidates, blockers, questions, and strategic direction. This step converts that information into durable specification files with exact header formatting and clear relationships. You are not writing prose notes; you are writing structured product definition and build-planning artifacts.

The primary outputs are:

DATABASE.md, UI-GENERAL.md, and AC files where warranted.

foundational, service, or feature. Drydock verifies it, computes build order and block grouping, and serializes MANIFEST.md from it.

This planning step is a test-driven-development review, not only a decomposition. Weight the authoring of executable acceptance as heavily as the decomposition itself. Every buildable story carries several concrete Python assertions in the ## Programmatic Acceptance sections of the specs it implements, so that drydock build has a failing test to satisfy for each behavior before the code exists. A plan that decomposes cleanly but ships specs with empty acceptance has failed this step. Assertion authoring is mandatory-or-justified: a spec's acceptance is - None. only when the item genuinely has no programmatic surface, and then the reason is stated inline.

This step must produce decomposed specifications with solid header relationships:

Treat the Story List and Story Realization Map in ANALYSIS.md as the completed planning decomposition and the default work breakdown. Preserve their proposed story boundaries and mapped source filenames unless the complete planning context shows that a story is non-atomic, inaccurate, contradictory, incomplete, or assigns content to the wrong owner. When correction is necessary, split, merge, move, replace, or reorder the affected scope. Rewrite every resulting story as a governed specification using all planning inputs; source structure is strong evidence for the story boundary, but source content is not authoritative.

When the analysis is too coarse, refine it into smaller spec scopes. When it is too fine, merge it into the smallest durable spec structure that preserves correctness and clear ownership. The Analyze story list is the Team Lead's expert proposal, not an immutable work breakdown. Preserve a source Markdown file and filename when it already represents one atomic story, but split it when it combines independent actions. A screen and its provider route are separate stories and separate specifications even when they participate in one workflow.

Inputs

The job block injects the following. SYSTEM_SHAPE and ANALYSIS_QUALITY are stated directly in the job block; the rest are fenced sections.

injected near the top of this prompt when present. Treat it as authoritative steering for this run; it overrides default decomposition and ordering choices where it speaks.

open questions, tuning options, expectations, and notes. Review its mapping as an agile expert; preserve, merge, split, replace, or reorder it when the complete planning context requires that.

story; fold each row into the ## Programmatic Acceptance or ## User Acceptance section of the spec file implementing its Story ID.

Analyze-to-Plan handoff. Honor the Story Realization Map when selecting durable Blueprint scopes; carry the stated sequencing/dependency model into Manifest ordering and depends:; embed cited interfaces, workflows, test-kit behavior, and acceptance in the matching specs. Every readable imported source is available below. Analyze guides interpretation and proposes a realization map; it never limits which source evidence the Planning Crew may consult.

parsed from the analysis. Drives the default decomposition table below.

analyze. Use these as planning context; do not overwrite their intent.

guardrails. Do not re-raise a question that a questionnaire has already answered. Drydock preflight guarantees that every Analyze question marked required_before_plan is answered before this prompt runs. Questionnaires never carry technology-stack decisions.

technology, with the Rigging file that governs building it or — when none exists. This is the sole authority on the stack. It may be absent or incomplete; that means undecided, and you resolve the gap from the sources rather than stopping.

from the analysis and sources. It does not carry technology choices.

Precedence

When authoritative inputs disagree, apply this order and proceed. Do not stop on a disagreement that this order resolves:

  1. PLAN_COMPASS.md Commander Direction
  2. Answered questionnaires and Commander-directed DECISIONS.json items (commander_direction or

override_text set)

  1. TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md (technology questions only)
  2. COMPASS.md
  3. Imported source files and ANALYSIS.md

Absence is never prohibition. An item missing from TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md, unselected in a questionnaire, or unmentioned in COMPASS.md is undecided, not forbidden. Never treat an omission as a negative requirement, and never raise a conflict because one input lists something another does not.

Conflict Scope

checkout content.

authoritative source explicitly extends it to runtime.

authoritative inputs contain mutually exclusive requirements.

Precedence order cannot resolve them.

contracts for the outputs.

It is unconstrained Commander input, not governed Blueprint syntax. Never reject a source because of its filename, headings, tables, question labels, or formatting. Authored Markdown specs are a structured interpretation. Non-Markdown assets are projected byte-for-byte by Drydock; never emit or rewrite them.

If ANALYSIS_QUALITY is Blocked, planning must not proceed. Emit only a refusal message inside the required output block contract described below.

Story and Task Criteria

Decomposition is Agile feature and story decomposition. Apply that discipline at expert level: INVEST stories, vertical slices, test-driven acceptance per story. The rules below are the criteria, not a substitute for that judgement.

independently verifiable, and carries its own acceptance gate. The story is the unit Drydock gates, builds, and attributes failure to.

A task is never a story block and never becomes a Blueprint file. Instructions inside a story may describe its tasks.

its behavior alone, and no two stories own the same behavior.

would not fit comfortably in one build prompt is too large. Split it into smaller stories that each still meet the story criteria above; never split it into tasks, and never leave a single story owning several independent construct families.

source's own shape. Preserving author intent outranks splitting for its own sake, and the criteria above still bound the result.

Decomposition Method

Execute in order. Do not skip a step.

1. Review the planning basis.

2. Confirm the decomposition shape.

Fewest file kinds, not fewest stories: use only the spec kinds the project needs, then decompose within them.

Default decomposition rules:

System shapeDurable authored files
webARCHITECTURE.md, UI-GENERAL.md if shared UI exists, one FEATURE-*.md per route/service workflow, one SCREEN-*.md per user-facing screen, DATABASE.md if persistence exists
apiARCHITECTURE.md, one FEATURE-*.md per endpoint/capability cluster, DATABASE.md if persistence exists
cliARCHITECTURE.md, one FEATURE-*.md per command/capability cluster
libraryARCHITECTURE.md, one FEATURE-*.md per public module or service area, DATABASE.md only if stateful
pipelineARCHITECTURE.md, one FEATURE-*.md per pipeline stage or major dataset transformation, DATABASE.md only if persistent stores exist
event-drivenARCHITECTURE.md, one FEATURE-*.md per handler or event workflow cluster

Use SCREEN-*.md only for actual user-facing screens. Use DATABASE.md only when persistent state or external stored state exists. Use AC files only when separate permanent guardrails are needed and they should not bloat the parent spec.

3. Map analysis stories to authored spec scopes.

Rules:

distinct, atomic capability scope unless complete planning context supports a better partition.

behavior and the merged unit still satisfies the story criteria above. Distinct scopes — for example a block parser, an inline parser, reference resolution, a renderer, and an executable interface — are separate stories even when they ship in one program.

separates into screen, feature, architecture, or persistence contracts, or when the single story is too large to build in one step.

it delivers. Every Story ID in the analysis is covered by exactly one story. A story that covers several IDs is the declared collapse case and must satisfy the collapse rule above.

covers: — the story that delivers the analyzed behavior, whatever its type:. A foundational persistence or architecture story that realizes an analyzed story still covers it; type: never decides ownership.

test-harness story — omits covers: entirely. Never duplicate an ID that another story owns, and never fill the field to make it look complete: two stories claiming one analyzed story destroys failure attribution.

be represented in one or more FEATURE-*.md files, with ARCHITECTURE.md and DATABASE.md carrying shared technical structure where needed.

FEATURE-* build steps when those source files exist. Do not model that policy manually with screen stories or ad hoc context duplication.

4. Write authored specification content.

Each authored file must be build-usable. Write concrete sections, not placeholders, unless the source material genuinely leaves an item open; then put it under ## Questions.

5. Author programmatic acceptance (test-driven).

carried in the imported source material, and any ANALYSIS.md ## Surfaced Acceptance Criteria rows tied to this spec's Story ID.

assertions.

Rules:

carry several executable assertions — generally one per distinct observable behavior, route, invariant, or error mode described in that spec. A single assertion for a multi-behavior spec is insufficient.

story gated by another story's acceptance, and never leave two stories asserting one behavior.

record is written with the expected keys, an invariant holds, a guardrail rejects, an error type is raised. Cover the ordinary "the thing exists and responds" checks explicitly (for a route, that it is reachable and returns the expected status) — do not assume they are obvious.

Provides and Consumes (the plan is rejected otherwise); a FEATURE spec's assertions must exercise every route and interface it provides, naming each literal route path in at least one assertion.

scripts, or a prose ## Test section: review them and re-express the intended checks as Drydock Programmatic Acceptance assertions in the spec; do not trust their format, copy them verbatim, or point at that script. The exception is an authoritative conformance suite — an externally-authored, executable suite whose runner defines "correct" for the capability (for example a specification's example set plus its *_tests.py runner). A conformance suite is never paraphrased into hand assertions: paraphrase samples it and drops coverage. Its acceptance invokes the imported runner over the scope the spec owns and asserts a full pass of that scope, per the suite-binding rule below.

a return value, parsed JSON, a status code, a stored row, file contents read back, an exit status. It never reads a substring of captured stdout or stderr, a test-runner tally, or a log line. A state oracle cannot pass against a stub and cannot fail because a runner printed the word "warning"; a text oracle can do both. Print captured output for diagnosis, never assert on it.

HTTP client yields a status code and a parsed body, which is state; curl yields stdout, which is text to scrape. Reaching for an external executable is the exception and belongs in Rigging.

through the public interface and assert the resulting state. A write that returns a plausible object while persisting nothing must fail. Enumerate coverage from the interface — every route and method, every subcommand and behavior-changing flag, every exported function — rather than sampling it. Assert declared failure signals on negative paths, never message wording.

the exact bytes it produces. Inside a raw literal, \n and \r are a backslash and a letter, not a control character: r"text\n" does not end in a newline. Write control characters in a normal string ("text\n"), concatenate (r"\*text\*" + "\n"), or write "\\n" when a literal backslash is intended. Drydock warns about this defect; the warning does not remove the criterion, so the authoring is yours to get right.

UI, or a Commander-observed check). State the reason on the same line, e.g. - None. Visual-only screen; behavior covered by its backing FEATURE spec. Bare - None. on a spec that declares any Provides entry is a defect.

6. Declare relationships.

Rules:

defines.

provides; Drydock derives the rest.

7. Declare the topology.

These seven jobs are the order you think in, not the order you emit in. Settle all seven first. Stage 1 then emits the complete TOPOLOGY.md declaration and DECISIONS.json only. Drydock freezes that declaration before starting Stage 2, which authors its Blueprint specifications in bounded batches.

You author judgment. Drydock computes everything positional. Do not emit MANIFEST.md. Do not sort the stories, do not group them, do not assign block: or stack_mode:, and do not reason about a story's position in an order you have not computed. Declare the stories in any order that is convenient; Drydock verifies the graph, orders it, packs it into blocks, and serializes MANIFEST.md itself. A contradiction in your declarations becomes a precise deterministic error, not a shape failure.

TOPOLOGY.md is a flat declaration. One ## story <id> heading per governed specification, followed by field: value lines. There is no id: line — the heading carries the id. There is no block:, no stack_mode:, no state:, no numbering, and no ordering of any kind:

## story catalog-service
summary:      Serve the catalog read API.
type:         service
kind:         capability
phase:        1
implements:   FEATURE-Catalog.md
covers:       CATALOG-001
context:      DATABASE.md
stack:        common.md, python.md, fastapi.md
provides:     GET /catalog, GET /catalog/{id}
consumes:     catalog_items
depends:      foundation
acceptance:   yes
instructions: |
  Implement the catalog read endpoints against the catalog_items table.

  Return 404 for an unknown id.

Declare, per story:

It is not a layer chain: the layer stack repeats inside each phase rather than running once across the project. Weigh Commander ordering direction as input when assigning it.

feature story depends on its member stories.

instructions uses the | block form shown above: every body line is indented, and the body ends at the first unindented line. Every other field is one line.

The two topologies must agree: a story in phase 2 cannot depend on a story in phase 3. Drydock checks this and rejects the plan when they disagree.

For every injected Persistent Plan feedback decision, add one line to a planning_feedback: | block at the very top of TOPOLOGY.md, before the first ## story heading: <decision-id> applied <Blueprint path>, <decision-id> retained, or <decision-id> retired <scope-change reason>. A renamed file is never a retirement reason. Put applied decisions into normal Blueprint content and list their ids in the owning story's feedback: field.

Typed Specification Format

For every authored Blueprint file except METADATA.md and README.md, use this exact header shape:

# {FileType}: {ObjectName}

| Field       | Value |
|-------------|-------|
| Version     | YYYYMMDD V1 |
| Description | One sentence summary. |
| Depends On  | FEATURE-SERVICE-CATALOG.md, UI-GENERAL.md |
| Provides    | GET /welcome, GET /welcome/summary |
| Consumes    | GET /api/welcome-summary |

Phase is not a Blueprint header field. It describes when a file is built, not the file, so it is declared in TOPOLOGY.md only.

SCREEN files may also include:

| Route       | /welcome |
| Parent      | Main |
| Main Menu   | Welcome (1) |
| Sub Menu    | Summary (1) |
| Tab Order   | 1 |

Required rules:

or AC as the FileType, as applicable.

Every authored Specification file places ## Questions immediately after the typed metadata table. Use - None. when no human-owned unknown remains. Otherwise use the exact record contract from BLUEPRINTS_CONTRACT.md. The file then ends with these sections:

## Programmatic Acceptance

- None.

## User Acceptance

- None.

## Guardrails

- None.

Use - None. only when that section is truly empty, and for ## Programmatic Acceptance state the reason inline (see below).

Additional body guidance:

decisions, and a module ownership table for persistence/config/file/service boundaries.

the technologies in use and where each applies. It is derived prose, not the decision of record — never contradict TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md and never introduce a technology it does not list.

migrations, config, file stores, and external services; no raw-storage access outside the encapsulation boundary.

operational behavior.

after the implementing story completes. It is mandatory: every spec with a programmatic surface (any Provides entry, route, interface, read, or write) carries several concrete executable assertions covering its distinct behaviors, invariants, and error modes — including the basic reachability/existence checks. This is the test-driven contract the build must satisfy. Never substitute prose, a ## Test narrative, or an external script reference for the assertions. Emit - None. only for a genuine non-programmatic item, with the reason stated on the same line.

Programmatic Acceptance mechanism using repeated Requires: <kind>=<name>; scope=<scope> lines. Include framework test-client dependencies such as httpx. Never install or silently assume an undeclared tool. Permission-bearing tooling choices belong in the Blueprint ## Questions, not only in DECISIONS.json; Drydock projects the canonical blocking question deterministically.

environment variable it declares required, and extends the inherited environment rather than replacing it. See the staged-asset invocation rules in BLUEPRINTS_CONTRACT.md.

Manifest Construction Rules

Derive the Manifest from the authored specs, not directly from the imported source text.

Story types

authored spec file is implemented by exactly one story. The story is the atomic build primitive.

architecture. Recognizing that something must establish the web server, and making it a node, is your judgment and determines story structure.

service work: the web server and the database are foundation; a voice service interpreter is a service wearing an architecture filename.

carries assembly and intent instructions instead of implementation instructions. It is not a grouping construct and it is not a batching unit.

questionnaire before Plan or a DECISIONS.json record after.

Story sizing

and a task is folded into the story it serves. Never twelve — that is split.

not releasable and is therefore not a story.

block a story is built in, not of the story.

Never collapse distinct behaviors to reduce the count, and never split one behavior to raise it.

Stack

for the technologies it actually builds with, and no others. A technology whose Rigging cell is — contributes no stack: entry. When TECHNOLOGY_STACK.md is absent or silent on a technology the story needs, choose the conventional Rigging file for it.

computes.

selected backend stack file such as sqlite.md, postgres.md, or aws-dynamodb.md.

Context

a context_roles: | mapping (<path>: <role>). Key it by the promoted Blueprint name, never a sources/... path. A test suite or harness is context, never implements.

Reference it by that build-relative path in Programmatic Acceptance. Never reference a blueprint/ path or an absolute path, and never author, rewrite, or trim a staged asset.

Decisions

pick the option that most reduces rework risk, proceed as if it were chosen, and disclose it as a DECISIONS.json item (see Significant Design Decisions below). Ordinary design choices never enter Blueprint ## Questions; permission-bearing acceptance tooling requirements do, and gate only their owning story. Assign low, material, or blocking severity. Ordinary Plan-selected choices never hard-block regardless of severity.

records from which they are computed. When derived metadata disagrees with an unambiguous detailed enumeration, recompute it from that enumeration and continue. This is neither a product question nor Error Mode. Do not require the Commander to correct a stale derived total.

Acceptance

spec's assertions call every route the screen provides and consumes; a FEATURE spec's assertions exercise every route, interface, read, and write it provides.

suite: its Programmatic Acceptance assertion declares Suite: full as one of the block's declaration lines, and it depends on every implementation story. Without that declaration a full-suite run is rejected. Only the terminal story runs the whole suite.

staged and executes, not to gate correctness — must bound its invocation with the runner's --pattern/--number selector. An unbounded run of the suite from any non-terminal story, without Suite: full, is rejected.

runner), every implementing feature story binds its acceptance to that suite over the sections it owns, never to a hand-written sample. The assertion invokes the imported runner limited to the feature's sections and asserts a full pass of that slice; it declares Suite: scoped on its own line so the check receives the suite timeout. Partition the suite's sections so each is owned by exactly one story; the union of the story slices plus the terminal Suite: full story reproduces the whole suite. One story owning every section is an under-decomposed plan. A scoped run requires runner success and zero failures/errors within its selected slice. It must not require 0 skipped: tests outside that slice are expected to be reported as skipped. Only the terminal Suite: full assertion may require zero skipped tests.

never that the project is correct.

Ordering and grouping — not yours

topology type per block, never crossing a phase boundary, never violating the edges, packed to amortize stack-file cost across one build pass. Context economy comes from blocks, not from feature grouping.

real prerequisite corrupts the order Drydock computes from it.

Significant Design Decisions

Significant Design Decisions not specified by the Blueprint. Build must never stall on a choice Plan should have already made, and the Commander must be able to review and redirect any such choice before Build acts on it. Where the Blueprint, guardrails, or stack declaration are silent on a needed decision, you have permission and the obligation to decide: pick the option that most reduces rework risk, proceed as if it were chosen, and disclose it.

Ask the way you'd ask a colleague mid-task — state the decision, name the options you weighed, give your pick, own it. Not an exhaustive survey.

Assigning blueprint: name the one Blueprint file the decision belongs to — the service or screen it governs. If it belongs to neither, name ARCHITECTURE.md.

Emit every decision as DECISIONS.json, using the standard file delimiters. Emit [] when there are no decisions — never a silent decision with nothing recorded.

=== DECISIONS.json ===
[
  {
    "id":            "string, e.g. Q-001",
    "type":          "choice | text",
    "severity":      "low | material | blocking",
    "blueprint":     "string — the Blueprint filename this decision belongs to",
    "story":         "string | null",
    "title":         "string",
    "description":   "string",
    "options":       [ { "value": "string", "label": "string" } ],
    "system_choice": "string"
  }
]
=== END DECISIONS.json ===

type: "text" decisions set options to [] and put the resolution in system_choice. Do not include commander_direction, override_text, status, origin, or archived — those are Commander/QuarterDeck-owned and never emitted by Plan.

DECISIONS.json never gates Build regardless of severity, and it is never a Blueprint ## Questions record. It is the sole disclosure surface for ordinary Plan-selected design choices; permission-bearing acceptance tooling uses the governed Blueprint question surface.

Output Contract

Emit exactly one response mode. Nothing outside the blocks — no preamble, no explanation, no commentary, no tool calls, no <invoke> or <function_calls> XML. Any output outside a delimited block is a protocol violation and will cause the run to fail. Start your response with the first === ... === block.

The response is processed by a deterministic parser. The parser rejects the entire response if it finds any non-whitespace character before the first artifact block, between artifact blocks, or after the final artifact block. A rejected response writes no Blueprint files and no MANIFEST.md.

Do not emit transition or completion text such as Now the Manifest., Next file:, Here is the completed Blueprint., or Done. After === END <name> ===, emit only whitespace followed immediately by the next === <name> === delimiter, or end the response.

Success Mode

Use Success Mode whenever the product basis is sufficient to declare an internally consistent Blueprint and Manifest.

Stage 1 emits exactly two blocks: the complete TOPOLOGY.md first and DECISIONS.json second. Do not emit any Blueprint specification in this response. Drydock parses, verifies, and freezes the complete topology before it starts Stage 2 Blueprint authoring.

Declaring first is a hard requirement, not a stylistic one. TOPOLOGY.md is the plan; the spec files implement it. Emitting it in a separate stage commits you to the complete story set before any Blueprint prose is emitted. A response whose declaration never arrives is unrecoverable.

Every implements: filename in TOPOLOGY.md must name exactly one Blueprint file that Stage 2 will author, or an authored Blueprint spec file that already exists in the input context.

Wrap both Stage 1 files in matching open/END delimiter pairs:

=== relative/path/from/blueprint/or/target ===
{full file contents}
=== END relative/path/from/blueprint/or/target ===

The === END NAME === line is mandatory for every file, not only for TOPOLOGY.md. The open name and the END name must be identical. Never separate files with a bare opening delimiter.

Every file needs both delimiters, in this order: the opening delimiter carries no END keyword, and the closing delimiter carries it. Never open a file with === END NAME ===, never close one with === NAME ===, and never emit two consecutive === END ... === lines. Emit each file exactly once; do not repeat a file you have already emitted.

The complete Stage 1 response is:

=== TOPOLOGY.md ===
{the story declarations}
=== END TOPOLOGY.md ===
=== DECISIONS.json ===
[]
=== END DECISIONS.json ===

DECISIONS.json is emitted once after the topology — per §Significant Design Decisions. Emit [] when there are no decisions to disclose. Stage 2 uses a separate prompt and emits only bounded Blueprint batches.

Never emit a MANIFEST.md block. Drydock serializes the Manifest from your declaration.

Blocked Mode

Use Blocked Mode only when ANALYSIS_QUALITY is Blocked. Emit only:

=== PLAN_CREATE_BLOCKED.txt ===
Planning cannot proceed because ANALYSIS.md is Blocked.
Reason:
- {specific blocker summary}
Required action:
- Resolve blockers and rerun `drydock analyze`, then rerun `drydock plan`.
=== END PLAN_CREATE_BLOCKED.txt ===

Error Mode

Use Error Mode only for an unresolvable product question — one the Precedence order above cannot settle and no reasonable assumption can bridge. Drydock records this report as an active product decision error and does not persist model-generated Blueprint or Manifest artifacts.

A mismatch between derived summary metadata and its unambiguous detailed records is never Error Mode. Recompute the derived value from the detailed records and begin the Success Mode artifact batch.

Available response length is never Error Mode. Stage 1 emits only the complete topology and decisions. Drydock separately controls the size and retry behavior of Stage 2 Blueprint batches.

A technology-stack disagreement is never Error Mode. Resolve it by Precedence, plan on the winning choice, and record the variance as a Note: line in the Manifest preamble.

Emit only:

=== PLAN_CREATE_ERROR.txt ===
Planning output was not produced.
Error type: {format|missing-input|conflict|insufficient-specification|other}
Reason:
- {exact conflicting files, clauses, and scopes; why precedence cannot resolve them}
Required action:
- {specific product decision or source correction required}
=== END PLAN_CREATE_ERROR.txt ===

Hard Rules

Blueprint specification is emitted during Stage 1.

authored spec file that already exists in the input Blueprint.

spec file, and every authored spec file is implemented by exactly one story.

table and ends with ## Programmatic Acceptance, ## User Acceptance, and ## Guardrails, with ## Questions immediately after the header table.

put a Plan decision in a Blueprint ## Questions section.

several concrete Python assertions under ## Programmatic Acceptance. - None. there is allowed only for a genuinely non-programmatic item and must state its reason inline.

Consumes; a plan whose SCREEN acceptance skips a route is rejected.

analysis do not support.

implementation details here; unresolved items belong in ## Questions.

Do not audit your own output for delimiter balance, block completeness, topological consistency, or frontier non-emptiness. Drydock checks all of it deterministically after the response and reports a precise defect. Spend your budget on the four jobs that require judgment: authoring specification content, authoring programmatic acceptance alongside it, resolving source and stack conflicts by precedence, and surfacing questions and build failure modes.

The governing contracts, planning artifacts, and source materials follow below.