Rockgarden supports the superset of CommonMark, GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown), and Obsidian markdown. No configuration needed — all syntax is handled gracefully.
CommonMark (Base Markdown)
Feature
Syntax
Status
Headings
# H1 through ###### H6
✅
Paragraphs
Plain text
✅
Line breaks
Two spaces or \ at end
✅
Emphasis
*italic* or _italic_
✅
Strong
**bold** or __bold__
✅
Blockquotes
> quote
✅
Lists (ordered)
1. item
✅
Lists (unordered)
- item or * item
✅
Code (inline)
`code`
✅
Code blocks
``` or indented
✅
Horizontal rule
--- or ***
✅
Links
[text](url)
✅
Images
✅
Autolinks
<http://url>
✅
HTML
Raw HTML passthrough
✅
GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown)
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Tables
| col | col |
✅
Via markdown-it-py
Strikethrough
~~text~~
✅
Via markdown-it-py
Task lists
- [ ] and - [x]
✅
Via mdit-py-plugins
Autolinks
Bare URLs
✅
Via markdown-it-py
Syntax highlighting
```python
✅
Via Pygments
Footnotes
[^1] and [^1]: text
✅
Via mdit-py-plugins
Alerts
> [!NOTE]
✅
Obsidian Markdown
Links & References
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Wiki-links
[[Page Name]]
✅
Wiki-links (aliased)
[[Page|Display]]
✅
Heading links
[[Page#Heading]]
✅
Block references
[[Page#^block]]
❌
Future
Embeds
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Image embeds
![[image.png]]
✅
Image sizing
![[image.png|200]]
✅
Image alt text
![[image.png|alt text]]
✅
Audio embeds
![[audio.mp3]]
✅
Video embeds
![[video.mp4]]
✅
PDF embeds
![[doc.pdf]]
✅
Note transclusion
![[note]]
✅
Formatting
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Highlights
==text==
✅
Renders as <mark>
Comments
%% comment %%
✅
Stripped during build
HTML comments
<!-- comment -->
✅
Standard markdown
Callouts
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Basic callouts
> [!note]
✅
Custom titles
> [!note] Title
✅
Collapsible (open)
> [!note]+
✅
Collapsible (closed)
> [!note]-
✅
Math
Math syntax is always parsed. The default theme loads KaTeX from CDN for rendering. Set math_cdn = false under [theme] to provide KaTeX yourself via _styles/ and _scripts/.
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Inline math
$E = mc^2$
✅
Via mdit-py-plugins
Block math
$$...$$
✅
Via mdit-py-plugins
GFM math blocks
```math
✅
Rendered as display math
Diagrams
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Mermaid
```mermaid
✅
Via CDN, client-side rendering
Tags
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Inline tags
#tag
✅
Extracted and rendered as links
Nested tags
#parent/child
✅
Hierarchical — parent tags auto-created
Frontmatter tags
tags: [tag1, tag2]
✅
Already parsed
Metadata
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
YAML frontmatter
--- block
✅
Fully parsed
Inline fields
key:: value
❌
Future (Dataview compat)
Icons
Feature
Syntax
Status
Notes
Inline icons
:lucide-map-pin:
✅
Lucide library bundled
Insert Lucide icons inline using :lucide-name: syntax. Only resolved icons are replaced; unrecognized patterns are left as literal text. See Customization for template usage and custom icon overrides.
Syntax Priority
When features overlap (rare), rockgarden handles them in this order:
Obsidian-specific syntax is preprocessed first (wiki-links, embeds, callouts, comments)
Inline icons are resolved and replaced with SVG
GFM/CommonMark is parsed by markdown-it-py
HTML passthrough for anything not matched
This ensures:
Code blocks protect their contents from all processing
Obsidian syntax works even if it conflicts with markdown edge cases
Standard markdown always works
Future Syntax Additions
Block references: [[page#^block]]
Inline fields: key:: value (Dataview compatibility)
Not Planned
Canvas files (.canvas): binary format, not markdown
Dataview queries: requires runtime evaluation
Plugin-specific syntax: too varied to support generically