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Nizel Format

nizel-format formats Markdown source text. Use it when an app needs consistent Markdown before saving, syncing, or rendering.

It is separate from nizel, which renders Markdown to HTML. For Lezin, the formatter can run before a note is saved while Nizel or NizelKit can still render the preview.

Command Line

Format a file in place:

npx nizel-format notes.md

Format all Markdown files in a directory:

npx nizel-format docs/

Check formatting in CI:

npx nizel-format --check README.md docs/

Read from stdin:

cat notes.md | npx nizel-format --stdin

JavaScript

import { formatMarkdown } from 'nizel-format';

const formatted = formatMarkdown(markdown, {
  tables: true,
  unorderedListMarker: '-',
  nestedListIndent: 2,
});

Native Apps

Build the package:

npm run build --workspace nizel-format

Load the IIFE bundle in a WKWebView, JSContext, or similar embedded JavaScript runtime:

packages/nizel-format/dist/nizel-format.iife.js

It exposes:

NizelFormat.formatMarkdown(markdown)

The native app can pass Markdown in, receive formatted Markdown back, and save the returned string.

Options

Option Type Default Description
tables boolean true Align pipe tables.
headingSpacing boolean true Normalize heading marker spacing.
blankLines boolean true Normalize blank lines around block starts.
unorderedListMarker '-' | '*' | '+' '-' Preferred unordered-list marker.
nestedListIndent 2 | 4 2 Spaces per nested-list level.
renumberOrderedLists boolean true Renumber ordered lists per nesting level.
codeFenceMarker '```' | '~~~' '```' Preferred code-fence marker.
horizontalRule '---' | '***' | '___' '---' Preferred thematic-break marker.
blockquoteSpacing boolean true Normalize blockquote marker spacing.
htmlInlineTags boolean true Convert simple inline HTML emphasis tags to Markdown.
imageShortcodes boolean true Convert [img=url] shortcodes to Markdown images.
bbcode boolean true Convert common BBCode to Markdown.

Scope

nizel-format is intentionally deterministic and lightweight. It formats common Markdown authoring patterns, preserves frontmatter, and does not rewrite fenced code content.

It is not a full Markdown AST pretty-printer. Unsupported syntax is left alone rather than guessed.

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