#MDX rules

Docusaurus uses MDX 3 for .mdx files. MDX is markdown plus JSX, which means certain markdown text that is harmless in plain GitHub-rendered markdown will break MDX parsing. Ingest runs a battery of escape transformations to make source .md content survive the conversion to .mdx.

Live in ${NETDATA_REPOS_DIR}/learn/ingest/ingest.py:1721-1799 (the _escape_mdx_braces function and adjacent transforms), exhaustively tested in ${NETDATA_REPOS_DIR}/learn/test_escape_mdx_braces.py. Every transform is applied to every published file via sanitize_page (ingest.py:1765-1829), in this order:

#1. Frontmatter conversion

• First <!-- -> ---, first --> -> --- (ingest.py:1779-1780).
• Turns the injected hidden metadata block into real YAML frontmatter.

#2. Strip unhideme markers

<!--unhideme and unhideme--> markers are stripped (ingest.py:1783-1784).

#3. <details><summary> newline fix

<details><summary> -> <details>\n<summary> (and the <details open> variant) for MDX 3 compatibility (ingest.py:1787-1788). Without this fix, the inline form breaks the parser.

Caveat: only the two literal forms it knows are fixed. Any other variant (e.g. <details class="x"><summary>) breaks MDX rendering silently.

#4. _escape_mdx_braces

Escape every bare { outside fenced/inline code:

• Preserve fenced ` ... blocks (DOTALL match).
• Preserve inline `...` (no newlines, no nested backticks).
• Preserve ^import ...$ lines (MDX ESM destructuring syntax).
• Preserve ^export (default|function|const|let|var|{) ...$ lines (regex export\s+(?:default|function|const|let|var|\{)).
• Replace every bare { (not already preceded by \) with \{.
• Restore style=\{\{ back to style={{ because that's valid JSX.

Bash export VAR=... lines are NOT preserved as ESM. The export regex requires default, function, const, let, var, or { after export. Bash-style export NETDATA_FOO=bar passes through escape unchanged because it has no {. If a bash export contained {, it would get escaped (probably what you want).

#5. Specific operator escapes

• <= -> \<=
• %< -> %\<
• <-> -> \<->

(ingest.py:1792-1794). MDX would otherwise try to parse these as JSX tags. Note these are exact-substring rules; near-variants like < = (with space) or <----> (multi-dash) are NOT covered. See pitfalls-and-gotchas.md.

#Patterns that the escape battery does NOT cover

• <word> placeholders in prose (e.g. <service-name>, <scope>, <app>). MDX 3 parses anything that lexically looks like an open tag and then expects a matching close tag. Without one, the build fails with Expected a closing tag for \` ... before the end of `paragraph``.
• < followed by a digit (e.g. <100 minutes, <5 seconds). MDX rejects this with Unexpected character '1' (U+0031) before name, expected a character that can start a name, such as a letter, $, or _. This pattern is common in lists describing thresholds.
• Type<param> Rust/C++/Java generic syntax (e.g. Vec<u32>, HashMap<String, Vec<u8>>, unique_ptr<T>). Same JSX-tag issue.

The safe options, in order of preference:

1. Wrap in inline code with backticks -- rule 4 preserves inline code, so \`, `Vec`,``` all survive intact. This is the standard fix for our Netdata integration content.
2. Rephrase the sentence -- e.g. < 100 minutes becomes under 100 minutes. Often clearer than the original anyway.
3. Backslash-escape the < -- \<word>. Works but uglier than backticks. Use only when the < must remain visibly a less-than operator, not a placeholder.

These three were exercised in the netflow-plugin docs (2026-05-07 ingest preview deploy failure): docs/network-flows/retention-querying.md had <100 minutes, fixed by rephrasing; aws_ip_ranges.md, gcp_ip_ranges.md, and generic_json-over-http_ipam.md (generated from metadata.yaml) had <service-name>, <scope>, <app>, fixed by wrapping the placeholders in backticks at the metadata.yaml source.

#6. Bare URL angle-bracket links

Converted to markdown links (ingest.py:1797-1799):

• <https://...> -> [https://...](https://...)
• <http://...> -> [http://...](http://...)
• <email@x.y> -> [email@x.y](mailto:email@x.y)

So <...> used as a "I want this rendered as a link" markdown shortcut works correctly through ingest.

#7. meta_yaml rewrite

If meta_yaml: "<url>" is present in the file, the file is treated as an integration. meta_yaml: is removed and custom_edit_url is rewritten to that URL (ingest.py:1801-1808). Silent rewrite -- any file with that key triggers it.

#8. Integration logo annotation

Integration files (INTEGRATION_MARKER present) get <img src="https://(www.)?netdata.cloud/img/..."> annotated with data-integration-logo, data-logo-contrast-light, data-logo-contrast-dark, data-logo-contrast-confidence after a fetch+luminance analysis (_annotate_integration_logo_tags and _analyze_remote_logo, ingest.py:1647-1718). Used by Grid_integrations and the dashboard theme to add a subtle glow on low-contrast logos.

#9. Drop analytics pixel lines

Lines starting with [![analytics] are dropped (ingest.py:1816-1817). These are leftover GitHub README-style tracking pixels that don't make sense on Learn.

#What survives, what doesn't

The escape rules cover the most common breakage patterns:

Pattern	Survives?	Why
{word} outside code	escaped to \{word}	rule 4
${expr}	escaped to \${expr}	rule 4
style={{ }} JSX	yes (un-escaped)	rule 4 restoration
Already-escaped braces	unchanged	rule 4 idempotent
Fenced or inline code	unchanged	rule 4 preservation
MDX import/export ESM	unchanged	rule 4 preservation
Tables with { cells	escaped per cell	rule 4
<=, %<, <-> exact	escaped	rule 5
< = (with space)	NOT covered	rule 5 is exact-substring
<----> (long arrow)	NOT covered	rule 5 is exact-substring
<htmltag> body content	NOT escaped	breaks MDX unless wrapped in code
<word> placeholders in prose	NOT escaped	breaks MDX; wrap in backticks or rephrase
< + digit (<100, <5s)	NOT escaped	breaks MDX; rephrase as "under N" or escape
Vec<u32>, HashMap<K,V> generics	NOT escaped	breaks MDX; wrap in backticks
<details> inline summary	fixed	rule 3
<details class="x">	NOT fixed	rule 3 only knows two forms
} closing brace alone	NOT escaped	rule 4 only escapes {
Bare URL in <...>	converted to MD link	rule 6

#Test suite

${NETDATA_REPOS_DIR}/learn/test_escape_mdx_braces.py:74-377 exercises:

• simple {word}, ${expr} templates;
• {{double}} braces;
• style={{ }} JSX (preserved);
• already-escaped braces (idempotent);
• fenced and inline code preservation (multiple code blocks per file, mixed inline and fenced);
• table rows with mixed bare and code-fenced braces;
• real Zabbix and Nagios integration content;
• MDX import/export ESM lines;
• bash export lines (currently pass through unchanged because they have no braces);
• empty input;
• only-{} content;
• nested {outer{inner}};
• unclosed {;
• lone };
• newline after {;
• the original hardcoded {attribute_name} patterns;
• a full-document simulation.

#Mermaid diagrams

Mermaid diagrams are enabled at the markdown level in docusaurus.config.js:26-30. The escape rules preserve fenced code blocks, so mermaid ... blocks survive intact.

#What you can put in source .md files safely

• Any plain markdown.
• Code blocks (fenced and inline) -- whatever's inside them is preserved.
• MDX import/export ESM at the top of file (works in .mdx, not in .md; ingest converts to .mdx).
• style={{ ... }} JSX (preserved).
• Mermaid in fenced `mermaid .
• <details> and <summary> with newlines between them.

#What you should escape yourself in source

• <htmltag> in body content -- always wrap in code (fenced or inline).
• Multi-character operators like <-> with extra dashes (<-->, <--->).
• < or < with spaces around the <.
• Closing-brace-only sequences if they're standalone.

#Onbroken-links policy

docusaurus.config.js:22: onBrokenLinks: 'warn'. Broken links never fail the Docusaurus build at the parse level; they only get caught by the ingest's pre-build link checker (--fail-links) and the daily 404 sweep (daily-learn-link-check.yml). So a broken link in your .md will silently make it to production unless caught by one of those two gates.