metalsmith-markdown-partials

A Metalsmith plugin that enables the use of Markdown partials.

Markdown fragments are inserted into the contents of a page markdown file by replacing an include marker with markdown partials. This allows for modular markdown and promotes reuse of content.

Features

• Inserts reusable markdown partials into page markdown by replacing include markers
• ESM-only, requires Node >= 22. CommonJS consumers can require() it via Node 22's require(esm) support.

Installation

$ npm install --save metalsmith-markdown-partials

This package is ESM-only and requires Node >= 22. CommonJS projects on Node 22 can still consume it with require('metalsmith-markdown-partials') thanks to Node's require(esm) support.

Usage

import mdPartials from 'metalsmith-markdown-partials';

metalsmith.use(
  mdPartials({
    libraryPath: './markdown-partials/',
    fileSuffix: '.md.njk'
  })
);

Options

libraryPath

The default libraryPath is ./markdown-partials/. This default assumes that all pages are located in ./src/ so the markdown partials are located inside the metalsmith source directory.

import mdPartials from 'metalsmith-markdown-partials';

metalsmith(import.meta.dirname).use(
  mdPartials({
    libraryPath: './markdown-partials/'
  })
);

fileSuffix

The default fileSuffix is .md, but depending on which templating language is used, the suffix will have two parts. For example for Nunjucks it will be md.njk.

import mdPartials from 'metalsmith-markdown-partials';

metalsmith.use(
  mdPartials({
    fileSuffix: '.md.njk'
  })
);

How it works

Include marker

{#md "<file name>.md" #}

Page Markdown File

A markdown file that will be transformed into an html file via a template

Markdown Partial

A markdown file to be inserted into a Page Markdown file

Markdown partials are located in a separate directory, for example /markdown-library/. This directory should be located inside /src/ .

Partial markdown files have the extention .md. A markdown partial file does NOT have frontmatter metadata, only the markdown to be inserted into a page markdown file.

The markdown partials directory's default location is ./src/markdown-library/. The partials directory can be set via the libraryPath option.

Examples

index.md

# This is an Example Page

Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec id elit non mi porta gravida at eget metus. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec elit.

{#md "example_partial.md" #}

Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Cras justo odio, dapibus ac facilisis in, egestas eget quam. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

example_partial.md

## Inserted Content

Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue.

index.html

<h1>This is an Example Page</h1>

<p>
  Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec id elit non mi porta
  gravida at eget metus. Duis mollis, est non commodo luctus, nisi erat porttitor ligula, eget lacinia odio sem nec
  elit.
</p>

<h2>Inserted Content</h2>
<p>Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue.</p>

<p>
  Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Cras justo odio, dapibus ac facilisis in, egestas eget quam.
  Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis
  parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
</p>

Debug

To enable debug logs, set the DEBUG environment variable to metalsmith-markdown-partials:

Linux/Mac:

DEBUG=metalsmith-markdown-partials

Windows:

set "DEBUG=metalsmith-markdown-partials"

CLI usage

To use this plugin with the Metalsmith CLI, add metalsmith-markdown-partials to the plugins key in your metalsmith.json file:

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "metalsmith-markdown-partials": {
        "libraryPath": "./markdown-partials/",
        "fileSuffix": ".md.njk"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Test Coverage

This project maintains high statement and line coverage for the source code. Coverage is measured with Node's native test runner (node --test --experimental-test-coverage).

Author

werner@glinka.co

License

Code released under the MIT license.