comrak-ext

Extended Python bindings for the Comrak Rust library, a fast CommonMark/GFM parser. Fork of lmmx/comrak.

Installation

pip install comrak-ext

Requirements

• Python 3.9+

Features

Fast Markdown parser implemented in Rust, shipped for Python via PyO3.

API

Parsing

parse_document

Parse Markdown into an abstract syntax tree (AST):

from comrak import ExtensionOptions, Document, Text, Paragraph, parse_document

extension_options = ExtensionOptions(front_matter_delimiter = "---")

md_content = """---
This is a text in FrontMatter
---

Hello, Markdown!
"""

x = parse_document(md_content, extension_options)
assert isinstance(x.node_value, Document)
assert not hasattr(x.node_value, "value")
assert len(x.children) == 2

assert isinstance(x.children[0].node_value, FrontMatter)
assert isinstance(x.children[0].node_value.value, str)
assert x.children[0].node_value.value.strip() == "---\nThis is a text in FrontMatter\n---"

assert isinstance(x.children[1].node_value, Paragraph)
assert len(x.children[1].children) == 1
assert isinstance(x.children[1].children[0].node_value, Text)
assert isinstance(x.children[1].children[0].node_value.value, str)
assert x.children[1].children[0].node_value.value == "Hello, Markdown!"

Rendering

markdown_to_commonmark

Render Markdown to CommonMark:

from comrak import RenderOptions, ListStyleType, markdown_to_commonmark

render_options = RenderOptions()
markdown_to_commonmark("- one\n- two\n- three", render_options=render_options)

# '- one\n- two\n- three\n' – default is Dash
render_options.list_style = ListStyleType.Plus
markdown_to_commonmark("- one\n- two\n- three", render_options=render_options)
# '+ one\n+ two\n+ three\n'

markdown_to_html

Render Markdown to HTML:

from comrak import ExtensionOptions, markdown_to_html
extension_options = ExtensionOptions()
markdown_to_html("foo :smile:", extension_options)
# '<p>foo :smile:</p>\n'

extension_options.shortcodes = True
markdown_to_html("foo :smile:", extension_options)
# '<p>foo 😄</p>\n'

markdown_to_typst

Render Markdown to Typst:

from comrak import ExtensionOptions, markdown_to_typst
extension_options = ExtensionOptions()
markdown_to_typst("foo :smile:", extension_options)
# 'Ligature : A merged glyph.\n'

extension_options.description_lists = True
markdown_to_typst("foo :smile:", extension_options)
# '#terms(\n  terms.item([Ligature], [A merged glyph.]),\n)\n'

markdown_to_xml

Render Markdown to XML:

from comrak import RenderOptions, markdown_to_xml

render_options = RenderOptions(sourcepos=True)
markdown_to_xml("Hello, **Markdown**!", render_options=render_options)
# '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<!DOCTYPE document SYSTEM "CommonMark.dtd">\n<document sourcepos="1:1-1:20" xmlns="http://commonmark.org/xml/1.0">\n  <paragraph sourcepos="1:1-1:20">\n    <text sourcepos="1:1-1:7" xml:space="preserve">Hello, </text>\n    <strong sourcepos="1:8-1:19">\n      <text sourcepos="1:10-1:17" xml:space="preserve">Markdown</text>\n    </strong>\n    <text sourcepos="1:20-1:20" xml:space="preserve">!</text>\n  </paragraph>\n</document>\n'

Formatting AST

format_commonmark

Format an AST back to CommonMark:

from comrak import parse_document, format_commonmark

p = parse_document("> Greentext blockquote requires a space after `>`")

format_commonmark(p)
# '> Greentext blockquote requires a space after `>`\n'

format_html

Format an AST back to HTML:

from comrak import parse_document, format_html

p = parse_document("> Greentext blockquote requires a space after `>`")

format_html(p)
# '<blockquote>\n<p>Greentext blockquote requires a space after <code>&gt;</code></p>\n</blockquote>\n'

format_typst

Format an AST back to Typst:

from comrak import parse_document, format_typst

p = parse_document("> Greentext blockquote requires a space after `>`")

format_typst(p)
# '#quote(block: true)[Greentext blockquote requires a space after #raw(">")]\n'

format_xml

Format an AST back to XML:

from comrak import parse_document, format_xml

p = parse_document("> Greentext blockquote requires a space after `>`")

format_xml(p)
# '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<!DOCTYPE document SYSTEM "CommonMark.dtd">\n<document xmlns="http://commonmark.org/xml/1.0">\n  <block_quote>\n    <paragraph>\n      <text xml:space="preserve">Greentext blockquote requires a space after </text>\n      <code xml:space="preserve">&gt;</code>\n    </paragraph>\n  </block_quote>\n</document>\n'

Options

All options are exposed in a simple manner and can be used with all functions.

Refer to the Comrak docs for all available options.

Benchmarks

Tested with small (8 lines) and medium (1200 lines) markdown strings

• vs. markdown: 15x faster (S/M)
• vs. markdown2: 20x (S) - 60x (M) faster

Contributing

Maintained by Martin005. Contributions welcome!

1. Issues & Discussions: Please open a GitHub issue or discussion for bugs, feature requests, or questions.
2. Pull Requests: PRs are welcome!
   • Install the dev extra (e.g. with uv: uv pip install -e .[dev])
   • Run tests (when available) and include updates to docs or examples if relevant.
   • If reporting a bug, please include the version and the error message/traceback if available.

License

Licensed under the 2-Clause BSD License. See LICENSE for all the details.