marked

A low level markdown compiler with no caching and no long blocking, small enough for the browser, happy on a server, and callable from a terminal. Speed has always been the whole pitch.

The repository description barely needs paraphrasing: a markdown parser and compiler, built for speed. The README keeps the same tone. Marked is a low level compiler that parses markdown without caching or blocking for long periods, stays lightweight while implementing the features of supported markdown flavors and specifications, and runs in a browser, on a server, or from a CLI. It is written in JavaScript.

Only current and LTS releases of Node.js are supported. End of life versions may become incompatible with Marked at any point in time, which is the project's polite way of saying it will not hold itself back for unmaintained runtimes. For a parser this widely embedded, having that policy written down saves arguments later.

The license is MIT, with copyright held by MarkedJS from 2018 onward and by Christopher Jeffrey from 2011 to 2018. That split marks the point where a personal project moved to an organization, and the seven years of solo copyright before it explain why the library still feels like a personal tool that outgrew its author.

Because the same package works in a browser, on a server, and from a command line, it shows up in web apps that render user written markdown, in build tooling that compiles documentation, and in quick terminal scripts. The project's homepage is marked.js.org, and the repo carries around 37,000 stars.

Plenty of parsers promise correctness first and treat speed as a bonus. Marked's ordering runs the other way: fast, then everything else. The no caching, no blocking design is what you would write if responsiveness were the requirement and markdown were merely the input format.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README