Introduction

Quarto Markdown is an extended Markdown format developed by Posit (formerly RStudio) for technical and scientific publishing. It supports code execution in R, Python, Julia, and Observable, along with features like citations, cross-references, and multi-format output. Quarto builds on Pandoc's Markdown extensions.

Usage

To convert to/from Quarto Markdown, use the .qmd file extension, or the --to qmd or --from qmd options e.g.

stencila convert doc.smd doc.qmd

Warning

Stencila's Quarto Markdown support is in beta status. If you find bugs or unexpected results please file an issue.

Implementation

Stencila supports bi-directional conversion between Stencila documents and Quarto Markdown. Quarto-specific YAML metadata and code chunk options are mapped to Stencila Schema properties where equivalents exist. The underlying Markdown parser and encoder are shared with CommonMark and other flavors; see the CommonMark documentation for implementation details.

Limitations

Quarto-specific features such as Quarto shortcodes, project-level configuration, and Quarto-specific YAML options may not be fully mapped.

Stencila node types without Quarto Markdown equivalents are lost during export.

Stencila does not execute Quarto code chunks natively. Use Stencila's own kernels or Quarto CLI for execution.

Conversion fidelity may differ from what the Quarto CLI produces due to differences in Markdown parsing.