remark-validate-links

remark plugin to check that markdown links and images point to existing local files and headings in a Git repo.

For example, this document does not have a heading named Hello. So if we’d link to that heading ([welcome](#hello)), we’d get a warning. Links to headings in other markdown documents (examples/foo.md#hello) and links to files (license or index.js) are also checked.

This is specifically for Git repos. Like this one. Not for say a website.

Contents

• What is this?
• When should I use this?
• Install
• Use
• API
  • unified().use(remarkValidateLinks[, options])
  • Options
  • UrlConfig
• Examples
  • Example: CLI
  • Example: CLI in npm scripts
• Integration
• Compatibility
• Security
• Related
• Contribute
• License

What is this?

This package is a unified (remark) plugin to check local links in a Git repo.

When should I use this?

This project is useful if you have a Git repo, such as this one, with docs in markdown and links to headings and other files, and want to check whether they’re correct. Compared to other links checkers, this project can work offline (making this plugin fast en prone to fewer false positives), and is specifically made for local links in Git repos. This plugin does not check external URLs (see remark-lint-no-dead-urls) or undefined references (see remark-lint-no-undefined-references).

Install

This package is ESM only. In Node.js (version 16+), install with npm:

1npm install remark-validate-links

In Deno with esm.sh:

1import remarkValidateLinks from 'https://esm.sh/remark-validate-links@13'

In browsers with esm.sh:

1<script type="module">
2  import remarkValidateLinks from 'https://esm.sh/remark-validate-links@13?bundle'
3</script>

Use

Say we have the following file example.md in this project:

1# Alpha
2
3Links are checked:
4
5This [exists](#alpha).
6This [one does not](#apha).
7
8# Bravo
9
10Headings in `readme.md` are [checked](readme.md#no-such-heading).
11And [missing files are reported](missing-example.js).
12
13Definitions are also checked:
14
15[alpha]: #alpha
16[charlie]: #charlie
17
18References w/o definitions are not checked: [delta]

…and a module example.js:

1import remarkValidateLinks from 'remark-validate-links'
2import {remark} from 'remark'
3import {read} from 'to-vfile'
4import {reporter} from 'vfile-reporter'
5
6const file = await remark()
7  .use(remarkValidateLinks)
8  .process(await read('example.md'))
9
10console.log(reporter(file))

…then running node example.js yields:

1example.md
26:6-6:27   warning Cannot find heading for `#apha`; did you mean `alpha` missing-heading remark-validate-links:missing-heading
311:5-11:53 warning Cannot find file `missing-example.js`                 missing-file    remark-validate-links:missing-file
416:1-16:20 warning Cannot find heading for `#charlie`                    missing-heading remark-validate-links:missing-heading
5
6⚠ 3 warnings

👉 Note: readme.md#no-such-heading is not warned about on the API, as the API does not check headings in other markdown files; the remark CLI is able to do that.

API

This package exports no identifiers. The default export is remarkValidateLinks. It exports the TypeScript types Options and UrlConfig.

unified().use(remarkValidateLinks[, options])

Check that markdown links and images point to existing local files and headings in a Git repo.

⚠️ Important: the API in Node.js checks links to headings and files but does not check whether headings in other files exist; the API in browsers only checks links to headings in the same file; the CLI can check everything.

Parameters

• options (Options, optional) — configuration

Returns

Transform (Transformer).

Options

Configuration (TypeScript type).

Fields

• repository (string or false, default: detected from Git remote) — URL to hosted Git; if you’re not in a Git repository, you must pass false; if the repository resolves to something npm understands as a Git host such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket, then full URLs to that host (say, https://github.com/remarkjs/remark-validate-links/readme.md#install) are checked
• root (string, default: local Git folder) — path to Git root folder; if both root and repository are nullish, the Git root is detected; if root is not given but repository is, file.cwd is used
• skipPathPatterns (Array<RegExp | string>, optional) — list of patterns for paths that should be skipped; each absolute local path + hash will be tested against each pattern and will be ignored if new RegExp(pattern).test(value) === true; example value are then /Users/tilde/path/to/repo/readme.md#some-heading.
• urlConfig (UrlConfig, default: detected from repo) — config on how hosted Git works; github.com, gitlab.com, or bitbucket.org work automatically; otherwise, pass urlConfig manually

UrlConfig

Hosted Git info (TypeScript type).

Fields

• headingPrefix (string, optional, example: '#', '#markdown-header-') — prefix of headings
• hostname (string, optional, example: 'github.com', 'bitbucket.org') — domain of URLs
• lines (boolean, default: false) — whether lines in files can be linked
• path (string, optional, example: '/remarkjs/remark-validate-links/blob/', '/remarkjs/remark-validate-links/src/') — path prefix before files
• topAnchor (string, optional, example: #readme) — hash to top of readme

Notes

For this repository (remarkjs/remark-validate-links on GitHub) urlConfig looks as follows:

1{
2  // Prefix of headings:
3  headingPrefix: '#',
4  // Domain of URLs:
5  hostname: 'github.com',
6  // Whether lines in files can be linked:
7  lines: true,
8  // Path prefix before files:
9  prefix: '/remarkjs/remark-validate-links/blob/',
10  // Hash to top of markdown documents:
11  topAnchor: '#readme'
12}

If this project were hosted on Bitbucket, the config would be:

1{
2  headingPrefix: '#markdown-header-',
3  hostname: 'bitbucket.org',
4  lines: false,
5  prefix: '/remarkjs/remark-validate-links/src/'
6}

Examples

Example: CLI

It’s recommended to use remark-validate-links on the CLI with remark-cli. Install both with npm:

1npm install remark-cli remark-validate-links --save-dev

Let’s say we have a readme.md (this current document) and an example.md with the following text:

1# Hello
2
3Read more [whoops, this does not exist](#world).
4
5This doesn’t exist either [whoops!](readme.md#foo).
6
7But this does exist: [license](license).
8
9So does this: [readme](readme.md#install).

Now, running ./node_modules/.bin/remark --use remark-validate-links . yields:

1example.md
2  3:11-3:48  warning  Link to unknown heading: `world`               missing-heading          remark-validate-links
3  5:27-5:51  warning  Link to unknown heading in `readme.md`: `foo`  missing-heading-in-file  remark-validate-links
4
5readme.md: no issues found
6
7⚠ 2 warnings

Example: CLI in npm scripts

You can use remark-validate-links and remark-cli in an npm script to check and format markdown in your project. Install both with npm:

1npm install remark-cli remark-validate-links --save-dev

Then, add a format script and configuration to package.json:

1{
2  // …
3  "scripts": {
4    // …
5    "format": "remark . --quiet --frail --output",
6    // …
7  },
8  "remarkConfig": {
9    "plugins": [
10      "remark-validate-links"
11    ]
12  },
13  // …
14}

💡 Tip: add other tools such as prettier or ESLint to check and format other files.

💡 Tip: run ./node_modules/.bin/remark --help for help with remark-cli.

Now you check and format markdown in your project with:

1npm run format

Integration

remark-validate-links can detect anchors on nodes through several properties on nodes:

• node.data.hProperties.name — used by mdast-util-to-hast to create a name attribute, which anchors can link to
• node.data.hProperties.id — used by mdast-util-to-hast to create an id attribute, which anchors can link to
• node.data.id — used potentially in the future by other tools to signal unique identifiers on nodes

Compatibility

Projects maintained by the unified collective are compatible with maintained versions of Node.js.

When we cut a new major release, we drop support for unmaintained versions of Node. This means we try to keep the current release line, remark-validate-links@13, compatible with Node.js 16.

This plugin works with unified version 6+, remark version 7+, and remark-cli version 8+.

Security

remark-validate-links, in Node, accesses the file system based on user content, and this may be dangerous. In Node git remote and git rev-parse also runs for processed files.

The tree is not modified, so there are no openings for cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

Related

• remark-lint — markdown code style linter
• remark-lint-no-dead-urls — check that external links are alive

Contribute

See contributing.md in remarkjs/.github for ways to get started. See support.md for ways to get help.

This project has a code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.

License

MIT © Titus Wormer