Field [[field: SyntaxConcept]]SyntaxConcept

• dependsObject, Heading

Description [[description: text]]text💡

Fields are the data content of objects, defined via Markdown lists with - key: value syntax. Fields can also be defined via heading-syntax for multiline content.

Syntax [[syntax: text]]text💡

Inline fields use bullet lists:

## User [[user]]

- name: Alice
- age: 30
- active: true
- score: 95.5

Heading-syntax fields use subheadings with [[field_id]]:

## Article [[article]]

### Content [[content: text]]

This is multiline content with **Markdown** formatting.

### Config [[config]]

- host: localhost
- port: 8080

Field Keys [[field_keys: text]]text💡

A valid QMD.md field key must match [a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*:

• Starts with a letter (a-z, A-Z) or underscore _
• May contain letters, digits, underscore _
• Must NOT contain spaces, hyphens, special characters, or Markdown formatting

Examples of valid keys: name, firstName, first_name, user2, DBHos

Examples of invalid keys: First Name (space), my-key (hyphen), **Name** (formatting), 2name (starts with digit)

Lines with invalid keys are treated as markdown text (not fields) and go into __comments. If a list mixes valid and invalid keys, the parser generates a mixed_field_keys error.

Heading-Syntax Fields [[heading_syntax_fields: text]]text💡

Subheadings with [[field_id]] or [[field_id: Kind]] create structured data. The type is determined by explicit declaration or auto-detection.

Explicit type (strict validation):

• [[field_id: text]] — multiline text field. Expects text content. Error if structural subheadings with [[id]] appear.
• [[field_id: Kind]] or [[field_id: object]] — nested object. Expects field lists - key: value.
• [[field_id: [Kind]]] or [[field_id: array]] — object array. Expects child subheadings with [[id]].

Auto-detection (when no type hint):

1. Has child subheadings with [[field_id]]? → object array
2. Has lists with - key: value (valid keys)? → nested object
3. Has lists without colons - value? → primitive array
4. Has text but no valid lists? → text field

Extraction Rules [[extraction_rules: text]]text💡

Inside an object, content is processed block by block:

1. Bullet list with all valid keys → fields
2. Bullet list with mixed valid/invalid keys → mixed_field_keys error; valid keys extracted, invalid go to __comments
3. Bullet list with no valid keys → __comments
4. Non-bullet content (paragraphs, code blocks, tables, comment headings) → __comments
5. Each subsequent bullet list is evaluated independently

Subheadings without [[field_id]] inside an object are comment headings — their content goes to __comments.

Subheadings with [[field_id]] are structural elements that create fields, nested objects, or arrays.

YAML Multiline Strings [[yaml_multiline: text]]text💡

Fields support YAML pipe syntax for multiline strings:

## Config [[config]]

- description: |
    This is a multiline string
    using YAML pipe syntax.
    References like [[#something]] are NOT parsed here.

References [[#id]] inside YAML pipe | blocks are NOT parsed — content remains plain text. They won't create edges in the graph or trigger broken_link errors.

Dangling Fields [[dangling_fields: text]]text💡

Heading-syntax fields (text, array, yaml, json, object_array) require a parent object at a higher heading level. If no parent exists, the parser generates a dangling_field error. The object is created for lossless round-trip but flagged as an error.

Rules [[rules: text]]text💡

• Fields work only inside objects (not at document top level without a parent)
• References [[#id]] in text fields are validated for existence but remain as text (not resolved into objects)
• References in YAML pipe blocks are not parsed at all
• References inside inline code and example-modified code fences are not parsed
• Nested lists - key:\n - item are forbidden (nested_subitems error). Use YAML arrays or heading-syntax instead.
• Map fields ([[field: map]]) accept only bullet lists with - key: value pairs. All values are strings (no type auto-detection).