remarkjsunifiedjs

Why can remark work independently from unified?

In my understanding, unified is an interface for processing content with syntax trees, and remark is a set of plugins. That means one must use unified and attach plugins to it. For example:

import rehypeSanitize from 'rehype-sanitize'
import rehypeStringify from 'rehype-stringify'
import remarkParse from 'remark-parse'
import remarkRehype from 'remark-rehype'
import {unified} from 'unified'

const file = await unified()
  .use(remarkParse)
  .use(remarkRehype)
  .use(rehypeSanitize)
  .use(rehypeStringify)
  .process('# Hello, Neptune!')

console.log(String(file))

But this page lists examples that use remark directly. E.g.:

import {remark} from 'remark'
import remarkPresetLintConsistent from 'remark-preset-lint-consistent'
import remarkPresetLintRecommended from 'remark-preset-lint-recommended'
import {reporter} from 'vfile-reporter'

const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkPresetLintConsistent)
  .use(remarkPresetLintRecommended)
  .process('1) Hello, _Jupiter_ and *Neptune*!')

console.error(reporter(file))

I don't understand why it can work like that. Is it that remark is a version (or fork) of unified that is more focused on something?

Solution

  • Why can remark work independently from unified?

    It doesn't work independently. remark uses unified as dependency.

    https://github.com/remarkjs/remark/blob/remark-stringify%4011.0.0/packages/remark/package.json#L43

    export const remark = unified().use(remarkParse).use(remarkStringify).freeze()

    https://github.com/remarkjs/remark/blob/remark-stringify%4011.0.0/packages/remark/index.js#L10

    const file = await remark()
  .use(remarkPresetLintConsistent)
  .use(remarkPresetLintRecommended)
  .process('1) Hello, _Jupiter_ and *Neptune*!')

    is similar to

    const file = await unified()
  .use(remarkParse)
  .use(remarkStringify)
  .use(remarkPresetLintConsistent)
  .use(remarkPresetLintRecommended)
  .process('1) Hello, _Jupiter_ and *Neptune*!')

    Calling remark() is only a short-cut to configure unified with remarkParse and remarkStringify.