# markdown-it-highlightjs > Preset to use highlight.js with markdown-it. Latest version **4.3.0** (published 2026-02-06) · Unlicense license · 0 weekly downloads ## Install ```sh npm install markdown-it-highlightjs pnpm add markdown-it-highlightjs yarn add markdown-it-highlightjs bun add markdown-it-highlightjs ``` ## Health **Score 55/100 (C)** — status: stable. Positive: has types; no vulnerabilities; high quality score. Warnings: low downloads; no esm support. ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Version | 4.3.0 | | Published | 2026-02-06 | | First published | 2015-03-17 | | Weekly downloads | 0 | | License | Unlicense | | TypeScript types | bundled | | Module format | CommonJS | | Dependencies | 1 | | Unpacked size | 33 KB | | Known vulnerabilities | 0 | | Install scripts | no | | GitHub stars | 71 | | Author | Val | | Maintainers | valeriangalliat | | Keywords | markdown-it-plugin | ## Links - npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/markdown-it-highlightjs - Repository: https://github.com/valeriangalliat/markdown-it-highlightjs - Homepage: https://github.com/valeriangalliat/markdown-it-highlightjs#readme - Issues: https://github.com/valeriangalliat/markdown-it-highlightjs/issues - npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/markdown-it-highlightjs ## Dependencies (1) - [highlight.js](https://npm.io/package/highlight.js.md) ^11.9.0 ## Alternatives - [@mdxeditor/editor](https://npm.io/package/@mdxeditor/editor.md) — 962.4K weekly downloads - [mmdb-lib](https://npm.io/package/mmdb-lib.md) — 680.9K weekly downloads - [playcanvas](https://npm.io/package/playcanvas.md) — 36.2K weekly downloads - [@glw907/cairn-cms](https://npm.io/package/@glw907/cairn-cms.md) — 967 weekly downloads - [markdown-to-confluence](https://npm.io/package/markdown-to-confluence.md) — 103 weekly downloads ## Recent versions - 4.3.0 (latest) — 2026-02-06 - 4.2.0 — 2024-09-18 - 4.1.0 — 2024-05-16 - 4.0.1 — 2022-04-11 - 4.0.0 — 2022-04-11 - 3.6.0 — 2021-12-26 - 3.5.0 — 2021-05-16 - 3.4.0 — 2020-12-04 - 3.3.1 — 2020-11-15 - 3.3.0 — 2020-09-25 - 3.2.0 — 2020-07-01 - 3.1.0 — 2020-03-05 - 3.0.0 — 2017-02-26 - 2.0.0 — 2015-06-29 - 1.1.2 — 2015-05-25 - … 3 more at https://npm.io/package/markdown-it-highlightjs/versions ## README # markdown-it-highlightjs [![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/markdown-it-highlightjs.svg?style=flat-square)](https://www.npmjs.org/package/markdown-it-highlightjs) > Preset to use [highlight.js] with [markdown-it]. [highlight.js]: https://highlightjs.org/ [markdown-it]: https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it ## Usage ```js const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), opts) ``` This will process all code blocks with highlight.js to add `span` elements around grammatical keywords with specific classes, that can then be syled with CSS. You can find a list of preset highlighting styles [here](https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/tree/main/src/styles). The `opts` object can contain: | Name | Type | Description | Default | |-------------------|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------| | `auto` | boolean | Whether to automatically detect language if not specified. | `true` | | `code` | boolean | Whether to add the `hljs` class to raw code blocks (not fenced blocks). | `true` | | `register` | object | Register other languages which are not included in the standard pack. | `null` | | `registerAliases` | object | Register aliases to languages which are included in the standard pack. | `null` | | `inline` | boolean | Whether to highlight inline code. | `false` | | `hljs` | object | Provide the instance of [highlight.js] to use for highlighting | `require('highlight.js')` | | `ignoreIllegals` | boolean | Forces highlighting to finish even in case of detecting illegal syntax for the language instead of throwing an exception. | `true` | ## Register languages ```js const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), { register: { cypher: require('highlightjs-cypher') } }) ``` ## Register language aliases ```js const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), { registerAliases: { js: ['jquery', 'jqueryui'] } }) ``` ## Inline code highlighting You can enable inline code highlighting by setting `inline` to true: ```js const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), { inline: true }) ``` You can specify the language for inline code using [Pandoc syntax](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-inline_code_attributes): ```markdown `x=4`{.js} ``` Or [kramdown IAL syntax](https://kramdown.gettalong.org/syntax.html#inline-attribute-lists): ```markdown `x=4`{:.js} ``` If you do not specify a language, then highlight.js will attempt to guess the language if `auto` is true (which it is by default). ### Usage with markdown-it-attrs If you use markdown-it-attrs, make sure to include it *after* markdown-it-highlightjs if you want inline code highlighting to work: ```js const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), { inline: true }) .use(require('markdown-it-attrs')) ``` ## Provide the [highlight.js] instance You can specify the `hljs` option to override the default [highlight.js] instance with your own: ```js const hljs = require('highlight.js/lib/core') hljs.registerLanguage( 'javascript', require('highlight.js/lib/languages/javascript') ) const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs'), { hljs }) ``` ## Core plugin You may import the core `markdown-it-highlightjs` plugin directly, without any default options. You must specify an instance of [highlight.js] for the `hljs` option. ```js const hljs = require('highlight.js/lib/core') const md = require('markdown-it')() .use(require('markdown-it-highlightjs/core'), { hljs }) ``` --- _Source: https://npm.io/package/markdown-it-highlightjs · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._