Using meta shortcode in automatic link syntax does not render as link

[skwde]

I have:

• searched the issue tracker for similar issues
• installed the latest version of Quarto CLI
• formatted my issue following the Bug Reports guide

Bug description

---
link: https://github.com/quarto-dev
---

<{{< meta link >}}>

does not render / preview as link.

While

<https://github.com/quarto-dev>

does properly render as link.

Workaround: 

[{{< meta link >}}]({{< meta link >}})

Possibly related: #9903

Steps to reproduce

Run above qmd snippet via quarto preview.

Actual behavior

Link not properly rendered when using <{{< meta link >}}>

Expected behavior

Properly render link when using <{{< meta link >}}>

Your environment

• IDE: VSCODE Version: 1.106.3
• OS: debian trixie in dev container on MacOS

Quarto check output

$ quarto check
Quarto 1.8.26
[✓] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: /home/stefan/.cache/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      NOTE: Dart Sass version 1.59.1 does not strictly match 1.87.0 and strict checking is enabled. Please use 1.87.0.
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.26
      Path: /opt/conda/envs/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: v2025.12
      Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: /home/stefan/.TinyTeX/bin/x86_64-linux
      Version: 2025

[✓] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Chrome:  (not detected)

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.14.0 (Conda)
      Path: /opt/conda/envs/quarto/bin/python
      Jupyter: 5.9.1
      Kernels: python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........(None)

      Unable to locate an installed version of R.
      Install R from https://cloud.r-project.org/

[cderv]

This is about the order of processing and parsing. {{< meta link >}} is not a text replacement in your source file right before it is parsed as Markdown.

So you can't assume that mixing markdown markup with shortcode could work.

If you want link to be parsed as a link, you can also pass it in YAML as a link

---
link: <https://github.com/quarto-dev>
---

{{< meta link >}}

does not render / preview as link.

This works today because YAML metadata are parsed as Markdown. So <url> become a Link node, and meta shortcode inserts it;

Otherwise, you can create your own shortcode like {{< mylink >}} that would take a link meta as string, and format it as a link instead.

To give mor details, in Markdown <anything> is not always parse as a link while [any](thing) will be

❯ pandoc -t native -f markdown   
<something>
^Z
[ Para [ RawInline (Format "html") "<something>" ] ]

❯ pandoc -t native -f markdown
[something](else)
^Z
[ Para
    [ Link ( "" , [] , [] ) [ Str "something" ] ( "else" , "" )
    ]
]

So there is not really a good way to know that <{{< meta link >}}> is supposed to be a link I guess.

@cscheid I would tend to close this as 'meta shortcode works this way', but I am thinking maybe I am missing something, and also curious about the implication for the quarto-markdown parser work regarding automatic link syntax <url>.

[skwde]

@cderv thanks for your response and explanation.

Though I don't quite understand your reasoning regarding the order of processing.

Since

[{{< meta link >}}]({{< meta link >}})

works, while

<{{< meta link >}}>

doesn't.

Note, both are mentioned in https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/markdown-basics.html#links-images to be valid links.
So if it is about order of processing, why does one work while the other doesn't?
Based on the linked site, to my understanding they should do the same.