Compatibility

Understand Wenmode’s current project status, Python support, Markdown coverage, and stability expectations.

Wenmode is currently beta software. The parser, renderer, rule composition, and documented extension APIs are ready for real integration work, but the project may still refine edge-case behavior and smaller public APIs before a stable 1.0 release. See Changelog for release history and upgrade notes.

Python support

Wenmode supports Python 3.10 and newer. The test matrix and package metadata cover Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14.

Documentation tooling currently requires Python 3.11 or newer because the docs dependency group follows the supported versions of Sphinx and the selected theme.

Markdown coverage

The default commonmark preset targets CommonMark-style Markdown and includes reference-style links and images. It does not include GitHub-flavored Markdown extensions such as tables, task lists, strikethrough, extended autolinks, or footnotes.

Use the github preset for GitHub-flavored Markdown features. Wenmode runs the CommonMark and GFM spec fixture suites in its tests, but some extension behavior is intentionally exposed as explicit rules rather than hidden global plugins.

Use the streaming preset when you need incremental HTML output. Streaming disables syntax that requires document-wide deferred inline resolution, such as reference-style links, reference-style images, and footnotes.

Stability expectations

The high-level APIs documented in Usage, Presets, and Custom rules are intended to be stable through the beta period:

  • Wenmode, Parser, and renderer construction.

  • Rule classes and configured rule instances.

  • Node.to_ast() output for documented node types.

  • Custom BlockRule, ContinueRule, InlineRule, and root transform shapes.

  • StateKey and BlockState.store for per-parse extension state.

The project may still adjust undocumented helper functions, renderer formatting details for non-HTML output, and edge-case parsing behavior where the current implementation conflicts with CommonMark, GFM, or documented Wenmode semantics.

Migration notes

Wenmode is not a drop-in replacement for Mistune plugins. The common Markdown-to-HTML path maps directly to Wenmode().render(), but extension behavior should be migrated by choosing a preset, adding or removing parser rules, and registering directive renderers or custom renderers as needed.

See Recipes for common integration patterns and Custom rules for custom syntax.