# Redcarpet

The safe Markdown parser, reloaded.

Repository: https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/redcarpet
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-03-06T20:05:45+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 27/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 10, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5641, "days_push": 545, "days_rel": 545, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5079, forks 534 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:09.516810+00:00)

## What it is
Redcarpet is a fast, safe Markdown parser for Ruby built on the C-based Sundown library, exposed via a Ruby gem with native extensions. It converts Markdown text to HTML through configurable renderer objects and supports common extensions like tables and fenced code blocks.

## Use cases
- render markdown to html in a ruby app
- parse markdown documents safely
- convert user-submitted markdown content
- generate html from readme files
- customize markdown rendering with a custom renderer

## When to choose
- you need a fast, C-backed Markdown parser in Ruby
- you want configurable Markdown extensions like tables and fenced code
- you need custom output via a renderer subclass

## When to avoid
- you need CommonMark strict compliance
- you are not working in Ruby
- you need a pure-Ruby dependency-free parser

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: parser, markdown, templating
- domain: parsers, web-development, documentation
- platform: ruby, cross-platform
- tags: markdown-parser, ruby-gem, native-extension, html-rendering

## Member repositories
- vmg/redcarpet (main) score 27
- vmg/sundown (backend) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:09.516810+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:02:35.443681+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:09.516810+00:00, sha e74dfcf3735a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.