Show HN: MDV — a Markdown superset for docs, dashboards, and slides with data

What it is

MDV bills itself as a Markdown superset aimed at turning plaintext docs into data-rich reports, dashboards, and slide decks without touching JavaScript or templating. The format, .mdv, is strict CommonMark with four pragmatic additions: YAML front-matter for metadata and datasets, fenced blocks for charts and stats, ::: containers for layout and styling, and an automatic ::: toc. Want charts, KPI cards, tables, and styled regions? Drop them into fenced blocks and named styles do the rest.

Why it matters

Simplicity is the selling point. No selectors, no classes, no expressions — themes and named styles supply defaults and the renderer handles output. It has been reported that MDV renders to self-contained HTML (charts are inline SVG, no JS runtime) and PDF, and that a VS Code extension offers side-by-side live preview. Who is this for? Writers, analysts, and product teams who want readable source files but also interactive-looking visuals. Finally: a way to tell a data story that doesn’t require turning your laptop into a build pipeline.

Getting hands-on is straightforward. The repo includes ten examples and rendered HTML output; you can git clone https://github.com/drasimwagan/mdv, npm install, and run the CLI to render or preview (Node ≥ 20 required). The project is v1, pre-release, so expect polish to improve and features to evolve — but if you want an author-first workflow for data docs, MDV is worth a spin.

Sources: github.com/drasimwagan, Hacker News