Emoji Shortcodes
BachMark supports emoji shortcodes — short text identifiers wrapped in colons that resolve to emoji characters. If you've used GitHub, Slack, or Discord, this syntax will feel familiar.
Basic syntax
Wrap a shortcode in colons:
This feature is great :rocket:
BachMark supports :thumbsup: and :thumbsdown: reactions.
:warning: Be careful with this setting.→ Renders as: This feature is great 🚀
The shortcode is replaced with the corresponding Unicode emoji character. The colon syntax is removed from the output — it's purely a source-level convenience.
Shortcode names
BachMark uses the standard emoji shortcode set used by GitHub. A few common examples:
| Shortcode | Emoji | Description |
|---|---|---|
:smile: | 😄 | Smiling face |
:thumbsup: | 👍 | Thumbs up |
:thumbsdown: | 👎 | Thumbs down |
:rocket: | 🚀 | Rocket |
:warning: | ⚠️ | Warning sign |
:white_check_mark: | ✅ | Check mark |
:x: | ❌ | Cross mark |
:bulb: | 💡 | Light bulb |
:memo: | 📝 | Memo |
:fire: | 🔥 | Fire |
:star: | ⭐ | Star |
:heart: | ❤️ | Red heart |
:construction: | 🚧 | Under construction |
:tada: | 🎉 | Party popper |
:lock: | 🔒 | Lock |
:key: | 🔑 | Key |
:bug: | 🐛 | Bug |
:gear: | ⚙️ | Gear |
:clipboard: | 📋 | Clipboard |
:link: | 🔗 | Link |
This is a small sample. The full list follows the GitHub emoji shortcode set, which covers thousands of emoji.
Where shortcodes work
Emoji shortcodes are inline content and work anywhere inline content is allowed — paragraphs, headings, list items, table cells, callouts, and badges:
## :rocket: Getting Started
- :white_check_mark: Parser complete
- :construction: Renderer in progress
- :x: Spec not started
| Feature | Status |
| ----------- | ----------------------- |
| Parsing | :white_check_mark: Done |
| Rendering | :construction: WIP |
::: tip :bulb: Pro tip
You can use emoji in callout titles too.
:::Shortcodes vs. Unicode emoji
You can always use Unicode emoji characters directly in your BachMark source:
This works too: 🚀 🎉 ✅Shortcodes are a convenience — they're easier to type, easier to read in source, and don't require an emoji picker. Both approaches produce the same output. Use whichever you prefer.
Literal colons
Shortcodes are only recognized when the text between colons matches a known emoji name. Colons in normal text are not affected:
The time is 12:30. <!-- not a shortcode — "30" is not an emoji -->
See section 3:results. <!-- not a shortcode — "results" is not an emoji -->
Mix ratio is 1:1. <!-- not a shortcode -->If you need a literal colon pair around a word that happens to match an emoji name, escape one of the colons:
The symbol is called \:star: in the codebase.→ Renders as: The symbol is called :star: in the codebase.
Shortcodes inside code
Emoji shortcodes are not processed inside fenced code blocks or inline code spans — the text is preserved literally:
```
:rocket: stays as text in code blocks.
```The syntax is `:rocket:` with colons on both sides.In both cases, the :rocket: text appears as-is in the output.
Parsing rules
- A shortcode starts with
:followed by one or more lowercase letters, digits, underscores, or hyphens (-), and ends with:. - No spaces are allowed inside the colons.
: rocket :is not a shortcode. - The text between colons is matched against the known emoji set. If no match is found, the text is left as-is (colons included) — no warning is emitted, since false positives from normal colon usage would be noisy.
- Shortcodes are resolved during inline parsing, after code spans are identified but before other inline formatting is applied.
Rendering behavior
| Output | Behavior |
|---|---|
| HTML | Replaced with the Unicode emoji character. The renderer may wrap it in a <span> for consistent sizing. |
| Replaced with the Unicode emoji character. The renderer uses an emoji-capable font for display. |