---name: markdowndescription: Renders assistant message text as markdown in assistant-ui. Use when wiring MarkdownTextPrimitive or the markdown-text element into MessagePrimitive.Parts, installing Shiki or Prism highlighting, adding KaTeX math or Mermaid diagrams, normalizing model-produced math delimiters, or choosing StreamdownTextPrimitive for block-aware streaming with optional code, math, Mermaid, and CJK plugins. Covers defer and smooth parsing behavior, code block overrides, and stream completion. For the surrounding unstyled message composition use primitives, and for installing or editing a styled renderer use elements.license: MIT---

assistant-ui Markdown

Always consult assistant-ui.com/llms.txt for the latest API.

Assistant-ui has two renderers for an assistant text part. MarkdownTextPrimitive is the lightweight react-markdown path and the installed MarkdownText element is its styled implementation. StreamdownTextPrimitive is the alternative when block-aware streaming and optional Shiki, KaTeX, Mermaid, or CJK support are worth the larger renderer.

References

• ./references/markdown-text.md -- install and compose MarkdownText, customize MarkdownTextPrimitive, and distinguish inline from fenced code
• ./references/syntax-highlighting.md -- install the Shiki or Prism renderer and select one per fenced language
• ./references/latex-mermaid.md -- configure KaTeX, normalize model math, preserve code spans, and gate Mermaid on stream completion
• ./references/streamdown.md -- use the Streamdown alternative, plugins, Tailwind sources, and deferred parsing

Choose the renderer

Use markdown-text when the app needs a small renderer, a custom react-markdown component map, or per-language SyntaxHighlighter and CodeHeader overrides. Add highlighting, math, and Mermaid only when the message format requires them.

Use StreamdownTextPrimitive when a text part needs block-based streaming, incomplete markdown repair, or the optional code, math, Mermaid, and CJK plugins. It replaces the markdown renderer for that text part. Do not mount both renderers for the same part.

Install and wire MarkdownText

Install the renderer, which lands at components/assistant-ui/elements/markdown-text.tsx.

npx assistant-ui@latest add markdown-text

MarkdownText reads the active message part itself. Render it only in the text branch, while other part kinds keep their own renderers.

"use client";

import { MessagePrimitive } from "@assistant-ui/react";
import { MarkdownText } from "@/components/assistant-ui/elements/markdown-text";

export function AssistantMessageText() {
  return (
    <MessagePrimitive.Parts>
      {({ part }) => (part.type === "text" ? <MarkdownText /> : null)}
    </MessagePrimitive.Parts>
  );
}

The thread element already includes this renderer. Compose it directly only when replacing the thread's message layout.

Customize the primitive

MarkdownTextPrimitive reads the surrounding text part through context, so it receives no text child or value prop. Its components map controls normal markdown tags plus SyntaxHighlighter and CodeHeader; componentsByLanguage replaces either slot for one fenced language. See markdown-text.md for a direct primitive implementation.

preprocess runs on the full accumulated text before smoothing and parsing. It is the seam for model-specific delimiter repair. smooth defaults to true; defer defaults to false. Set defer for large, rapidly growing messages when React should prioritize input and scrolling over intermediate parses. Keep its value constant while the renderer is mounted because toggling it remounts the parsed tree.

Highlight fenced code

MarkdownText displays fenced code as plain code until a SyntaxHighlighter is registered. Prefer the runtime-aware Shiki element, which waits for its active part to settle before tokenizing.

npx assistant-ui@latest add shiki-highlighter

import { SyntaxHighlighter } from "@/components/assistant-ui/elements/shiki-highlighter.aui";

const defaultComponents = memoizeMarkdownComponents({
  SyntaxHighlighter,
});

The Prism-based syntax-highlighter element remains useful for apps that already depend on react-syntax-highlighter.

npx assistant-ui@latest add syntax-highlighter

import { SyntaxHighlighter } from "@/components/assistant-ui/elements/syntax-highlighter";

Edit the installed markdown-text component's default map, or pass a components override where the element is rendered. See syntax-highlighting.md for the exact renderer contracts.

Render math and diagrams

KaTeX needs remark-math, rehype-katex, and the KaTeX stylesheet. The markdown package exports normalizeMathDelimiters, rewriteCustomMathTags, rewriteLatexBracketDelimiters, and escapeCurrencyDollars for preprocessing model output. The helpers rewrite outside inline code and fenced code, so examples in code stay literal.

Install mermaid-diagram and register its .aui renderer as the mermaid language override. It reads the message part status and shows a skeleton while the stream is running rather than parsing incomplete Mermaid source. See latex-mermaid.md.

Use Streamdown instead

StreamdownTextPrimitive reads the same text-part context and can be wired into the same MessagePrimitive.Parts branch. It defaults to mode="streaming", which holds completed blocks stable while the final block grows. Supply optional plugins explicitly, and add Tailwind @source entries for Streamdown and each installed plugin so its controls and caret receive styles.

Both defer and smooth are available here. defer defaults to false and may skip intermediate states under load while still rendering the final text. smooth also defaults to false; use Streamdown's native animated prop for entrance animation unless a typewriter reveal is specifically wanted. The full setup and migration seams are in streamdown.md.

Common Gotchas

Markdown renders as plain text

• Render MarkdownText or StreamdownTextPrimitive in the text branch. Rendering part.text directly bypasses markdown parsing.

Fenced code has no syntax colors

• markdown-text includes a label and copy control, but no highlighter. Install and register shiki-highlighter or syntax-highlighter.

Math has unstyled output or prices become math

• Import katex/dist/katex.min.css once for KaTeX. Compose escapeCurrencyDollars(normalizeMathDelimiters(text)) when messages include both single-dollar math and currency.

Mermaid redraws while a response streams

• Use @/components/assistant-ui/elements/mermaid-diagram.aui in componentsByLanguage. Its runtime wrapper holds parsing until the message part completes.

Deferred parsing causes a visual reset

• Do not toggle defer after mount. Both primitives select a different deferred renderer path when that prop changes.

Streamdown controls or caret look unstyled

• Add the required Tailwind @source directives for streamdown and every installed @streamdown/* plugin.

Related Skills

• primitives -- compose MessagePrimitive.Parts and the surrounding message UI
• elements -- install and customize the copied markdown-text, highlighter, and Mermaid element sources