gojatext

README

goja-text

goja-text is a set of Go-backed text modules for go-go-goja. It gives JavaScript scripts a practical way to parse Markdown, repair YAML and JSON, and extract structured-data snippets from larger documents while keeping the important domain logic in Go.

The project is designed for automation that sits at the boundary between prose and structure. That boundary shows up often: a Markdown file contains headings and links; a model response contains fenced JSON; a human-edited YAML file is almost valid but needs repair before downstream validation. goja-text provides the primitives for those cases without forcing every script to reimplement parsers in JavaScript.

What the project provides

The repository currently exposes three JavaScript modules:

Module	Purpose	Typical first call
markdown	Parse Markdown, render HTML, walk a Go-backed Markdown AST, and collect text content.	markdown.parse(input)
sanitize	Repair and inspect YAML or JSON syntax, with fix metadata and Go-backed option builders.	sanitize.json.sanitize(input)
extract	Find structured-data candidates in Markdown, XML-like tags, frontmatter, or raw text.	extract.all(input)

These modules are available both to Go hosts using go-go-goja and to the generated xgoja binary described by cmd/goja-text/xgoja.yaml.

Build the example xgoja binary

The cmd/goja-text directory is a committed generated xgoja command module. It contains the canonical xgoja.yaml, the bundled JavaScript verbs, generated main.go, embedded assets under xgoja_embed/, and its own go.mod/go.sum so the binary can be rebuilt without a temporary generation workspace.

From this repository directory:

make build-xgoja

For development after editing cmd/goja-text/xgoja.yaml or files under cmd/goja-text/jsverbs, regenerate the checked-in scaffold directly:

cd cmd/goja-text
GOWORK=off go generate
GOWORK=off go build -o ../../dist/goja-text .

The go:generate directive uses go tool xgoja build --work-dir . --dry-run to refresh the generated files in place, then runs a small post-generation normalizer and go mod tidy. The generated binary is written to dist/goja-text by the Makefile.

The build includes:

• markdown, sanitize, and extract from this repository.
• Core path and yaml modules from go-go-goja.
• Guarded host fs access for examples that read local files.
• Provider-shipped Glazed help pages for every goja-text module.
• Embedded jsverbs examples and practical commands under cmd/goja-text/jsverbs.

Learn from the built-in help

The generated binary includes user-facing Glazed help entries. They are written as a pair for each module: an API reference for quick lookup and a user guide for learning the intended workflow.

./dist/goja-text help goja-text-markdown-user-guide
./dist/goja-text help goja-text-markdown-api-reference

./dist/goja-text help goja-text-sanitize-user-guide
./dist/goja-text help goja-text-sanitize-api-reference

./dist/goja-text help goja-text-extract-user-guide
./dist/goja-text help goja-text-extract-api-reference

The user guides include runnable examples, including eval, run, and bundled root-mounted JavaScript verb commands.

Markdown: parse once, query with walk

The Markdown module uses goldmark in Go and exposes the parsed document as Go-backed MarkdownNode objects. JavaScript reads exported Go fields with PascalCase names.

const markdown = require("markdown");

const ast = markdown.parse("# Hello\n\nSee [docs](https://example.com).");
console.log(ast.Type);                  // "document"
console.log(ast.Children[0].Type);       // "heading"
console.log(ast.Children[0].Level);      // 1
console.log(markdown.textContent(ast));  // "HelloSee docs."

Use walk() for document-specific queries:

const headings = [];

markdown.walk(ast, (node, ctx) => {
  if (node.Type === "heading") {
    headings.push({
      level: node.Level,
      text: markdown.textContent(node),
      depth: ctx.Depth,
    });
  }
});

This is the central Markdown design choice. The Go API stays small and reliable, while JavaScript remains responsible for the question it wants to ask of the document.

Sanitize: repair syntax before domain validation

The sanitize module exposes YAML and JSON namespaces backed by github.com/go-go-golems/sanitize.

const sanitize = require("sanitize");

const options = sanitize.json.options()
  .MaxIterations(5)
  .Build();

const result = sanitize.json.sanitize("~~~json\n{'ok': True,}\n~~~\n", options);
console.log(result.Sanitized);
console.log(result.Fixes.map((fix) => fix.Rule));

Options are Go-backed builders rather than loose JavaScript objects. That lets Go reject unknown option names, validate values, and report better runtime errors when scripts import dynamic configuration.

Extract: find candidates before parsing values

The extract module searches larger text for structured-data candidates. A candidate keeps the payload, the raw wrapper, source positions, format guesses, and confidence.

const extract = require("extract");

const candidates = extract.all(`---
title: Demo
---

~~~json
{"ok": true}
~~~
`);

for (const candidate of candidates) {
  const validation = extract.validate(candidate);
  console.log(candidate.Kind, candidate.Format, candidate.StartRow, validation.Valid);
}

Extraction deliberately returns evidence rather than trusted parsed values. Scripts can validate, rank, display, or reject candidates according to their own policy.

Demo scripts

The examples/js directory contains small scripts that use the host fs module to read fixtures from disk.

./dist/goja-text run examples/js/markdown-demo.js
./dist/goja-text run examples/js/sanitize-demo.js
./dist/goja-text run examples/js/extract-demo.js

Bundled verbs

The cmd/goja-text/jsverbs directory turns the same module patterns into Glazed commands. They are embedded into the generated binary by cmd/goja-text/xgoja.yaml and mounted at the generated root command with commands.jsverbs.mount: root, so the final binary can teach and exercise itself without reading verb files from disk or requiring an extra verbs prefix.

./dist/goja-text --help
./dist/goja-text examples tour
./dist/goja-text examples fixtures

./dist/goja-text markdown toc examples/markdown/sample.md
./dist/goja-text markdown links examples/markdown/sample.md
./dist/goja-text markdown summary examples/markdown/sample.md

./dist/goja-text sanitize yaml examples/yaml/broken.yaml
./dist/goja-text sanitize json examples/json/broken.json
./dist/goja-text sanitize lintJson examples/json/broken.json
./dist/goja-text sanitize rules json

./dist/goja-text extract list examples/text/structured-data-sample.md
./dist/goja-text extract validate examples/text/structured-data-sample.md
./dist/goja-text extract firstValid examples/text/structured-data-sample.md
./dist/goja-text extract markdownBlocks examples/text/structured-data-sample.md

Because jsverbs return structured values, Glazed can render the same command output in formats such as JSON, YAML, or tables.

Validation

Use the repository Makefile for the normal validation path:

make check

The check target runs Go tests, builds the xgoja binary, and executes the smoke scripts for Markdown, sanitize, and extract.

You can also run the test commands directly:

go test ./... -count=1
GOWORK=off go test ./... -count=1

Go embedding

A Go host can blank-import the package that registers a module and then build a go-go-goja runtime that exposes it.

package main

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"

  "github.com/dop251/goja"
  "github.com/go-go-golems/go-go-goja/engine"
  _ "github.com/go-go-golems/goja-text/pkg/markdown"
)

func main() {
  ctx := context.Background()
  factory, err := engine.NewBuilder().UseModuleMiddleware(engine.MiddlewareOnly("markdown")).Build()
  if err != nil { panic(err) }

  rt, err := factory.NewRuntime(engine.WithStartupContext(ctx), engine.WithLifetimeContext(ctx))
  if err != nil { panic(err) }
  defer rt.Close(ctx)

  ret, err := rt.Owner.Call(ctx, "example", func(_ context.Context, vm *goja.Runtime) (any, error) {
    v, err := vm.RunString(`const md = require("markdown"); md.textContent(md.parse("# Hello"));`)
    if err != nil { return nil, err }
    return v.Export(), nil
  })
  if err != nil { panic(err) }
  fmt.Println(ret)
}

Design principles

• Keep parsing, repair, and extraction semantics in Go when Go will later validate or consume the values.
• Expose Go-backed domain objects to JavaScript rather than flattening everything into plain objects too early.
• Use JavaScript for document-specific policies and queries, especially with primitives such as markdown.walk() and extract.all().
• Preserve evidence: source spans, wrapper metadata, fix lists, diagnostics, and confidence scores are part of the API because they make automation reviewable.