Output block

An output block shows what a command printed. It is the result, not the input: the body is read as plain text, and a dashed edge and the surface color keep it visually distinct from the code block above it.

Syntax

:::output-block
Written 12 pages to dist
:::

Options

:::output-block{label="Build result"}
Written 12 pages to dist
:::

The value of deps is JSON, so use single quotes around it in the directive and double quotes inside. Names follow the same rule as variables elsewhere: letters, digits, ., _, and -. A malformed declaration is ignored without hiding the names that are valid.

:::output-block{deps='["project"]'}
Finished in 340 ms
:::

Execution evidence

stream, exit, and duration declare what is known about the run that produced the output, kept apart from the output text itself:

:::output-block{stream=stderr exit=1 duration=340ms}
error: no such file or directory: {{path}}
:::

The rendered block publishes the three declarations as an inert JSON script (data-output-evidence), so an agent reads the evidence directly instead of scraping visual labels or re-parsing the text. Each kind is recorded with exactly one state:

The contracts are strict and closed:

• Stream — exactly stdout, stderr, or combined, case as written. Anything else (stdin, Stdout) is recorded as invalid, not quietly mapped onto one of the three.
• Exit code — a plain decimal integer from 0 to 255, the range a shell can carry. Signs (+7, -1), base prefixes (0x1f), leading zeros (007), separators (1_0), exponents, fractions, and words like success are all invalid. A declared 0 is recorded as the author's claim of a zero exit; silence is never read as one.
• Duration — whole milliseconds up to one hour (3600000 ms), written as 340, 340ms, 2s, or 1.5s. Seconds carry at most three decimal places (0.125s), because sub-millisecond precision in a recorded run is a declaration error, and the value is built from the digits so no float rounding changes it.

The evidence never touches the recorded output: the visible text stays byte-for-byte what the command printed, copying returns exactly that text with nothing inserted, and an invalid declaration is distinguishable from a missing one for a reader with or without JavaScript, because the script is in the served HTML.

Example

Written 12 pages to dist

Compiled 24 files
Copied 6 assets

Finished in 340 ms

error: no such file or directory

Notes

• An empty body, or one that holds only whitespace, renders nothing.
• The body stays text: <b> written in it is shown as it is written, never turned into markup.
• A body that names a variable ({{project}}) records it. deps declares inputs the text never repeats, such as an exit status or a timing result; both are recorded together. When the reader changes one of those values, the block is marked stale instead of pretending the recorded output still matches.
• The recorded output is never rewritten: the stale note explains why the text did not follow, and copying returns the original text exactly.
• A malformed deps value is ignored, so the block still renders with the names its text mentions.
• Evidence declarations never change the recorded text: an invalid stream, exit, or duration is published as "invalid" in the JSON record, a missing one as "omitted", and neither is ever read as a successful run.
• The copy button copies the whole output and nothing else. It is made by JavaScript and starts hidden; the output still reads without it.
• Use a terminal when the commands and their output belong together in one block, and this block when only the result matters.