fix: prevent BlockNote from altering list markers and inserting HTML entities

BlockNote's serializer outputs `*` for bullet lists and inserts ` `
HTML entities around inline code within bold text. Both cause meaningless
git diffs. Fix by post-processing in compactMarkdown:
- Normalize `*` bullet markers to `-` (standard convention)
- Decode HTML entities like ` ` back to literal characters
- Skip normalization inside fenced code blocks

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/utils/compact-markdown.test.ts

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { compactMarkdown } from './compact-markdown'
 describe('compactMarkdown', () => {
   it('collapses blank lines between bullet list items (tight list)', () => {
     const input = '* Item one\n\n* Item two\n\n* Item three\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('* Item one\n* Item two\n* Item three\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('- Item one\n- Item two\n- Item three\n')
   })
 
   it('collapses blank lines between dash list items', () => {
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ describe('compactMarkdown', () => {
 
   it('removes extra blank line after heading', () => {
     const input = '## Personal\n\n* Back on track\n\n* Good health\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Personal\n\n* Back on track\n* Good health\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Personal\n\n- Back on track\n- Good health\n')
   })
 
   it('preserves single blank line between heading and content', () => {
@@ -54,17 +54,17 @@ describe('compactMarkdown', () => {
 
   it('handles the exact bug scenario from the issue', () => {
     const input = '## Personal\n\n* Back on track with Flavia\n\n* Good health vitals in place\n\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Personal\n\n* Back on track with Flavia\n* Good health vitals in place\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Personal\n\n- Back on track with Flavia\n- Good health vitals in place\n')
   })
 
   it('handles heading followed immediately by list (no blank line)', () => {
     const input = '## Title\n* Item one\n\n* Item two\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Title\n* Item one\n* Item two\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('## Title\n- Item one\n- Item two\n')
   })
 
   it('handles mixed content: heading, paragraph, list', () => {
     const input = '# Title\n\nSome intro.\n\n* Item one\n\n* Item two\n\nConclusion.\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('# Title\n\nSome intro.\n\n* Item one\n* Item two\n\nConclusion.\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('# Title\n\nSome intro.\n\n- Item one\n- Item two\n\nConclusion.\n')
   })
 
   it('preserves empty input', () => {
@@ -82,21 +82,41 @@ describe('compactMarkdown', () => {
 
   it('handles list after code block', () => {
     const input = '```\ncode\n```\n\n* Item one\n\n* Item two\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('```\ncode\n```\n\n* Item one\n* Item two\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('```\ncode\n```\n\n- Item one\n- Item two\n')
   })
 
   it('handles nested list items', () => {
     const input = '* Parent\n\n  * Child one\n\n  * Child two\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('* Parent\n  * Child one\n  * Child two\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('- Parent\n  - Child one\n  - Child two\n')
   })
 
   it('handles checklist items', () => {
     const input = '* [ ] Todo one\n\n* [ ] Todo two\n\n* [x] Done\n'
-    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('* [ ] Todo one\n* [ ] Todo two\n* [x] Done\n')
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('- [ ] Todo one\n- [ ] Todo two\n- [x] Done\n')
   })
 
   it('handles blockquotes normally', () => {
     const input = '> Quote line one\n\n> Quote line two\n'
     expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('> Quote line one\n\n> Quote line two\n')
   })
+
+  it('does not normalize * inside code blocks', () => {
+    const input = '```\n* not a list\n```\n'
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('```\n* not a list\n```\n')
+  })
+
+  it('decodes   HTML entities from BlockNote bold+code output', () => {
+    const input = '**Remove **`NoteWindow`** and render the full **`App`** component.**\n'
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('**Remove **`NoteWindow`** and render the full **`App`** component.**\n')
+  })
+
+  it('decodes multiple HTML entity types', () => {
+    const input = 'Use & for ampersand and < for less-than.\n'
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('Use & for ampersand and < for less-than.\n')
+  })
+
+  it('does not decode HTML entities inside code blocks', () => {
+    const input = '```\n&#x20; should stay\n```\n'
+    expect(compactMarkdown(input)).toBe('```\n&#x20; should stay\n```\n')
+  })
 })

src/utils/compact-markdown.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
  * Post-process BlockNote's blocksToMarkdownLossy output to produce
  * standard-convention Markdown:
  * - Tight lists (no blank lines between consecutive list items)
+ * - Bullet list markers normalized to `-` (BlockNote outputs `*`)
+ * - HTML entities like ` ` decoded back to spaces
  * - No runs of 3+ blank lines (collapsed to one blank line)
  * - No trailing blank lines
  * - Code block content is never modified
@@ -14,7 +16,7 @@ export function compactMarkdown(md: string): string {
   let inCodeBlock = false
 
   for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
-    const line = lines[i]
+    let line = lines[i]
 
     // Track fenced code blocks — never modify content inside them
     if (line.trimStart().startsWith('```')) {
@@ -28,6 +30,12 @@ export function compactMarkdown(md: string): string {
       continue
     }
 
+    // Normalize bullet markers: BlockNote uses `*`, convention is `-`
+    line = normalizeBulletMarker(line)
+
+    // Decode HTML entities that BlockNote inserts (e.g. &#x20; for spaces)
+    line = decodeHtmlEntities(line)
+
     // Skip blank lines that sit between two list items (tight list rule)
     if (line.trim() === '') {
       if (isBlankBetweenListItems(lines, i)) continue
@@ -80,3 +88,15 @@ function findNextNonBlank(lines: string[], idx: number): number | null {
   }
   return null
 }
+
+const BULLET_RE = /^(\s*)\*(\s)/
+/** Normalize `*` bullet markers to `-` (BlockNote default → standard convention) */
+function normalizeBulletMarker(line: string): string {
+  return line.replace(BULLET_RE, '$1-$2')
+}
+
+/** Decode HTML entities that BlockNote inserts (&#x20; &#x26; etc.) */
+function decodeHtmlEntities(line: string): string {
+  if (!line.includes('&#x')) return line
+  return line.replace(/&#x([0-9a-fA-F]+);/g, (_, hex) => String.fromCharCode(parseInt(hex, 16)))
+}