---
id: mdx-truly-sane-lists
version: "1.3"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# mdx-truly-sane-lists — Extension for Python-Markdown that makes lists truly sane. Custom indents for nested lists and fix for messy linebreaks.

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 1.4M/mo

## What it is and what it does

mdx-truly-sane-lists is a Markdown extension that modifies how lists are rendered by the Python-Markdown library. It addresses two common frustrations: nested lists can be indented by a custom amount (defaulting to 2 spaces instead of the standard 4), and list items no longer generate spurious paragraph tags or unwanted line breaks when separated by blank lines. The extension inherits the sane_lists behavior, which prevents mixing ordered and unordered lists in the same block.

The package is a thin, focused extension with no dependencies beyond Markdown itself. It works by hooking into Markdown's list processing and adjusting indentation rules and paragraph handling. It has been stable since 2022 but is no longer actively maintained—the repository is not archived, but there have been no commits or releases for over a year.

Use it for:

- Rendering Markdown with nested lists that use 2-space indentation instead of 4-space code-block indentation.
- Preventing unwanted paragraph tags and extra line breaks when list items are separated by blank lines in source Markdown.
- Generating cleaner HTML from Markdown documents that mix lists with other content without list fusion artifacts.
- Static site generators or documentation tools that use Python-Markdown and need more predictable list formatting.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

A Python-Markdown extension that fixes list rendering by allowing custom indentation for nested lists and preventing unwanted paragraph tags and line breaks within list items.

Yes, if you need custom nested-list indentation or cleaner list rendering in Python-Markdown and accept the maintenance risk. The package is stable and has no known vulnerabilities, but it is abandoned—no updates will be released for compatibility issues with future Markdown or Python versions. Suitable for established projects with stable dependencies; risky for new projects expecting long-term support.

## Install

pip install mdx-truly-sane-lists
uv add mdx-truly-sane-lists
poetry add mdx-truly-sane-lists

## Installing mdx-truly-sane-lists

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with a single runtime dependency on Markdown. However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2022-07-19 and no commits since 2023-08-08. It remains functional but will not receive bug fixes or updates.

License in practice: MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions. No licensing concerns for adoption.

Quickstart:

from markdown import markdown

markdown(text='- item\n    - nested', extensions=['mdx_truly_sane_lists'])

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package remains compatible with current Markdown versions and modern Python releases beyond those listed in classifiers.
- Whether the abandoned status poses any practical risk for typical Markdown list processing workflows.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 1.4M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

markdown list extension, nested list indentation, markdown sane lists, fix markdown list formatting, custom list indent markdown, markdown-extension, list-formatting

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/mdx-truly-sane-lists) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/mdx-truly-sane-lists/)