Prompt Rendering Pipeline Issue Resolution

What we were trying to do and why

We were trying to render markdown content from the prompts collection in the dynamic route page at site/src/pages/prompts/[prompt].astro. The goal was to display the content of prompt files with proper formatting, similar to how other content types like vocabulary terms and changelog entries are rendered.

The issue was that the content wasn't rendering properly - instead of formatted markdown, the raw AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) was being displayed on the page, showing the internal representation of the content rather than the rendered HTML.

Incorrect attempts

Attempt 1: Passing the Content component as a prop to OneArticle

Our first approach was to use Astro's built-in rendering system and pass the Content component to the OneArticle component:

astro

// Render the content using Astro's built-in markdown rendering
const { Content } = await render(promptEntry);

// ...

<OneArticle
  Component={OneArticleOnPage}
  content={Content}
  data={{
    title: promptData.title,
    metadata: promptData
  }}
/>

This failed because the content prop in OneArticle expects a string of markdown content, not a component. The TypeScript error was:

text

Type '{ Component: (_props: Props) => any; data: { title: string; content: any; metadata: { fileName: string; title: string; tags: any[]; authors: string[]; lede: string; date_authored_initial_draft: string; }; }; }' is not assignable to type 'IntrinsicAttributes & Props'.
Property 'content' is missing in type '{ Component: (_props: Props) => any; data: { title: string; content: any; metadata: { fileName: string; title: string; tags: any[]; authors: string[]; lede: string; date_authored_initial_draft: string; }; }; }' but required in type 'Props'.

Attempt 2: Moving the Content to the top level

We fixed the TypeScript error by moving the content property to the top level:

astro

<OneArticle
  Component={OneArticleOnPage}
  content={Content}
  data={{
    title: promptData.title,
    metadata: promptData
  }}
/>

However, this still didn't work because we were passing a component as a string.

Attempt 3: Adding the path property

We then tried to fix the path handling by adding the path property:

astro

<OneArticle
  Component={OneArticleOnPage}
  content={Content}
  data={{
    title: promptData.title,
    path: `/prompts/${prompt}`,
    metadata: promptData
  }}
/>

This still didn't work because the fundamental issue was with how we were passing the Content component.

Attempt 4: Using the raw markdown content and matching the vocabulary implementation

We then tried to match the implementation in the [vocabulary].astro file:

astro

<OneArticle
  Component={OneArticleOnPage}
  content={promptEntry.body}
  markdownFile={promptEntry.id}
  data={{
    path: Astro.url.pathname,
    id: promptEntry.id
  }}
/>

This was closer, but still resulted in the AST being displayed rather than the rendered content.

The "Aha!" moment

After examining the rendering pipelines in other working pages, we realized that there are two fundamentally different approaches to rendering content in the codebase:

Custom rendering pipeline: Using OneArticle → OneArticleOnPage → AstroMarkdown with custom remark plugins
Astro's built-in rendering: Using the Content component directly in the template

The issue was that we were trying to mix these approaches - getting the Content component from Astro's render function but then trying to pass it through the custom rendering pipeline.

The key insight was that the Content component from Astro's render function needs to be used directly in the template, not passed as a prop to other components.

Final solution

We completely redesigned the rendering approach for the [prompt].astro file to use Astro's built-in Content component directly:

astro

---
// [prompt].astro
// Dynamic route for individual prompt pages
// Loads a specific prompt from the content collection and renders it
// Follows project rules: NO type safety, NO explicit interfaces, passthrough pattern only.

import { getCollection, render } from 'astro:content';
import Layout from '@layouts/Layout.astro';
import path from 'path';

// Get the prompt parameter from the URL
const { prompt } = Astro.params;

// Get all prompt entries from the collection
const promptEntries = await getCollection('prompts');

// Find the matching prompt by filename without extension
const promptEntry = promptEntries.find(e => {
  const filename = path.basename(e.id, '.md');
  // Convert filename to slug format for comparison
  const slug = filename.toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, '-');
  return slug === prompt;
});

// If no prompt is found, redirect to the prompts index page
if (!promptEntry) {
  return Astro.redirect('/thread/magazine');
}

// Render the content using Astro's built-in markdown rendering
const { Content } = await render(promptEntry);

// Extract data from the entry with proper fallbacks
const { 
  title = path.basename(promptEntry.id, '.md'),
  tags = [],
  authors = [],
  lede,
  date_authored_initial_draft,
  ...restData
} = promptEntry.data;

// Combine everything into a single object for the component
const promptData = {
  title,
  tags,
  authors,
  lede,
  date_authored_initial_draft,
  ...restData,
  fileName: prompt
};
---

<Layout title={promptData.title || 'Prompt'}>
  <article class="prose mx-auto">
    <header>
      {promptData.title && <h1>{promptData.title}</h1>}
      {promptData.lede && <p class="lede">{promptData.lede}</p>}
      <div class="meta">
        {promptData.date_authored_initial_draft && (
          <time datetime={new Date(promptData.date_authored_initial_draft).toISOString()}>
            {new Date(promptData.date_authored_initial_draft).toLocaleDateString()}
          </time>
        )}
        {promptData.authors && promptData.authors.length > 0 && (
          <div class="authors">
            By: {promptData.authors.join(', ')}
          </div>
        )}
      </div>
    </header>
    <div class="content">
      <Content />
    </div>
  </article>
</Layout>

<style>
  .prose {
    color: var(--clr-lossless-primary-light);
    max-width: 65ch;
    margin: 0 auto;
    padding: 1rem;
  }
  
  header {
    margin-bottom: 2rem;
  }
  
  h1 {
    font-size: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
  }
  
  .lede {
    font-size: 1.2rem;
    color: var(--clr-lossless-accent--brightest);
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }
  
  .meta {
    display: flex;
    gap: 1rem;
    font-size: 0.9rem;
    color: var(--clr-lossless-primary-light);
    opacity: 0.8;
  }
  
  .content :global(h2) {
    font-size: 1.5rem;
    margin-top: 2rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
    color: var(--clr-lossless-accent--brightest);
  }
  
  .content :global(h3) {
    font-size: 1.25rem;
    margin-top: 1.5rem;
    margin-bottom: 0.75rem;
    color: var(--clr-lossless-accent--brightest);
  }
  
  .content :global(p) {
    margin-bottom: 1.2rem;
    line-height: 1.3;
  }
  
  .content :global(ul), .content :global(ol) {
    margin-left: 1.5rem;
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }
  
  .content :global(li) {
    margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
  }
  
  .content :global(a) {
    color: var(--clr-lossless-accent--brightest);
    text-decoration: none;
  }
  
  .content :global(a:hover) {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
</style>

## Important note about this solution

It's important to acknowledge that this solution takes a shortcut by bypassing our custom rendering pipeline. While it solves the immediate issue of getting content to display, it doesn't leverage our custom remark plugins and transformations that are used elsewhere in the codebase.

This means that advanced features like custom callouts, citations, and other specialized markdown transformations may not work correctly in prompt pages with this implementation.

**Future work needed**: We will need to revisit this implementation to properly integrate it with our custom rendering pipeline. The goal should be to maintain consistency across all content types while ensuring that all custom markdown features work correctly.

## Lessons learned

1. When troubleshooting rendering issues, examine the entire rendering pipeline from start to finish
2. Look for working examples in the codebase and understand how they're structured
3. Be aware of the different rendering approaches (custom vs. built-in) and don't try to mix them
4. The Content component from Astro's render function needs to be used directly in the template, not passed as a prop
5. Simplifying the rendering pipeline can often be more effective than trying to fix a complex one