[Bug]: Autoformat examples stopped working

[Bartozzz]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Browser surface

Yes

Summary

• https://platejs.org/docs/autoformat
• https://platejs.org/docs/examples/autoformat

Those examples no longer work.

Public reproduction URL

No response

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to https://platejs.org/docs/autoformat
2. Type - in the editor

Expected behavior

Should toggle a list.

Actual behavior

Types - as is, without actually toggling the list.

Acceptance criteria

The new autoformat examples should work as they did before the @platejs/autoformat plugin was deprecated.

Plate / Slate / React versions

plate: 53
react: 18.3.1

Operating system

macOS 26.4.1

Install method

yarn

Framework / app setup

Vite

Affected packages or entry points

@platejs/autoformat

Minimal code or config excerpt

In examples on:
- https://platejs.org/docs/autoformat 
- https://platejs.org/docs/examples/autoformat

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

No response

[dosubot]

Hi @Bartozzz! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the plate team.

The docs on platejs.org for this page appear to be stale — they still reference the deprecated @platejs/autoformat package and AutoformatPlugin, which was replaced in v53.0.0 with a distributed input rules system [1].

The updated docs in the repo reflect the new approach where autoformat/markdown shortcuts are now owned by individual feature plugins via inputRules. For example, list shortcuts are now configured on ListPlugin [2]:

ListPlugin.configure({
  inputRules: [
    BulletedListRules.markdown({ variant: '-' }),
    BulletedListRules.markdown({ variant: '*' }),
    OrderedListRules.markdown({ variant: '.' }),
    OrderedListRules.markdown({ variant: ')' }),
    TaskListRules.markdown({ checked: false }),
    TaskListRules.markdown({ checked: true }),
  ],
})

The demo component in the registry references the correct code [3], so this may just need a redeploy of the docs site to pick up the updated content.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

Share context across your team and agents. Try Dosu.

[JeremyCraven]

Wanted to flag that the dosu bot's response doesn't address what I think is the underlying issue here. There are two distinct things going on:

1. Block-level markdown shortcuts (- , # , > , [] , ```, etc.) — these go through createBlockStartInputRule / matchBlockStart, and the per-plugin inputRules pattern the bot suggests works correctly. I verified H1Plugin.configure({inputRules: [HeadingRules.markdown()]}), ListPlugin.configure({inputRules: [BulletedListRules.markdown({variant: '-'}), ...]}), etc. all fire on @platejs/core@53.0.0. If the docs-site demo is still showing the old AutoformatPlugin, a docs redeploy probably does fix what's user-visible.

2. Inline text substitutions (->, (c), 1/2, (tm), smart-dash --, etc.) — these go through createTextSubstitutionInputRule, which has a separate bug introduced in v53.0.0 that the bot's recommendation does not work around.

The bug is in getTextSubstitutionMatchRange in packages/core/src/lib/plugins/input-rules/createInputRules.ts:

```ts
const start = match;
const reversed = start.split('').reverse().join('');
const triggers = trigger ? ... : [reversed.slice(-1)];
return {
end: trigger ? reversed : reversed.slice(0, -1),
start,
triggers,
};
```

For `match = '->'`:

• `reversed = '>-'`
• `reversed.slice(-1)` = `'-'` ← the FIRST char of the original `match`, used as the trigger
• `reversed.slice(0, -1)` = `'>'` ← the LAST char of the original `match`, used as the search string for `end`

So when the user types `-`, the rule fires; the algorithm then looks for `>` immediately before the cursor — which can never be there because `-` was just typed. The substitution silently no-ops on every keystroke. Same applies to every non-paired multi-char pattern in the upstream `AutoformatKit` reference (arrows, fractions, legal symbols, super/subscripts).

Single-char paired patterns like smart quotes (`{ format: ['"', '"'], match: '"' }`) coincidentally work because `reversed === match` and the slice math collapses to the right values. The autoformat docs page even includes a `{ format: '—', match: '--' }` example which itself is an instance of the bug.

v52's `@platejs/autoformat`'s `getMatchRange` took a different path for non-paired formats: it wrapped `match` as `{ end: match, start: '' }` first, which made `triggers = [end.slice(-1)]` (last char of match) and `end = end.slice(0, -1)` (chars before the trigger). Both correct. The v53 rewrite collapsed the object/string branches and only kept the string-branch slice math, which inverted the semantics.

Fix is roughly: when no explicit `trigger` is given, use `match.slice(-1)` for `triggers` and `match.slice(0, -1)` for `end` — without the reversal.

Repro is just any non-paired pattern in the upstream `AutoformatKit`, e.g.:

```tsx
createTextSubstitutionInputRule({
patterns: [{ format: '→', match: '->' }],
})
```

Type `-> ` in the editor — `->` stays literal.