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Engine Specification Ignored for Markdown Input

markdown
A .md document declared an execution engine; .md files never execute code, so the specification has no effect.

Q-2-40 — Engine Specification Ignored for Markdown Input

.md documents never execute engines; the engine specification has no effect.

What this means

A .md file’s front matter declared an execution engine — either explicitly:

---
title: My notes
engine: jupyter
---

or implicitly, via an engine-specific top-level key:

---
title: My notes
jupyter:
  kernel: python3
---

In Quarto 2, plain .md files support the full Quarto markdown dialect (shortcodes, divs, cross-references, …) but never execute code. The engine specification is ignored: the document still renders, code cells pass through as ordinary code blocks, and nothing runs.

How to fix it

  • If the document needs executable code, rename it to .qmd.
  • If it doesn’t, delete the engine: (or jupyter: / knitr:) key from its front matter.