Backwards-compatibility layer: import and export MediaWiki wikitext while the canonical store is MDX-over-Facts. Three representations — wikitext (interchange) ⇄ MDX (canonical prose + components) over the Fact graph. Wikitext is an on-ramp and a portability guarantee, not the canonical model.
Why this matters
To win editors/admins from MediaWiki platforms, reduce switching cost: let them fork in (import their wikitext/MediaWiki dump) and fork out (export wikitext) — killing lock-in, a direct answer to the Fandom portability/hostile-fork grievance (Entry 003, G-019). Done right, import feeds the Fact graph rather than fighting it.
Directional intent
- MDX is canonical (Markdown + JSX components): portable like wikitext, but can embed Fact-bound, adaptive, and spoiler-gated components (Entry 029), and it's Next-native (the app already renders markdown).
- Wikitext is edge interchange — import + export only.
- Backwards-compat is an on-ramp + portability guarantee, NOT the canonical paradigm. Guardrail against quietly becoming MediaWiki again and losing the prose→Facts thesis (Entry 029).
Three representations
wikitext ⇄ MDX (canonical prose + components) —is a view over→ Fact graph
What maps where (import)
| Wikitext element | Maps to | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Infoboxes / structured templates | Facts / entity attributes | the most structured part of a wiki — best first ingestion target (proto-Facts) |
[[wikilinks]] | entity references | the G-062 prose↔Fact linking primitive, free on import |
<ref> citations | per-Fact provenance | G-026 + citation tiers (Entry 020) |
| Body prose | MDX prose | progressively enriched into Facts (G-057) |
| Categories | tags / graph edges |
Hard walls (round-trips are lossy)
- Templates + Lua/Scribunto modules are a mini-programming-language. Map the common ones (infobox, cite) to components/Facts; flag the rest for human conversion via the review queue (G-060) — do not try to execute MediaWiki wholesale.
- Export flattens Fact-bound components back to static wikitext (lossy the other way; acceptable for a portability guarantee).
- Wikitext→MDX→wikitext is not byte-lossless; set expectations accordingly.
Open decisions
- Round-trip fidelity scope: what is preserved / transformed / dropped.
- Template & Lua handling: which templates get first-class component/Fact mappings; how unsupported templates are surfaced for human conversion.
- Export guarantees: how faithful, how often, and what a "portable export" includes (prose + Facts + attribution/history).
- How much wikitext-syntax editing to support as an on-ramp vs. steering editors to structured authoring (G-057) — and how to keep wikitext from becoming the de-facto paradigm.
- Relationship to the migration pipeline (G-030): MediaWiki XML dump → wikitext → MDX + Facts.
Related
- Entry 029 — prose→Facts thesis (the paradigm wikitext must not displace)
- Entry 003 — forking as first-class · G-019 — data portability (export = anti-lock-in)
- Entry 009 / G-030 — migration pipeline (dump → wikitext → MDX + Facts)
- G-057 — prose-to-Fact authoring · G-062 — prose↔Fact linking (wikilinks feed it)
- G-026 — Fact provenance (refs feed it) · G-060 — review queue (unsupported-template conversion)