📦 MyST Markdown Tutorial (II): A Complete Guide

Making Scientific Writing Simple and Powerful

Introduction

From the previous article, we already knew that MyST Markdown (Markedly Structured Text) is an advanced extension of standard Markdown, purpose-built to meet the demands of academic, scientific, and technical writing. While traditional Markdown excels at creating simple, readable documentation, MyST enhances it with a powerful set of features tailored for complex publishing needs.

Think of it as “Markdown with superpowers” — it retains the ease and readability of classic Markdown while introducing support for mathematical notation, citations, cross-references, rich formatting, and multi-format publishing. Whether you’re writing a research paper, creating course materials, or building technical documentation, MyST bridges the gap between simplicity and sophistication.

The previous article walks through the methods to install mystmd CLI tool, This tutorial is to display the main features through few examples.

Getting Started with MyST

Basic Syntax (Same as Markdown)

MyST uses all the familiar Markdown syntax you already know:

# Main Heading
## Subheading…