mdurl

mdurl is a lightweight Python port of the JavaScript mdurl library, primarily used as a dependency in markdown-it-py. It provides URL parsing, encoding, and normalization utilities specifically tailored for Markdown processing. In practice, it's a simple dependency you rarely interact with directly unless you're building Markdown parsers.

From a security perspective, the library handles URL encoding/decoding safely with proper character validation. The parse() function cleanly separates URL components without exposing dangerous edge cases. Input validation is straightforward - malformed URLs return predictable structures rather than throwing exceptions that might leak information. The encode() and decode() functions follow RFC 3986 standards and handle special characters correctly, preventing common injection vectors.

The library has minimal external dependencies (none beyond Python stdlib), which significantly reduces supply chain risk. However, the last release in 2022 means no recent CVE responses if any were discovered. The codebase is small enough to audit personally in under an hour, which is a security advantage. Error handling is explicit and doesn't expose internal state unnecessarily.

mdurl is a bare-bones URL parsing library that's actually a Python port of JavaScript's mdurl package. In practice, it's a dependency for markdown-it-py rather than something you'd typically use directly. The API is extremely minimal—primarily offering `parse()` and `encode()` functions—but documentation is nearly non-existent beyond basic docstrings.

The learning curve is steep not because the code is complex, but because there's almost no guidance on when or why you'd use this over Python's built-in `urllib.parse`. The package does handle some edge cases in URL encoding differently than stdlib, which matters for Markdown link compatibility, but this isn't clearly documented. Error messages are minimal, often just raising generic exceptions without context.

Community support is essentially absent—very few Stack Overflow questions exist, and the GitHub repo has minimal activity. If you encounter issues, you're largely on your own reading the source code (which is at least clean and short). For most URL parsing needs, Python's standard library is better documented and more appropriate.

mdurl is a tiny, focused library that provides URL parsing and encoding utilities specifically designed for Markdown processing. It's a pure Python port of JavaScript's mdurl, with zero external dependencies. In production, it's essentially invisible - you import it, parse URLs, and it just works with minimal overhead.

The API is straightforward with parse(), encode(), decode(), and format() functions that handle edge cases in URL parsing reliably. Performance is solid for typical Markdown processing workloads since it's handling URLs one at a time, not batch operations. Memory footprint is negligible. The library doesn't maintain any connections or state, so there's nothing to pool or manage - it's stateless by design.

The main limitation is lack of observability hooks or configuration options, but for a utility library of this scope, that's actually fine. It has no retry logic, timeouts, or error handling beyond basic Python exceptions because it's synchronous string processing. If you need async URL validation or complex error handling, you'll layer that yourself, but the library provides a solid foundation for URL manipulation in Markdown contexts.