Macros

Macros

atlcli provides extensive Confluence macro support with bidirectional conversion between markdown and Confluence Storage Format.

Prerequisites

• Basic understanding of markdown syntax
• For push operations: Edit permission on target Confluence space

Panel Macros

Info Panel

::: info
This is an informational message.
:::

With title:

::: info "Important Information"
This is an info panel with a title.
:::

Note Panel

::: note
This is a note for the reader.
:::

Warning Panel

::: warning
This action cannot be undone!
:::

Tip Panel

::: tip
Pro tip: Use keyboard shortcuts for faster navigation.
:::

Custom Panel

Full control over panel styling:

::: panel title="Custom Panel" bgColor="#f0f0f0" borderColor="#ccc" borderStyle="solid"
Custom styled panel content.
:::

Options:

Option	Description
title	Panel title
bgColor	Background color (hex)
borderColor	Border color (hex)
borderStyle	solid, dashed, none

Expand/Collapse

Basic Expand

::: expand "Click to expand"
This content is hidden by default.
:::

Expanded by Default

::: expand "Details" expanded=true
This content is visible by default.
:::

Table of Contents

:::

With options:

::: toc minLevel=2 maxLevel=4
:::

Options:

Option	Description
minLevel	Minimum heading level (default: 1)
maxLevel	Maximum heading level (default: 6)
style	none, disc, circle, square

Code Blocks

atlcli converts standard fenced code blocks to Confluence code macros:

```javascript
function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, world!");
}
```

With title:

```python title="example.py"
def hello():
    print("Hello, world!")
```

With line numbers:

```typescript linenumbers=true
const greeting: string = "Hello";
console.log(greeting);
```

Supported Languages

JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, SQL, Bash, YAML, JSON, XML, HTML, CSS, and many more.

Noformat Block

Preformatted text without syntax highlighting:

```noformat
This text preserves whitespace
  and formatting exactly
    as written.
```

Text Formatting

Colored Text

Apply color to inline text:

This is {color:red}red text{color} and {color:#0066cc}blue text{color}.

Supports CSS color names and hex codes.

Background Color

Highlight text with background color:

This is {bg:yellow}highlighted{bg} text.
{bg:#e6f3ff}Custom background{bg}

Subscript and Superscript

H~2~O (subscript)
E=mc^2^ (superscript)

Task Lists

Native checkbox support:

- [ ] Unchecked task
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Another pending task

Converts to Confluence’s native task list format with proper checkboxes.

Date Macro

Insert formatted dates:

{date:2025-01-15}

Rendered as a Confluence date picker showing the specified date.

Emoticons

Use one of the supported emoji shortcodes when authoring Markdown:

:smile: :thumbsup: :warning: :star:

atlcli converts these authoring tokens to typed Confluence emoticons. During DOCX/PDF export, only typed ADF emoji, Body Storage ac:emoticon, or typed custom-panel icon metadata is projected to a graphical character. Ordinary stored text such as :warning: remains literal. Unknown or site-custom emoji also remain visible as their short name and produce an export note.

Cloud exports use ADF as their primary source. Data Center exports use the shared Body Storage adapter. Both source paths use the same typed resolver and catalog when no usable Unicode text is already present; existing source Unicode remains exact. Confluence Cloud may rewrite a typed legacy value to a product-owned short name such as :check_mark: or :light_bulb_on: during ADF read-back. The export adapter recognizes those spellings, but they are not additional Markdown authoring aliases and are therefore not listed below.

The table below is the complete Markdown/legacy authoring catalog, not a limit on Confluence Cloud’s native emoji picker. A live Cloud picker inventory on 2026-07-24 contained 50 unique entries: 44 standard emoji carried exact Unicode in ADF emoji.attrs.text, while six product-owned assets used colon text. Those six portable read-back projections are :check_mark: → ✓, :warning: → ⚠, :minus: → −, :question_mark: → ❓, :cross_mark: → ✕, and :info: → ℹ. Standard Unicode remains byte-for-byte unchanged. The Body Storage/Data Center ac:emoticon adapter applies the same resolver when ac:emoji-fallback contains one of those typed short names and preserves a usable Unicode fallback exactly.

Supported Emoticons

Canonical shortcode	Graphical export	Supported aliases
:smile:	☺	:grinning:, :grin:, :smiley:
:sad:	☹	:disappointed:, :cry:
:cheeky:	😛	:stuck_out_tongue:
:laugh:	😄	:joy:, :laughing:
:wink:	😉	—
:thumbs-up:	👍	:+1:, :thumbsup:
:thumbs-down:	👎	:-1:, :thumbsdown:
:tick:	✓	:check:, :white_check_mark:, :heavy_check_mark:
:cross:	✕	:x:, :heavy_multiplication_x:
:warning:	⚠	:warn:, :alert:
:information:	ℹ	:info:
:question:	❓	—
:light-on:	💡	:bulb:, :idea:, :lightbulb:
:light-off:	○	—
:yellow-star:	Y★	:star:
:red-star:	R★	—
:green-star:	G★	—
:blue-star:	B★	—
:heart:	♥	:love:, :red_heart:
:broken-heart:	💔	—
:plus:	✚	—
:minus:	−	—

The graphical export is a portable monochrome projection, not a claim of pixel parity with Confluence’s color emoji. PDF bundles and checks the required fonts. DOCX stores the exact projected Unicode, but the receiving application still chooses the display font. Arbitrary source-provided Unicode sequences are preserved exactly; glyph availability for those sequences depends on the recipient. The 50-entry live picker corpus rendered completely in Microsoft Word; LibreOffice retained the exact DOCX text but did not provide every platform color-emoji glyph. Site-custom emoji are not fetched because Atlassian does not expose a documented, authorized portable asset contract for this export path.

User Mentions

Mention users by account ID:

@[John Doe](557058:abcd-efgh-ijkl)

The account ID can be found in Confluence user profiles or via the API.

Status Macro

Inline status labels:

{status:green}Approved{status}
{status:yellow}In Review{status}
{status:red}Rejected{status}
{status:blue}In Progress{status}
{status:grey}Draft{status}

Colors: green, yellow, red, blue, grey

Anchor Macro

Create link anchors:

{#my-anchor}

Link to [my section](#my-anchor).

Smart Links

Atlassian smart links are rich links to Jira issues, Confluence pages, and other Atlassian content that display contextual information. atlcli supports bidirectional conversion of smart links.

Markdown Format

When pulling pages, atlcli converts smart links to standard markdown URLs:

# Inline link (default)
[PROJ-123](https://your-site.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-123)

# Card view - shows preview card
[PROJ-123](https://your-site.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-123)<!--card-->

# Embed view - embeds content
[Page Title](https://your-site.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TEAM/pages/12345)<!--embed-->

How It Works

Direction	Process
Pull	Smart links → Full URLs with display mode annotations
Push	Atlassian URLs → Smart links with data-card-appearance

Display Modes

Mode	Annotation	Description
Inline	(none)	Link appears inline in text
Card	<!--card-->	Shows preview card with title and metadata
Embed	<!--embed-->	Embeds full content preview

Supported URL Patterns

• Jira Issues: /browse/PROJ-123
• Confluence Pages: /wiki/spaces/SPACE/pages/12345
• Trello: trello.com/c/... or trello.com/b/...
• Bitbucket: bitbucket.org/user/repo

Profile-Based Conversion

atlcli converts only URLs matching your active profile’s Atlassian instance to smart links. External URLs remain as regular markdown links.

# Converted to smart link (same instance)
[Issue](https://your-site.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-123)

# Remains regular link (different instance)
[External](https://other-site.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-456)

Jira Integration

Single Issue (Legacy)

The {jira:KEY} syntax is deprecated. Use full URLs instead:

# Deprecated (still works)
{jira:PROJ-123}

# Recommended - use full URL
[PROJ-123](https://your-site.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-123)

When pulling pages, Jira macros are automatically converted to full URLs.

JQL Query

{jira:project = PROJ AND status = Open|columns=key,summary,status}

Options:

Option	Description
columns	Columns to display
count	Show count only
cache	Cache duration

Page Structure

Children Macro

List child pages:

::: children
:::

With options:

::: children depth=2 sort=title
:::

Options:

Option	Description
depth	How many levels deep
sort	title, created, modified
reverse	Reverse sort order
style	none, disc, circle, square

Page Tree

Display page tree navigation:

::: pagetree root=12345 depth=3
:::

Recently Updated

::: recently-updated spaces=TEAM,DOCS max=10
:::

Content by Label

::: content-by-label labels=api,documentation
:::

Layout Macros

Section and Column

::: section
::: column width=50%
Left column content.
:::
::: column width=50%
Right column content.
:::
:::

Excerpt

Mark content for reuse:

::: excerpt
This content can be included in other pages.
:::

Include Excerpt

Include excerpt from another page:

::: excerpt-include page="Page Title" nopanel=true
:::

Media Macros

Gallery

Display attached images as gallery:

::: gallery columns=3
:::

Attachments List

List page attachments:

::: attachments patterns=*.pdf,*.docx
:::

Multimedia

Embed video or audio:

::: multimedia url="https://youtube.com/watch?v=..." width=640 height=480
:::

Widget/Embed

Embed external content:

::: widget url="https://example.com/embed" width=100%
:::

TOC Zone

Create a table of contents for a specific section:

::: toc-zone minLevel=2 maxLevel=4
## Section 1
Content...
## Section 2
Content...
:::

Only headings within the zone are included in the TOC.

Page Properties

Details Summary (Page Properties Panel)

Display page metadata in a panel:

::: details
| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Status | Active |
| Owner | John |
:::

Details (Hidden Metadata)

Store metadata without displaying:

::: detailssummary hidden=true
| Key | Value |
|-----|-------|
| internal-id | 12345 |
:::

Tasks Report

Display a summary of tasks across pages:

:::tasks-report-macro spaces="TEAM" pageSize=20
:::

Shows tasks from specified spaces with pagination.

Labels Macros

Labels List

Display labels for the current page:

:::labels-list
:::

Popular Labels

Show frequently used labels in a space:

:::popular-labels spaces="TEAM" count=20
:::

Related Labels

Show labels related to current page’s labels:

:::related-labels labels="api,docs"
:::

Blog Posts

Display recent blog posts:

:::blog-posts max=10 spaces="DEV,OPS" labels="announcement"
:::

Options:

Option	Description
max	Maximum posts to show
spaces	Comma-separated space keys
labels	Filter by labels
author	Filter by author account ID
time	Time period filter
sort	Sort order

Spaces List

List available spaces:

:::spaces-list
:::

Page Index

Display alphabetical index of pages:

:::page-index
:::

Contributors

Show page contributors:

:::contributors mode=list showCount=true
:::

Options:

Option	Description
mode	list or inline
showCount	Show contribution count
limit	Max contributors to show
order	update or name
showLastTime	Show last contribution time

Change History

Display page change history:

:::change-history
:::

Options:

Option	Description
limit	Max entries to show
showProfilePic	Show contributor avatars
showSpace	Show space name

Lorem Ipsum

Generate placeholder text:

:::loremipsum paragraphs=3
:::

Confluence Wiki Syntax

For compatibility, Confluence wiki attachment syntax is also supported:

!image.png!                    <!-- Inline image -->
!image.png|alt=Description!    <!-- Image with alt text -->
!document.pdf!                 <!-- File download link -->

Unknown Macros

atlcli preserves unrecognized macros as-is. This ensures no information loss during sync:

::: unknown-macro param1=value1 param2=value2
Content inside the unknown macro.
:::

On push, atlcli converts this to Confluence’s storage format and preserves it. On pull, atlcli converts it back exactly.

Conversion Details

Direction	Process
Push	Markdown → Confluence Storage Format (XHTML)
Pull	Storage Format → Markdown

Round-Trip Safety

All supported macros round-trip cleanly:

1. Pull page with macros → Markdown
2. Edit markdown
3. Push back → Identical macro rendering

Unsupported Macros

Some complex macros render to placeholder text with a note:

<!-- Confluence macro: roadmap - not fully supported, preserved as-is -->
::: roadmap
...
:::

Best Practices

1. Use standard markdown when possible (tables, code blocks, lists)
2. Reserve macros for Confluence-specific features (panels, toc, jira)
3. Test round-trips for complex pages before relying on sync
4. Check preview with atlcli wiki docs preview before pushing

Troubleshooting

Macro Not Rendering

Symptom: Macro appears as raw text in Confluence.

Cause: Unclosed macro block or incorrect syntax.

Fix: Ensure every :::macro has a matching ::: closing tag. Validate with:

atlcli wiki docs check ./docs/page.md

Unknown Macro Warning

Symptom: Warning about unrecognized macro during push.

Cause: The macro isn’t in atlcli’s supported list.

Fix: This is safe—atlcli preserves unknown macros as-is, and they render correctly in Confluence.

Related Topics

• Sync - Push and pull pages with macro content
• Validation - Pre-push checks including macro syntax
• File Format - Frontmatter and markdown structure
• Pages - Create and update pages