style/list-indent

Puts the configured spaces, one by default, between a list marker and the item's text, and starts each item where its container's text starts: at the start of the line, after a block quote's >, or under the text of the list item that holds it. The item's other lines move by as many columns as its text, so its paragraphs, code blocks, and nested lists stay inside it as they were.

Style rule, fixed by format. Presets: recommended (warn). Dialects: all. Options: spaces after markers, nestedIndent, startIndented, startIndent.

With the defaults, before:

-   Unpack the board.

    Keep the box for returns.
1.  Connect the sensor.
     - Use the short cable.

After:

- Unpack the board.

  Keep the box for returns.
1. Connect the sensor.
   - Use the short cable.

Option	Values	Default
bulletSpaces	An integer from 1 to 4	1
orderedSpaces	An integer from 1 to 4	1
bulletSpacesMultiline	An integer from 1 to 4	bulletSpaces
orderedSpacesMultiline	An integer from 1 to 4	orderedSpaces
nestedIndent	An integer from 1 to 8	Under the item's text
startIndented	A boolean	false
startIndent	A nonnegative integer	2

• bulletSpaces and orderedSpaces: the spaces after the marker of a bullet item and of a numbered one. As in markdownlint's MD030, the Multiline options take their place in a list where an item has more than one line or blank lines separate the items.
• nestedIndent: the columns from an item's marker to the marker of a list nested in it, like markdownlint's MD007 indent. A nested marker can stand from its item's text to three columns further, and the rule keeps it there: 4 puts it two columns in under - item and one under 1. item. A nested list that starts on its item's line, as in - - item, stays there, and one that follows another list stays out of that list's last item.
• startIndented and startIndent: with startIndented: true, the first level of bullet and ordered lists starts startIndent columns into its container. { "startIndented": true, "startIndent": 2 } writes - item as - item, moving its continuation lines too. Nested lists still use nestedIndent. A list that starts a block quote's line is indented too; set style/quote-marker's listItems to false with it. Four or more columns would make code, so the rule keeps lists as written for those values. A first-level list directly below nonblank text also stays, because indentation can make it continue that text. A list that starts on its footnote label's line keeps its marker position; its marker spacing and nested lists still follow their options where safe.

Edge cases and advanced usage

Left as written:

• An item that starts with indented code, five or more spaces after the marker; the code depends on that spacing.

• A list where moving an item would move another line into it. Here Text follows the list, and below - Item it would be the item's second paragraph:

  -   Item
  
    Text

  The same goes for a line that continues the item's paragraph without the item's indentation, where that line would start a list, a code span, or another block once inside the item.

• A list with a tab in an item's indentation, such as one that Obsidian indented with tabs.

• A list directly below TOML front matter that cannot interrupt a paragraph: a numbered list that does not start at 1, or one whose first item starts with a blank line, and the lists that directly follow it. Renderers without TOML front matter read the front matter's lines as a paragraph, which such a list continues as text.

• A list among the blocks indented below text that the parser reads where renderers read a list, such as 2. Two after an indented code block, or the list right after them, and the lists next to it (see how it works).

Dialect notes

In VitePress: a list with an item whose first line is a table's header row, as * a | b above --|-- is, keeps its markers and indentation, and so do the lists next to it. markdown-it tries a table before a list, so with less indentation, or with a marker that joins it to the list above, it reads that row as a table above the list, with the marker in its first cell. A list directly beside a list that a component line leaves as written (see VitePress) keeps its markers and indentation too, because another marker would join the two.

In Obsidian: a document-level list that ends in a nested list keeps its indentation, and so does the opening list in the following quote when its marker has exactly two spaces after >. Live Preview carries the earlier indentation into that quoted list, even across blank lines; changing it can remove a painted bullet. An intervening block restores ordinary indentation preferences, and safe marker and inline styles remain available. Quoted blocks opened after a Tab have separate literal-source protection; see Obsidian's boundary protections. Ordinary space-only quoted margins remain eligible for list indentation.

Related rules

style/list-marker and style/ordered-list also keep the markers of the lists below TOML front matter and among misread blocks above. In the Obsidian lists above, style/ordered-list keeps the number width, while allowing same-width numbering and delimiter changes.