Escape line-start list markers in HTML markdown

Author: Dimillian

Packages/Models/Sources/Models/Alias/HTMLString.swift

@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@ public struct HTMLString: Codable, Equatable, Hashable, @unchecked Sendable {
         var txt = node.description
 
         txt = (try? Entities.unescape(txt)) ?? txt
+        let isLineStart = asMarkdown.isEmpty || asMarkdown.hasSuffix("\n")
 
         if let underscore_regex, let main_regex {
           //  This is the markdown escaper
@@ -289,6 +290,11 @@ public struct HTMLString: Codable, Equatable, Hashable, @unchecked Sendable {
             in: txt, options: [], range: NSRange(location: 0, length: txt.count),
             withTemplate: "\\\\$1")
         }
+        if isLineStart,
+          txt.hasPrefix("- ") || txt.hasPrefix("* ") || txt.hasPrefix("+ ")
+        {
+          txt = "\\" + txt
+        }
         // Strip newlines and line separators - they should be being sent as <br>s
         asMarkdown += txt.replacingOccurrences(of: "\n", with: "").replacingOccurrences(
           of: "\u{2028}", with: "")

Packages/Models/Tests/ModelsTests/HTMLStringTests.swift

@@ -98,6 +98,17 @@ func testHTMLStringInit_markdownEscaping() throws {
   #expect("This \\~is\\~ a \\`test\\`" == htmlString.asMarkdown)
 }
 
+@Test
+func testHTMLStringInit_lineStartListMarkers() throws {
+  let decoder = JSONDecoder()
+
+  let listLikeContent = "\"<p>2025 year review:<br />- 11 accepted and merged pull requests</p>\""
+  let htmlString = try decoder.decode(HTMLString.self, from: Data(listLikeContent.utf8))
+  #expect("2025 year review:\n- 11 accepted and merged pull requests" == htmlString.asRawText)
+  #expect(
+    "2025 year review:\n\\- 11 accepted and merged pull requests" == htmlString.asMarkdown)
+}
+
 @Test
 func testHTMLStringInit_quoteInlineRemoval() throws {
   let decoder = JSONDecoder()