@nera-static/plugin-link-attributes

A plugin for the Nera static site generator that automatically adds attributes to external links (e.g. target="_blank" and rel="noopener noreferrer"). Ensures external links are secure, accessible, and SEO-friendly.

✨ Features

• Automatically adds attributes to links starting with http or www
• Prevents overwriting existing attributes
• Uses a safe and structured HTML parser (Cheerio)
• Configuration via config/link-attributes.yaml
• Lightweight and zero-runtime overhead
• Full compatibility with Nera v4.1.0+

🚀 Installation

Install the plugin in your Nera project:

npm install @nera-static/plugin-link-attributes

Then publish the default configuration:

npx @nera-static/plugin-link-attributes run publish-config

This creates:

config/
└── link-attributes.yaml

Nera will automatically detect the plugin and apply the transformations during the build.

⚙️ Configuration

Configure link behavior via config/link-attributes.yaml:

attributes:
  - target="_blank"
  - rel="noopener noreferrer"

Attribute notes

• target="_blank": Opens external links in a new tab.
• rel="noopener noreferrer": Improves security and prevents referrer leakage.
• You can define any valid HTML attributes (e.g., class="external", aria-label="...").

The plugin will not overwrite existing attributes on links.

🧩 Usage

No usage setup required – all external links in rendered HTML will be automatically processed during the build. Internal links are left untouched.

Before

<a href="https://example.com">Example</a>

After

<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Example</a>

🧪 Development

npm install
npm test
npm run lint

Tests use Vitest and validate:

• Attributes are added only to external links
• Internal or malformed links are ignored
• Existing attributes are preserved
• Output HTML remains valid and clean

🧑‍💻 Author

Michael Becker https://github.com/seebaermichi

🔗 Links

• Plugin Repository
• NPM Package
• Nera Static Site Generator

🧩 Compatibility

• Nera: v4.1.0+
• Node.js: >= 18
• Plugin API: Uses getMetaData() for HTML transformation

📦 License

MIT