[rssoconnor]

I've use archforms in my custom markup before: https://r6.ca/HtmlAsSgml.html

For example added an <nbsp> attribute to turn all spaces into non-breaking spaces, and used archforms to remove the attribute afterwards.

But yeah, maybe for Makrdown you don't need archforms. On the other hand, perhaps there is some super clever way to use archforms to get your reference links working.