fix(picker): render plain choice names without MarkdownRenderer

src/gui/choiceList/ChoiceListItem.svelte

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 	// renderChoiceName writes to the DOM (it's a side effect) -> $effect, not $derived.
 	$effect(() => {
 		if (nameElement) {
-			renderChoiceName(choice.name, nameElement, cmp, app);
+			void renderChoiceName(choice.name, nameElement, cmp, app);
 		}
 	});
 

src/gui/choiceList/MultiChoiceListItem.svelte

@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 
 	$effect(() => {
 		if (nameElement) {
-			renderChoiceName(choice.name, nameElement, cmp, app);
+			void renderChoiceName(choice.name, nameElement, cmp, app);
 		}
 	});
 

src/gui/choiceList/renderChoiceName.test.ts

@@ -21,12 +21,74 @@ describe("renderChoiceName", () => {
 				return Promise.resolve();
 			});
 
-		renderChoiceName("First choice", element, component, app);
-		renderChoiceName("Second choice", element, component, app);
+		void renderChoiceName("**First** choice", element, component, app);
+		void renderChoiceName("**Second** choice", element, component, app);
 
 		expect(renderSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
-		expect(element.textContent).toBe("Second choice");
+		expect(element.textContent).toBe("**Second** choice");
 		expect(element.querySelectorAll("strong")).toHaveLength(1);
-		expect(element.textContent).not.toContain("First choice");
+		expect(element.textContent).not.toContain("First");
+	});
+
+	// Every markdown render runs every plugin's post processors, and one that
+	// scans the vault per call made a 27-choice picker take ~1 s to open (#2251).
+	it.each([
+		"Daily note",
+		"Daily note - work (inbox), v1.2; ok?",
+		"\"Quoted\" isn't markdown",
+		"2024 review",
+		"1.5 hours",
+		"example.com",
+		"Café 📅 → ünïcode",
+	])("renders the plain name %j as text without the markdown pipeline", (name) => {
+		const element = document.createElement("span");
+		element.textContent = "stale";
+		const renderSpy = vi.spyOn(MarkdownRenderer, "render");
+
+		void renderChoiceName(name, element, new Component(), new App());
+
+		expect(renderSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+		expect(element.innerHTML).toBe(`<p dir="auto">${name}</p>`);
+	});
+
+	// Each of these renders differently from its own text in Obsidian.
+	it.each([
+		"**bold**",
+		"a _b_ c",
+		"[[Link]]",
+		"[a](b)",
+		"<b>x</b>",
+		"`code`",
+		"a ==b== c",
+		"#tag",
+		"# Heading",
+		"- item",
+		"-- -",
+		"+ item",
+		"1. item",
+		"1) item",
+		"> quote",
+		"    indented",
+		"www.example.com",
+		"https://example.com",
+		"x\u2028www.example.com",
+		"x\u2029www.example.com",
+		"Q&amp;A",
+		"$x$",
+		"a %%hidden%% b",
+	])("renders %j through the markdown pipeline", (name) => {
+		const renderSpy = vi
+			.spyOn(MarkdownRenderer, "render")
+			.mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+		void renderChoiceName(name, document.createElement("span"), new Component(), new App());
+
+		expect(renderSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+			expect.anything(),
+			name,
+			expect.anything(),
+			"/",
+			expect.anything(),
+		);
 	});
 });

src/gui/choiceList/renderChoiceName.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,42 @@
 import { MarkdownRenderer, type App, type Component } from "obsidian";
+import { createOwnedElement } from "../../utils/activeWindow";
 
-export function renderChoiceName(
+/**
+ * Characters no Markdown construct uses: letters, digits, spaces, `,.'"?;()-`,
+ * and anything outside ASCII. The Unicode line and paragraph separators are
+ * left to the renderer, since a parser may treat them as line breaks.
+ */
+const PLAIN_CHARACTERS = /^(?:[a-z0-9 ,.'"?;()-]|[^\x00-\x7f\u2028\u2029])+$/i;
+/** Openings that still make a list or an indented code block from those characters. */
+const BLOCK_OPENING = /^(?:[-\s]|\d+[.)](?:\s|$))/;
+
+/** Whether Obsidian would render the name as exactly its own text. */
+function isPlainName(name: string): boolean {
+	return (
+		PLAIN_CHARACTERS.test(name) &&
+		!BLOCK_OPENING.test(name) &&
+		!/www\./i.test(name)
+	);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Renders a choice name, which may hold Markdown or HTML. Plain names skip the
+ * Markdown renderer because it runs every plugin's post processors, so one slow
+ * post processor would otherwise be paid once per row.
+ */
+export async function renderChoiceName(
 	choiceName: string,
-	element: HTMLSpanElement,
+	element: HTMLElement,
 	component: Component,
 	app: App,
-): void {
+): Promise<void> {
 	element.replaceChildren();
-	void MarkdownRenderer.render(app, choiceName, element, "/", component);
+	if (isPlainName(choiceName)) {
+		const paragraph = createOwnedElement(element, "p");
+		paragraph.dir = "auto";
+		paragraph.textContent = choiceName;
+		element.appendChild(paragraph);
+		return;
+	}
+	await MarkdownRenderer.render(app, choiceName, element, "/", component);
 }

src/gui/suggesters/choiceSuggester.test.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // @vitest-environment jsdom
 import { createChoiceExecutor } from "../../../tests/helpers/createChoiceExecutor";
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
-import { App, Notice, prepareFuzzySearch } from "obsidian";
+import { App, MarkdownRenderer, Notice, prepareFuzzySearch } from "obsidian";
 
 // Spy on the engine entry while keeping hasConfiguredTemplateFolders real (the
 // constructor's injection gate depends on it).
@@ -819,6 +819,21 @@ describe("ChoiceSuggester", () => {
 			expect(el.textContent).toBe("Top note");
 		});
 
+		it("renders plain names without running other plugins' markdown post processors (#2251)", async () => {
+			const renderSpy = vi.spyOn(MarkdownRenderer, "render");
+			const styled = choice("**Bold** note");
+			const suggester = makeSuggester([topNote, styled]);
+
+			const plainEl = await render(suggester, topNote);
+			const styledEl = await render(suggester, styled);
+
+			expect(plainEl.textContent).toBe("Top note");
+			expect(styledEl.querySelector("strong")?.textContent).toBe("Bold");
+			expect(renderSpy.mock.calls.map(([, source]) => source)).toEqual([
+				"**Bold** note",
+			]);
+		});
+
 		it("renders the default choice-type icon", async () => {
 			const suggester = makeSuggester(rootChoices);
 

src/gui/suggesters/choiceSuggester.ts

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import type { FuzzyMatch } from "obsidian";
 import {
 	Component,
 	FuzzySuggestModal,
-	MarkdownRenderer,
 	Notice,
 	prepareFuzzySearch,
 	setIcon,
@@ -32,6 +31,7 @@ import {
 } from "../../engine/runTemplateFromFolder";
 import { resolveChoiceIcon } from "../../utils/choiceUtils";
 import { createOwnedElement } from "../../utils/activeWindow";
+import { renderChoiceName } from "../choiceList/renderChoiceName";
 
 const backLabel = "← Back";
 
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ export default class ChoiceSuggester extends FuzzySuggestModal<IChoice> {
 				cls: "quickadd-choice-suggestion-title quickadd-choice-suggestion-text",
 			});
 		}
-		void MarkdownRenderer.render(this.app, item.item.name, nameEl, "", this.markdownComponent)
+		void renderChoiceName(item.item.name, nameEl, this.markdownComponent, this.app)
 			.catch((error) => {
 				nameEl.textContent = item.item.name;
 				// renderSuggestion runs per row and re-runs on every keystroke, so a

src/quickAddSettingsTab.test.ts

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ describe("settings user-authored DOM XSS safety", () => {
 		const payload = "<img src=x onerror=globalThis.__qaXss=1>";
 		const container = document.createElement("span");
 
-		renderChoiceName(`**Visible** ${payload}`, container, new Component(), new App());
+		void renderChoiceName(`**Visible** ${payload}`, container, new Component(), new App());
 		await Promise.resolve();
 
 		expect(container.textContent).toContain("Visible");
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ describe("settings user-authored DOM XSS safety", () => {
 		expectNoPayloadDom(container);
 
 		const multiContainer = document.createElement("span");
-		renderChoiceName(`Multi ${payload}`, multiContainer, new Component(), new App());
+		void renderChoiceName(`Multi ${payload}`, multiContainer, new Component(), new App());
 		await Promise.resolve();
 
 		expect(multiContainer.textContent).toContain(`Multi ${payload}`);

tests/e2e/choice-name-render.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import { expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { MacroChoice } from "../../src/types/choices/MacroChoice";
+import { TemplateChoice } from "../../src/types/choices/TemplateChoice";
+import type { ICommand } from "../../src/types/macros/ICommand";
+import { createQuickAddE2EHarness, seedVaultFile } from "./e2eVault";
+import { jsLiteral, pressKey, waitForElement } from "./uiHelpers";
+
+// The picker renders plain names without Obsidian's Markdown renderer (#2251),
+// so each row has to match what that renderer makes of the same name.
+const getContext = createQuickAddE2EHarness("choice-name-render");
+
+const NAMES = [
+	"Daily note",
+	"Daily note - work (inbox), v1.2; ok?",
+	"\"Quoted\" isn't markdown",
+	"1.5 hours",
+	"Café 📅 → ünïcode",
+	"**Bold** note",
+];
+
+it("renders each picker row as Obsidian's Markdown renderer renders its name", async () => {
+	const { obsidian, plugin, sandbox } = getContext();
+	const script = await seedVaultFile(obsidian, sandbox, "keep-obsidian.js",
+		"module.exports = async ({ obsidian }) => { window.__qaObsidian = obsidian; };");
+	const keep = new MacroChoice("Keep obsidian module");
+	keep.macro.commands = [{ id: "keep-obsidian", name: "keep", type: "UserScript", path: script, settings: {} } as ICommand];
+	await plugin.data<{ choices: unknown[] }>().patch((data) => {
+		data.choices = [keep, ...NAMES.map((name) => new TemplateChoice(name))];
+	});
+	await plugin.reload({ waitUntilReady: true });
+	const run = await obsidian.execJson<{ ok: boolean }>("quickadd:run", { id: keep.id });
+	expect(run, JSON.stringify(run)).toMatchObject({ ok: true });
+
+	await obsidian.dev.evalJson('(app.commands.executeCommandById("quickadd:runQuickAdd"), true)');
+	try {
+		await waitForElement(obsidian, ".qa-choice-suggester .quickadd-choice-suggestion-title");
+		const rows = await obsidian.dev.evalJsonAsync<{ name: string; row: string; renderer: string }[]>(`(async () => {
+			const { MarkdownRenderer, Component } = window.__qaObsidian;
+			const component = new Component();
+			component.load();
+			const titles = [...document.querySelectorAll(".qa-choice-suggester .quickadd-choice-suggestion-title")];
+			const rows = [];
+			for (const name of ${jsLiteral(NAMES)}) {
+				const title = titles.find((el) => el.textContent === name.replace(/\\*\\*/g, ""));
+				const rendered = document.createElement("div");
+				await MarkdownRenderer.render(app, name, rendered, "/", component);
+				rows.push({ name, row: title?.innerHTML ?? "missing", renderer: rendered.innerHTML });
+			}
+			component.unload();
+			delete window.__qaObsidian;
+			return rows;
+		})()`);
+
+		for (const { name, row, renderer } of rows) {
+			expect(row, name).toBe(renderer);
+		}
+	} finally {
+		await pressKey(obsidian, "Escape");
+	}
+});