Markdown

Variables

Learn how to embed live variable values from your visualisations inline in documents, descriptions and comments.

AI assisted, human approved — novem uses AI to review and keep our documentation up to date.

Available in: document content, resource descriptions, comments and topics. Not in e-mail content; see where variables do not work.

Revenue was {/u/acme/p/revenue/v/total} million.

Overview

Variables let you embed live values from any novem visualisation directly in your text. When the underlying data changes, the variable value updates automatically wherever it is referenced.

Variables use the Fully Qualified Novem Path (FQNP) syntax wrapped in single curly braces. They render inline — within paragraphs, lists, callouts and other content.

Syntax

The variable syntax follows the pattern:

{/u/<username>/<type>/<vis_id>/v/<var_name>}

Where:

<username> — the novem username who owns the visualisation
<type> — the vis type: p (plot), g (grid), m (mail), d (doc), r (repo), j (job)
<vis_id> — the visualisation identifier
<var_name> — the variable name defined on the visualisation

Where variables work

Variables resolve to a live value on three surfaces.

Document content. The body of a doc, anywhere inline text is supported:

Regular paragraphs
Inside {{ para }} sections
Inside {{ callout }} sections
Inside list items
Inside [[span: sections]]

Descriptions. The description of a plot, grid, doc, mail, repo or job. A grid's description is what a report shows, so a variable written there reaches the rendered report.

Comments and topics. The threads attached to any visualisation.

Variables are not processed inside code blocks or inline code, on any surface.

E-mail content does not interpolate variables. A reference written in a mail body renders as literal text, because mail content has its own markdown dialect and variables are not part of it. A mail's description does interpolate; that goes through the same renderer as every other description, so the two are easy to conflate.

Plot text. Table cells, captions and titles accept the syntax, but the value is not substituted; the reference stays as written.

Views. A view can hold vars over the API, but they cannot be referenced inline: the syntax above has no type letter for a view.

Examples

Inline metric

The index returned {/u/acme/p/nei/v/ytd_return} year to date.

Multiple variables in a paragraph

Revenue hit {/u/acme/p/rev/v/total} this quarter, up from
{/u/acme/p/rev/v/prev} last quarter — a {/u/acme/p/rev/v/growth}
increase.

Inside a styled paragraph

{{ para
  b: l3 blue-500
  p: l2
}}
**Current value:** {/u/acme/p/dashboard/v/current_price}
{{ /para }}

Inside a list

- North America: {/u/acme/p/regions/v/na_return}
- Europe: {/u/acme/p/regions/v/eu_return}
- Asia Pacific: {/u/acme/p/regions/v/apac_return}

Spans

HTML