Markdown wins: Better in spreadsheeting than spreadsheet

Description and use

Markdown became the single source of truth for the break‑even calculation, eliminating manual copy‑paste and enabling automated validation in CI.

Problem

Synchronizing a single numeric value between a Markdown README and a spreadsheet calculation was cumbersome and error‑prone.

Outcome

The Markdown file became the single source of truth for the break‑even calculation, eliminating manual copy‑paste, reducing errors, and enabling automated validation in the CI pipeline.

Workflow

• 1. Write the calculation in VisiMark syntax inside the Markdown file.
• 2. Run visimark check to validate values and assertions.
• 3. Use visimark fmt to rewrite the Markdown with updated numbers.
• 4. Export the values as JSON with visimark eval --json for downstream use.
• 5. Integrate the JSON export into the build pipeline to halt on assertion failures.

Evidence

The JSON is a projection of the README, not a second document, so it cannot drift.

Source

visimark eval --json exits 1 while the assert is false, which means the build stops before billing quotes a price the cap forbids.

Source