diff --git a/public/js/md.js b/public/js/md.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1177564
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/js/md.js
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/* md.js — tiny, safe markdown subset for user-authored copy.
+ * Supports: # headings, **bold**, *italic*, [links](url), - lists, blank-line paragraphs.
+ * Everything is HTML-escaped FIRST, so authored text can never inject markup.
+ */
+const esc = (s) => String(s)
+  .replace(/&/g, '&amp;').replace(/</g, '&lt;').replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
+  .replace(/"/g, '&quot;').replace(/'/g, '&#39;');
+
+export function renderMarkdown(src) {
+  const lines = esc(src || '').split(/\r?\n/);
+  const out = [];
+  let para = [], list = null;
+
+  const flushPara = () => { if (para.length) { out.push(`<p>${inline(para.join(' '))}</p>`); para = []; } };
+  const flushList = () => { if (list) { out.push(`<ul>${list.join('')}</ul>`); list = null; } };
+
+  for (const raw of lines) {
+    const line = raw.trim();
+    if (!line) { flushPara(); flushList(); continue; }
+
+    const h = line.match(/^(#{1,3})\s+(.*)$/);
+    if (h) { flushPara(); flushList(); const n = h[1].length + 1; out.push(`<h${n}>${inline(h[2])}</h${n}>`); continue; }
+
+    const li = line.match(/^[-*]\s+(.*)$/);
+    if (li) { flushPara(); (list ||= []).push(`<li>${inline(li[1])}</li>`); continue; }
+
+    flushList();
+    para.push(line);
+  }
+  flushPara(); flushList();
+  return out.join('\n');
+}
+
+function inline(t) {
+  return t
+    .replace(/\*\*([^*]+)\*\*/g, '<strong>$1</strong>')
+    .replace(/\*([^*]+)\*/g, '<em>$1</em>')
+    // links: only http(s) and site-relative, so no javascript: URLs
+    .replace(/\[([^\]]+)\]\((https?:\/\/[^\s)]+|\/[^\s)]*)\)/g,
+      '<a href="$2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$1</a>');
+}