Decide & stage removal of waffle flag: `useReactMarkdownEditor`

[farhan]

• Flag name: useReactMarkdownEditor
• Flag details: Gates the "Switch to Markdown Editor" option for CAPA problems in the authoring MFE.
• Current status: "Enabled by default" via a migration in feat!: enable authoring MFE markdown editor waffle for everyone by default openedx-platform#36872 (merged June 9, 2025). The migration runs on both new and existing instances and will not overwrite an existing "No" waffle flag — org/course-level overrides still take precedence. Operators who wish to disable it can opt out toggling flag to No.
• Removal date: None set yet — a removal decision is pending community feedback.

Short Feature Description

Problem Block can be created/edited in 3 editors:

1. WYSIWYG (default) — form-based, point-and-click UI for building problems.
2. Advanced — raw OLX (XML) editor.
3. Markdown — text-based editor using a custom edX syntax (gated by this waffle flag).

Feature Behavior & Known Limitations

Editor Naming Limitation: The "Markdown" editor does not support real Markdown syntax — it uses a custom edX text format with no syntax in common with standard Markdown (e.g. no **bold**, _italic_, or [links]). A rename/redesign is under active discussion. See #2444 for details.

Copying following 2 important feature behaviours from PR

Problems created using the form-based or advanced editors in the Authoring MFE do not support Markdown, as there is currently no OLX-to-Markdown converter available. As a result, the Switch to Markdown Editor button will not be shown for these problems. Work on this converter can begin after the Teak release. (Source: #1805)

For Teak, as per the discussion here, once a user switches to the Markdown editor, they cannot revert to the form-based or advanced editors unless the waffle flag is turned off for that course.

Note: My testing contradicts second point, see testing notes in the comment below

What to do in this ticket

1. Gather feedback from the community on the feature as its enabled via migration
2. As a follow-up step, decide either to remove the waffle flag — once we confirm it will remain an out-of-the-box feature.

References

• Original feature PR: feat: added markdown editor for editing problems in markdown format #1805
• Flag PR: feat: add markdown editor waffle flag openedx-platform#36512
• Enable-by-default PR (closed without merging): feat: enable authoring MFE markdown editor waffle flag for everyone by default openedx-platform#36602
• Enable-by-default PR (merged): feat!: enable authoring MFE markdown editor waffle for everyone by default openedx-platform#36872
• Teak backport: feat!: enable authoring MFE markdown editor waffle for everyone by default [Teak] openedx-platform#36876
• Related open product discussion: The "Markdown" editor has never supported real Markdown #2444

[farhan]

It has been discussed in the parent story as well in the comment

[farhan]

I did a quick end-to-end test of the feature. Here are my testing notes:

Testing Steps

1. Verify the waffle flag is enabled

Confirm contentstore.use_react_markdown_editor is set to Yes (enabled by default via migration in openedx/openedx-platform#36872). No manual step needed on fresh setups — check the waffle-flags table in Django admin to confirm:

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2. Create a new Problem Block → Markdown Editor available

Go to Studio course → Add New Component → Problem. Select any simple problem type. On the problem editor page, click "Show advanced settings" — a "Switch to Markdown Editor" button appears:

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3. Markdown editor in action

Switching opens the text-based Markdown editor with a default template for the selected problem type:

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4. Advanced editor still accessible from Markdown editor

While in the Markdown editor, switching to the Advanced (OLX) editor is still available:

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Personal Testing Notes

• The "Switch to Markdown Editor" option only appears when creating a new Problem Block — for already-created problem blocks (authored via WYSIWYG/default or Advanced editor), this switching option is not available.
• If a Problem Block is created in the Markdown editor, switching to the Advanced editor is still available.

Tested on main branch of openedx-platform and tutor — 2026-07-02

[farhan]

FYI @feanil — testing notes and references (@claude assisted) have been added to the story description and comments. This is ready to forward to the product WG for a feature decision.

My experience summary:
This feature has open product questions (see #2444) that should be resolved and the feature should be groomed further before committing to flag removal.