content-file-parseable (TN203)

Group	Default severity
Content	Error

The content file must be parseable so the abstract rules can scan it. In practice this rule is about index.ipynb notebooks: a notebook is a JSON document, and one that is not valid JSON — from a botched merge conflict resolution, a truncated save, or hand editing — cannot be read by the linter (or, for that matter, by Jupyter or the Sphinx build).

Example of a failing technote

A merge conflict left markers in the notebook file, so it is no longer valid JSON:

index.ipynb

{
 "cells": [
<<<<<<< HEAD
  {"cell_type": "markdown", ...

[TN203] index.ipynb could not be parsed as a notebook (invalid JSON): Expecting value: line 3 column 1 (char 15)

How to fix it

Repair the file so it is valid JSON again:

• If the damage came from a merge conflict, resolve the conflict markers — for notebooks, a tool such as nbdime merges notebook JSON structurally.

• Otherwise, restore the last good version from git (git checkout <commit> -- index.ipynb) and re-apply your changes by editing the notebook in Jupyter, which always saves valid JSON.

See also

• TN201 — the file parses but declares no abstract.