diff --git a/eleventy.config.js b/eleventy.config.js
index 0d12675..44882a5 100644
--- a/eleventy.config.js
+++ b/eleventy.config.js
@@ -6,22 +6,25 @@ const syntaxHighlight = require("@11ty/eleventy-plugin-syntaxhighlight");
 const fs = require("fs");
 const { DateTime } = require("luxon");
 
-const tagPattern = /(?<=^|\s)#([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*)(?![a-zA-Z0-9_-])/g;
-
-// TODO: is there any reasonable way to make this use real markdown parsing because right now this is sketchy
-const extractTags = (content) => {
+const extractTags = (content, mdInstance) => {
   if (!content) return [];
-  const matches = content.match(tagPattern);
-  if (!matches) return [];
-  const tags = [...new Set(matches.map(m => m.slice(1)))];
-  return tags;
+  
+  const collectHashtags = (tokens) =>
+    tokens.flatMap(token => [
+      ...(token.type === 'hashtag' ? [token.content] : []),
+      ...(token.children ? collectHashtags(token.children) : [])
+    ]);
+  
+  const tokens = mdInstance.parse(content, {});
+  const tags = collectHashtags(tokens);
+  return [...new Set(tags)];
 }
 
-const getPostTags = (post) => {
+const getPostTags = (post, mdInstance) => {
   const filePath = post.inputPath;
   try {
     const content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8');
-    const tags = extractTags(content);
+    const tags = extractTags(content, mdInstance);
     return tags.map(tag => {
       const normalizedTag = tag.toLowerCase();
       return normalizedTag
@@ -38,16 +41,22 @@ const isReleased = (post) => {
 
 const markdownItHashtag = (md) => {
   const hashtagRegex = /^#([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*)(?![a-zA-Z0-9_-])/;
+  
+  const HASH_CODE = '#'.charCodeAt(0);
+  const SPACE_CODE = ' '.charCodeAt(0);
+  const TAB_CODE = '\t'.charCodeAt(0);
+  const NEWLINE_CODE = '\n'.charCodeAt(0);
+  const CARRIAGE_RETURN_CODE = '\r'.charCodeAt(0);
 
   md.inline.ruler.push('hashtag', function(state, silent) {
     const pos = state.pos;
     const ch = state.src.charCodeAt(pos);
 
-    if (ch !== '#') return false;
+    if (ch !== HASH_CODE) return false;
 
     if (pos > 0) {
       const prevCh = state.src.charCodeAt(pos - 1);
-      if (prevCh !== ' ' && prevCh !== '\t' && prevCh !== '\n' && prevCh !== '\r') {
+      if (prevCh !== SPACE_CODE && prevCh !== TAB_CODE && prevCh !== NEWLINE_CODE && prevCh !== CARRIAGE_RETURN_CODE) {
         return false;
       }
     }
@@ -99,11 +108,11 @@ md.use(markdownItMermaid);
 module.exports = (eleventyConfig) => {
   eleventyConfig.addPlugin(syntaxHighlight);
 
-  eleventyConfig.addFilter("extractTags", extractTags);
+  eleventyConfig.addFilter("extractTags", (content) => extractTags(content, md));
   eleventyConfig.addFilter("extractTagsFromFile", (filePath) => {
     try {
       const content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8');
-      return extractTags(content);
+      return extractTags(content, md);
     } catch (e) {
       return [];
     }
@@ -183,7 +192,7 @@ module.exports = (eleventyConfig) => {
   eleventyConfig.addCollection("contentTags", (collectionApi) => {
     const posts = collectionApi.getFilteredByGlob("posts/**/*.md").filter(isReleased);
     
-    return [...new Set(posts.flatMap(getPostTags))].sort();
+    return [...new Set(posts.flatMap(post => getPostTags(post, md)))].sort();
   });
 
   eleventyConfig.addCollection("postsByTag", (collectionApi) => {
@@ -191,7 +200,7 @@ module.exports = (eleventyConfig) => {
     const tagMap = {};
     
     posts.forEach(post => {
-      const tags = getPostTags(post)
+      const tags = getPostTags(post, md)
       tags.forEach((tag) => {
         tagMap[tag] = {
           name: tag,