diff --git a/__tests__/__snapshots__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js.snap b/__tests__/__snapshots__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js.snap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1dabad5d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/__snapshots__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`disableTokenizers: "blocks" disabling block tokenizer 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "type": "text",
+          "value": "#  heading 1",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`disableTokenizers: "inlines" disabling delete 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "type": "text",
+          "value": "~~strikethrough~~",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`disableTokenizers: "inlines" disabling emphasis 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "type": "text",
+          "value": "*emphatic **strong** emphatic*",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`disableTokenizers: "inlines" disabling inlineCode 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "type": "text",
+          "value": "\`const js = true \`",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
diff --git a/__tests__/__snapshots__/link-parsers.test.js.snap b/__tests__/__snapshots__/link-parsers.test.js.snap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b1afd3d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/__snapshots__/link-parsers.test.js.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`a bare autoLinked url 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "children": Array [
+            Object {
+              "type": "text",
+              "value": "http://www.googl.com",
+            },
+          ],
+          "title": null,
+          "type": "link",
+          "url": "http://www.googl.com",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`a bare autoLinked url with no protocol 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "children": Array [
+            Object {
+              "type": "text",
+              "value": "www.google.com",
+            },
+          ],
+          "title": null,
+          "type": "link",
+          "url": "http://www.google.com",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`a bracketed autoLinked url 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "children": Array [
+            Object {
+              "type": "text",
+              "value": "http://www.google.com",
+            },
+          ],
+          "title": null,
+          "type": "link",
+          "url": "http://www.google.com",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`a link ref 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "children": Array [
+            Object {
+              "type": "text",
+              "value": "link",
+            },
+          ],
+          "identifier": "link",
+          "label": "link",
+          "referenceType": "shortcut",
+          "type": "linkReference",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`a link with label 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "children": Array [
+    Object {
+      "children": Array [
+        Object {
+          "children": Array [
+            Object {
+              "type": "text",
+              "value": "link",
+            },
+          ],
+          "title": null,
+          "type": "link",
+          "url": "http://www.foo.com",
+        },
+      ],
+      "type": "paragraph",
+    },
+  ],
+  "type": "root",
+}
+`;
diff --git a/__tests__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js b/__tests__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d7b7d63ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/disabling-tokenizers.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+const markdown = require('../index');
+
+describe('disableTokenizers: "inlines"', () => {
+  const opts = { disableTokenizers: 'inlines' };
+
+  it('disabling inlineCode', () => {
+    const md = '`const js = true `';
+    expect(markdown.mdast(md, opts)).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+
+  it('disabling emphasis', () => {
+    const md = '*emphatic **strong** emphatic*';
+    expect(markdown.mdast(md, opts)).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+
+  it('disabling delete', () => {
+    const md = '~~strikethrough~~';
+    expect(markdown.mdast(md, opts)).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('disableTokenizers: "blocks"', () => {
+  const opts = { disableTokenizers: 'blocks' };
+
+  it('disabling block tokenizer', () => {
+    const md = '# heading 1';
+    expect(markdown.mdast(md, opts)).toMatchSnapshot();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/__tests__/flavored-compilers.test.js b/__tests__/flavored-compilers.test.js
index 957b7041c..886d3856c 100644
--- a/__tests__/flavored-compilers.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/flavored-compilers.test.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const rehypeSanitize = require('rehype-sanitize');
 
 const parsers = Object.values(require('../processor/parse')).map(parser => parser.sanitize(sanitize));
 const compilers = Object.values(require('../processor/compile'));
-const options = require('../options.json').markdownOptions;
+const options = require('../options.js').options.markdownOptions;
 
 const processor = unified()
   .use(remarkParse, options)
diff --git a/__tests__/flavored-parsers.test.js b/__tests__/flavored-parsers.test.js
index 34066be22..03549ddaa 100644
--- a/__tests__/flavored-parsers.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/flavored-parsers.test.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const rehypeSanitize = require('rehype-sanitize');
 
 const parseCallouts = require('../processor/parse/flavored/callout');
 const parseCodeTabs = require('../processor/parse/flavored/code-tabs');
-const options = require('../options.json').markdownOptions;
+const options = require('../options.js').options.markdownOptions;
 
 const sanitize = { attributes: [], tagNames: [] };
 const process = (text, opts = options) =>
diff --git a/__tests__/index.test.js b/__tests__/index.test.js
index 462dd17a8..0894088f6 100644
--- a/__tests__/index.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/index.test.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ const BaseUrlContext = require('../contexts/BaseUrl');
 
 const markdown = require('../index');
 const { tableFlattening } = require('../processor/plugin/table-flattening');
-const settings = require('../options.json');
+const { options } = require('../options.js');
 
 test('image', () => {
   expect(mount(markdown.default('![Image](http://example.com/image.png)')).html()).toMatchSnapshot();
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ test('magic image', () => {
     }
     [/block]
     `,
-        settings
+        options
       )
     ).html()
   ).toMatchSnapshot();
diff --git a/__tests__/link-parsers.test.js b/__tests__/link-parsers.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64aa06fa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/link-parsers.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+const markdown = require('../index');
+
+test('a link with label', () => {
+  expect(markdown.mdast('[link](http://www.foo.com)')).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
+
+test('a link ref', () => {
+  expect(markdown.mdast('[link]')).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
+
+test('a bracketed autoLinked url', () => {
+  expect(markdown.mdast('<http://www.google.com>')).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
+
+test('a bare autoLinked url', () => {
+  expect(markdown.mdast('http://www.googl.com')).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
+
+test.skip('a bare autoLinked url with no protocol', () => {
+  expect(markdown.mdast('www.google.com')).toMatchSnapshot();
+});
diff --git a/__tests__/magic-block-parser.test.js b/__tests__/magic-block-parser.test.js
index 72592a46e..7c9398103 100644
--- a/__tests__/magic-block-parser.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/magic-block-parser.test.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const remarkParse = require('remark-parse');
 const rehypeSanitize = require('rehype-sanitize');
 
 const parser = require('../processor/parse/magic-block-parser');
-const options = require('../options.json').markdownOptions;
+const options = require('../options.js').options.markdownOptions;
 
 const { silenceConsole } = require('./helpers');
 
diff --git a/__tests__/magic-block-parser/table.test.js b/__tests__/magic-block-parser/table.test.js
index 625ebd50b..9de69502d 100644
--- a/__tests__/magic-block-parser/table.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/magic-block-parser/table.test.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const remarkParse = require('remark-parse');
 const rehypeSanitize = require('rehype-sanitize');
 
 const parser = require('../../processor/parse/magic-block-parser');
-const options = require('../../options.json').markdownOptions;
+const options = require('../../options.js').options.markdownOptions;
 
 const sanitize = { attributes: [] };
 const process = (text, opts = options) =>
diff --git a/docs/getting-started.md b/docs/getting-started.md
index a226fbe70..13530c976 100644
--- a/docs/getting-started.md
+++ b/docs/getting-started.md
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ The `utils` export gives you access to various tools and configuration settings:
   - `markdownOptions`—configuration object passed to `remark`
   - `correctnewlines`—flag to toggle newline transformation.
   - `normalize`—auto-normalize magic blocks before processing.
+  - `disableTokenizers`—disable internal `block` or `inline` tokenizers.
 - **`<GlossaryContext/>`** and **`<VariablesContext/>`**
   React provider and consumer wrappers for [user data injection](doc:features#section-data-injection).
 [block:html]
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 61e725da3..2a1fbcaf2 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const remarkStringify = require('remark-stringify');
 const remarkBreaks = require('remark-breaks');
 const remarkSlug = require('remark-slug');
 const remarkFrontmatter = require('remark-frontmatter');
+const remarkDisableTokenizers = require('remark-disable-tokenizers');
 
 // rehype plugins
 const rehypeSanitize = require('rehype-sanitize');
@@ -61,14 +62,14 @@ const tableFlattening = require('./processor/plugin/table-flattening');
 const toPlainText = require('./processor/plugin/plain-text');
 
 // Processor Option Defaults
-const options = require('./options.json');
+const { options, parseOptions } = require('./options.js');
 
 /**
  * Normalize Magic Block Raw Text
  */
 export function setup(blocks, opts = {}) {
   // merge default and user options
-  opts = { ...options, ...opts };
+  opts = parseOptions(opts);
 
   // normalize magic block linebreaks
   if (opts.normalize && blocks) {
@@ -110,6 +111,7 @@ export function processor(opts = {}) {
    * - sanitize and remove any disallowed attributes
    * - output the hast to a React vdom with our custom components
    */
+
   return unified()
     .use(remarkParse, opts.markdownOptions)
     .use(remarkFrontmatter, ['yaml', 'toml'])
@@ -118,6 +120,7 @@ export function processor(opts = {}) {
     .use(!opts.correctnewlines ? remarkBreaks : () => {})
     .use(customParsers)
     .use(remarkSlug)
+    .use(remarkDisableTokenizers, opts.disableTokenizers)
     .use(remarkRehype, { allowDangerousHtml: true })
     .use(rehypeRaw)
     .use(rehypeSanitize, sanitize);
diff --git a/options.js b/options.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..94ebdd632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+const options = {
+  compatibilityMode: false,
+  copyButtons: true,
+  correctnewlines: false,
+  markdownOptions: {
+    fences: true,
+    commonmark: true,
+    gfm: true,
+    ruleSpaces: false,
+    listItemIndent: '1',
+    spacedTable: true,
+    paddedTable: true,
+    setext: true,
+  },
+  normalize: true,
+  settings: {
+    position: false,
+  },
+};
+
+/**
+ * @note disabling `newline`, `paragraph`, or `text` tokenizers trips Remark into an infinite loop!
+ */
+const blocks = [
+  // 'newline',
+  'indentedCode',
+  'fencedCode',
+  'blockquote',
+  'atxHeading',
+  'thematicBreak',
+  'list',
+  'setextHeading',
+  'html',
+  'footnote',
+  'definition',
+  'table',
+  // 'paragraph',
+];
+
+const inlines = [
+  'escape',
+  'autoLink',
+  'url',
+  'html',
+  'link',
+  'reference',
+  'strong',
+  'emphasis',
+  'deletion',
+  'code',
+  'break',
+  // 'text',
+];
+
+const toBeDecorated = {
+  inlines: inlines.filter(i => !['link', 'reference'].includes(i)),
+  blocks: [],
+};
+
+const disableTokenizers = {
+  inlines: {
+    disableTokenizers: {
+      inline: toBeDecorated.inlines,
+      block: toBeDecorated.blocks,
+    },
+  },
+  blocks: {
+    disableTokenizers: {
+      inline: inlines.filter(i => !toBeDecorated.inlines.includes(i)),
+      block: blocks.filter(b => !toBeDecorated.blocks.includes(b)),
+    },
+  },
+};
+
+const parseOptions = (userOpts = {}) => {
+  let opts = { ...options, ...userOpts };
+
+  if (opts.disableTokenizers in disableTokenizers) {
+    opts = { ...opts, ...disableTokenizers[opts.disableTokenizers] };
+  } else if (opts.disableTokenizers) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `opts.disableTokenizers "${opts.disableTokenizers}" not one of "${Object.keys(disableTokenizers)}"`
+    );
+  }
+
+  return opts;
+};
+
+export { options, parseOptions };
diff --git a/options.json b/options.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 7520b0173..000000000
--- a/options.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "compatibilityMode": false,
-  "copyButtons": true,
-  "correctnewlines": false,
-  "markdownOptions": {
-    "fences": true,
-    "commonmark": true,
-    "gfm": true,
-    "ruleSpaces": false,
-    "listItemIndent": "1",
-    "spacedTable": true,
-    "paddedTable": true,
-    "setext": true
-  },
-  "normalize": true,
-  "settings": {
-    "position": false
-  }
-}
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index bfd871aa2..1ce82ad01 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -7010,6 +7010,11 @@
         }
       }
     },
+    "clone": {
+      "version": "2.1.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/clone/-/clone-2.1.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-G39Ln1kfHo+DZwQBYANFoCiHQ18="
+    },
     "clone-deep": {
       "version": "4.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/clone-deep/-/clone-deep-4.0.1.tgz",
@@ -22973,6 +22978,14 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/remark-breaks/-/remark-breaks-1.0.5.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-lr8+TlJI273NjEqL27eUthPYPTCgXEj4NaLbnazS3bQaQL2FySlsbtgo52gE36fE1gWeQgkn1VdmWsoT+uA7FA=="
     },
+    "remark-disable-tokenizers": {
+      "version": "1.0.24",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/remark-disable-tokenizers/-/remark-disable-tokenizers-1.0.24.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-HsAmBY5cNliHYAzba4zuskZzkDdp6sG+tRelDb4AoPo2YHNGHnxYsatShzTIsnRNLgCbsxycW5Ge6KigHn701A==",
+      "requires": {
+        "clone": "^2.1.2"
+      }
+    },
     "remark-frontmatter": {
       "version": "2.0.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/remark-frontmatter/-/remark-frontmatter-2.0.0.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bb9a0daa6..5165a6b61 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     "rehype-sanitize": "^3.0.1",
     "rehype-stringify": "^6.0.0",
     "remark-breaks": "^1.0.0",
+    "remark-disable-tokenizers": "^1.0.24",
     "remark-frontmatter": "^2.0.0",
     "remark-parse": "^7.0.2",
     "remark-rehype": "^7.0.0",