diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/attached-comment.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/attached-comment.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5df81d00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/attached-comment.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+/**
+ * Attached-comment convention (#293 canon).
+ *
+ * Some block-level attributes have no native markdown syntax (paragraph/heading
+ * `textAlign` — #9; image/media attrs — #4/#8). Rather than HTML-wrapping the
+ * whole block (the old `<div align>` / `<p style>` forms, which the maintainer
+ * had to patch repeatedly and which did not round-trip cleanly), we ATTACH a
+ * compact HTML comment at the END of the block's rendered line:
+ *
+ *     Some paragraph text <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->
+ *
+ * The comment is invisible in any markdown renderer and is dropped by the
+ * DOM/generateJSON import stage, so it can never leak into the document body.
+ * The importer intercepts it BEFORE that stage (see markdown-to-prosemirror's
+ * applyAttachedComments) and re-applies the encoded attributes to the node.
+ *
+ * This module holds the two PURE, reusable primitives of the convention so the
+ * serializer, the parser, and future decisions (#4 image, #8 media) share ONE
+ * implementation:
+ *   - `attachedCommentFor(name, json)` — build the comment string.
+ *   - `parseAttachedComment(data)`     — parse a comment node's data back.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * A parsed attached comment: the leading `name` token and the decoded JSON
+ * object payload (empty object when the comment carried no JSON body).
+ */
+export interface AttachedComment {
+  name: string;
+  attrs: Record<string, unknown>;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Grammar of an attached comment's DATA (the text between `<!--` and `-->`):
+ * a leading name token (`attrs`, `img`, …) optionally followed by whitespace
+ * and a single JSON object. The name deliberately does NOT allow `:` so the
+ * file-level envelope comments (`docmost:meta` / `docmost:comments`) never match
+ * and stay inert here.
+ */
+const ATTACHED_COMMENT_RE = /^\s*([A-Za-z][\w-]*)(?:\s+(\{[\s\S]*\}))?\s*$/;
+
+/**
+ * Build an attached HTML comment `<!--name {compact-json}-->` for `json`.
+ *
+ * The JSON is emitted compactly (no spaces) via `JSON.stringify`. A string value
+ * may legitimately contain two consecutive hyphens `--`, which would prematurely
+ * close the HTML comment (`-->`). We defuse that WITHOUT changing the decoded
+ * value: each hyphen of every `--` pair is rewritten as the JSON unicode escape
+ * `-`, so `JSON.parse` on the reading side restores the exact original
+ * hyphens. `--` can only occur inside a JSON string (structural JSON never
+ * produces it), so a blanket replace over the stringified payload is safe.
+ */
+export function attachedCommentFor(name: string, json: object): string {
+  const raw = JSON.stringify(json);
+  // Escape every hyphen that is part of a `--` pair. Scanning left-to-right and
+  // replacing each `--` handles odd runs too (`---` -> two escapes + one bare
+  // `-`, still `---` after JSON.parse).
+  const safe = raw.replace(/--/g, "\\u002d\\u002d");
+  return `<!--${name} ${safe}-->`;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parse the DATA of a comment node into `{ name, attrs }`, or `null` when it is
+ * not a well-formed attached comment.
+ *
+ * Fail-open by design (maintainer spec): a comment whose name token is missing,
+ * whose JSON body is malformed, or whose body is not a plain object returns
+ * `null` so the caller ignores it and keeps default attributes. Unknown keys in
+ * a valid object are preserved here and filtered by the caller.
+ */
+export function parseAttachedComment(data: string): AttachedComment | null {
+  const m = ATTACHED_COMMENT_RE.exec(data);
+  if (!m) return null;
+  const name = m[1];
+  if (m[2] === undefined) {
+    // Name-only comment (no JSON body): a valid attached marker with no attrs.
+    return { name, attrs: {} };
+  }
+  try {
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(m[2]);
+    if (parsed && typeof parsed === "object" && !Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+      return { name, attrs: parsed as Record<string, unknown> };
+    }
+    return null; // fail-open: payload is not a plain object
+  } catch {
+    return null; // fail-open: malformed JSON -> ignore the comment
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/index.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/index.ts
index f02713e5..f37c47b5 100644
--- a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/index.ts
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/index.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,15 @@ export { markdownToProseMirror } from "./markdown-to-prosemirror.js";
 // schema the converter targets.
 export { docmostExtensions } from "./docmost-schema.js";
 
+// Attached-comment convention (#293 canon #9/#4/#8): the reusable primitives
+// the serializer/parser use to encode attrs that have no native markdown syntax
+// as trailing `<!--name {json}-->` comments.
+export {
+  attachedCommentFor,
+  parseAttachedComment,
+} from "./attached-comment.js";
+export type { AttachedComment } from "./attached-comment.js";
+
 export {
   canonicalizeContent,
   docsCanonicallyEqual,
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-converter.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-converter.ts
index 013a54f3..2a2a290d 100644
--- a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-converter.ts
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-converter.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { encodeHtmlEmbedSource } from "./docmost-schema.js";
+import { attachedCommentFor } from "./attached-comment.js";
 
 /**
  * Hard cap on processNode recursion depth (see the depth guard below).
@@ -138,38 +139,45 @@ export function convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(content: any): string {
       case "doc":
         return nodeContent.map(processNode).join("\n\n");
 
-      case "paragraph":
+      case "paragraph": {
         const text = nodeContent.map(processNode).join("");
         const align = node.attrs?.textAlign;
-        if (align && align !== "left") {
-          // Emit alignment as a styled `<p>` (review #10). The old
-          // `<div align="…">` had NO matching import parse rule — the div was
-          // unwrapped and alignment lost on every round trip. A styled `<p>`
-          // round-trips: the paragraph parse rule (tag:"p") matches and the
-          // textAlign global-attribute parseHTML (docmost-schema) reads the style.
-          return `<p style="text-align:${escapeAttr(align)}">${text}</p>`;
+        // Non-default alignment round-trips as an ATTACHED HTML comment at the
+        // END of the block line (#293 canon #9):
+        //   `some text <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->`
+        // This replaces the old `<p style="text-align:…">` wrapper (review #10,
+        // itself a replacement for the never-parsed `<div align>`). The schema's
+        // textAlign default is `null`; "left" is the visual default the editor
+        // renders identically to null — neither emits a marker (no churn). The
+        // importer's applyAttachedComments step reads the comment back before the
+        // DOM stage drops it. We only attach when there is text to attach to: a
+        // lone comment on a blank line has no block to bind to on re-import.
+        if (align && align !== "left" && text) {
+          return `${text} ${attachedCommentFor("attrs", { textAlign: align })}`;
         }
         return text || "";
+      }
 
-      case "heading":
+      case "heading": {
         const level = node.attrs?.level || 1;
         const headingText = nodeContent.map(processNode).join("");
+        const headingLine = "#".repeat(level) + " " + headingText;
         const headingAlign = node.attrs?.textAlign;
-        if (headingAlign && headingAlign !== "left") {
-          // Emit alignment as a styled `<hN>` so it round-trips losslessly,
-          // symmetric to the paragraph case above (review F5/A1). The bare
-          // `## text` markdown form carries NO alignment, so an aligned heading
-          // would silently drop textAlign on export. A styled `<hN>` re-parses:
-          // the heading parse rule (tag:"h1".."h6") matches and the textAlign
-          // global-attribute parseHTML (docmost-schema) reads the style back,
-          // preserving BOTH level and textAlign. escapeAttr keeps the align
-          // value injection-safe, exactly like the paragraph arm.
-          return `<h${level} style="text-align:${escapeAttr(headingAlign)}">${headingText}</h${level}>`;
+        // A non-default heading alignment attaches the same trailing comment
+        // (#293 canon #9), keeping the readable `## text` markdown form:
+        //   `## Title <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->`
+        // Bare `## text` carries no alignment, so without this an aligned heading
+        // would silently drop textAlign on export. Replaces the old
+        // `<hN style="text-align:…">` HTML form. "left"/null stay bare (no churn).
+        // Require headingText so an empty aligned heading stays bare `##` rather
+        // than emitting a comment with no visible element to attach to (matches
+        // the paragraph guard's `text` check — a lone comment has no block to
+        // bind on re-import).
+        if (headingAlign && headingAlign !== "left" && headingText) {
+          return `${headingLine} ${attachedCommentFor("attrs", { textAlign: headingAlign })}`;
         }
-        // No alignment (or the default "left"): keep the plain `## text`
-        // markdown form — HTML-ifying an unaligned heading would be needless
-        // churn, exactly as the paragraph case keeps plain text when unaligned.
-        return "#".repeat(level) + " " + headingText;
+        return headingLine;
+      }
 
       case "text":
         let textContent = node.text || "";
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-to-prosemirror.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-to-prosemirror.ts
index 4466edf4..73ed5eb1 100644
--- a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-to-prosemirror.ts
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/src/lib/markdown-to-prosemirror.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { generateJSON } from "@tiptap/html";
 import { JSDOM } from "jsdom";
 import { marked } from "marked";
 import { docmostExtensions } from "./docmost-schema.js";
+import { parseAttachedComment } from "./attached-comment.js";
 
 // Setup DOM environment for Tiptap HTML parsing in Node.js
 const dom = new JSDOM("<!DOCTYPE html><html><body></body></html>");
@@ -315,6 +316,64 @@ function bridgeTaskLists(html: string): string {
   return document.body.innerHTML;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Re-apply ATTACHED HTML comments (#293 canon) before the DOM/generateJSON
+ * stage drops them.
+ *
+ * The serializer appends attributes that have no native markdown syntax as a
+ * trailing `<!--name {json}-->` comment on the block's line (see
+ * attached-comment.ts). `marked` keeps that comment as an HTML comment NODE
+ * inside the block element (`<p>text <!--attrs {…}--></p>`), but the next stage
+ * (parse5/jsdom via generateJSON) discards comment nodes, so the attributes
+ * would be lost. This pass runs on the post-`marked` HTML: for every attached
+ * comment it re-expresses the encoded attributes in a form the schema's
+ * parseHTML already understands, then removes the comment so it cannot leak.
+ *
+ * For #9 the only handled name is `attrs`, and the only handled key is
+ * `textAlign` on a paragraph/heading: it is written as an inline
+ * `text-align` style on the parent element, which the docmost-schema textAlign
+ * global attribute reads back. Fail-open everywhere: a malformed comment (null
+ * from parseAttachedComment), an unknown name, a comment whose parent is not a
+ * `<p>`/`<hN>`, or an unknown/empty attr value is left inert (the comment is
+ * dropped by generateJSON anyway). Future decisions (#4/#8) extend the
+ * per-name handling here without changing the parse primitive.
+ */
+function applyAttachedComments(html: string): string {
+  // Cheap early-out: no comments at all -> nothing to intercept.
+  if (!html.includes("<!--")) return html;
+  const dom = new JSDOM(html);
+  const document = dom.window.document;
+  const nodeFilter = dom.window.NodeFilter;
+  // Collect comment nodes first (mutating the tree while walking is unsafe).
+  const walker = document.createTreeWalker(
+    document.body,
+    nodeFilter.SHOW_COMMENT,
+  );
+  const comments: any[] = [];
+  let current: any;
+  while ((current = walker.nextNode())) comments.push(current);
+
+  for (const comment of comments) {
+    const parsed = parseAttachedComment(comment.data);
+    if (!parsed || parsed.name !== "attrs") continue; // inert / not for #9
+    const parent = comment.parentElement as any;
+    if (!parent) continue;
+    const tag = String(parent.tagName || "").toLowerCase();
+    const isBlock = tag === "p" || /^h[1-6]$/.test(tag);
+    if (!isBlock) continue; // misplaced comment -> inert
+    const align = parsed.attrs.textAlign;
+    if (typeof align === "string" && align) {
+      // Re-express as an inline style; the schema's textAlign parseHTML reads
+      // `el.style.textAlign` back onto the paragraph/heading node.
+      parent.style.textAlign = align;
+    }
+    // Consume the marker regardless (unknown keys are simply ignored) so no
+    // attached comment ever survives into the parsed body.
+    comment.remove();
+  }
+  return document.body.innerHTML;
+}
+
 /**
  * Recursively strip content-less paragraph nodes from a generated doc.
  *
@@ -359,7 +418,10 @@ export async function markdownToProseMirror(
 ): Promise<any> {
   const withCallouts = await preprocessCallouts(markdownContent);
   const html = await marked.parse(withCallouts);
-  const bridged = bridgeTaskLists(html);
+  // Re-apply attached-comment attributes (#293 #9 textAlign, …) while the
+  // comment nodes still exist, before generateJSON drops them.
+  const withAttrs = applyAttachedComments(html);
+  const bridged = bridgeTaskLists(withAttrs);
   const doc = generateJSON(bridged, docmostExtensions);
   return stripEmptyParagraphs(doc);
 }
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-gaps.test.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-gaps.test.ts
index 47ab05bc..f3e69944 100644
--- a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-gaps.test.ts
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-gaps.test.ts
@@ -786,11 +786,11 @@ describe('converter gap coverage — raw-HTML container round-trips (specs 15–
 });
 
 // ===========================================================================
-// 30. heading.textAlign round-trip (A1). The paragraph case already exports a
-// non-default alignment as a styled `<p style="text-align:…">` that re-parses
-// losslessly; headings used to emit only the bare `## text` form, silently
-// DROPPING textAlign on export. The heading case is now symmetric: an aligned
-// heading exports as `<hN style="text-align:…">` and re-parses back to a heading
+// 30. heading.textAlign round-trip (A1). Bare `## text` markdown carries no
+// alignment, so an aligned heading used to silently DROP textAlign on export.
+// Per #293 canon #9 an aligned heading now keeps the readable `## text` form and
+// ATTACHES a trailing `<!--attrs {"textAlign":…}-->` comment (replacing the old
+// `<hN style="text-align:…">` HTML form). It re-parses back to a heading
 // carrying BOTH the level and the textAlign, so the round-trip is lossless; an
 // UNaligned heading still emits the bare `## text` markdown form (no churn).
 // ===========================================================================
@@ -801,21 +801,22 @@ const alignedHeading = (level: number, align: string, ...inline: any[]) => ({
 });
 
 describe('heading.textAlign round-trip (A1)', () => {
-  it('an aligned heading exports as <hN style="text-align:…"> (not bare ##)', () => {
+  it('an aligned heading keeps "## text" and attaches a <!--attrs--> comment (#293 #9)', () => {
     expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(alignedHeading(2, 'center', text('Title'))))).toBe(
-      '<h2 style="text-align:center">Title</h2>',
+      '## Title <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->',
     );
   });
 
   it('survives export -> import -> export losslessly (level AND textAlign preserved)', async () => {
     const input = alignedHeading(2, 'center', text('Title'));
     const { md1, doc2, md2 } = await roundTrip(input);
-    // Export direction: a styled <hN>, injection-safe via escapeAttr.
-    expect(md1).toBe('<h2 style="text-align:center">Title</h2>');
+    // Export direction: `## Title` plus the attached alignment comment (#293 #9).
+    expect(md1).toBe('## Title <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->');
     // Import direction: re-parses to a heading node with the level AND textAlign
-    // (the raw <hN style> HTML block flows through marked -> generateJSON, where
-    // the heading parse rule matches and the textAlign global attr reads the
-    // style back). Byte-stable second export closes the loop.
+    // (marked keeps the comment inside the <h2>; applyAttachedComments re-expresses
+    // it as an inline style before generateJSON, where the heading parse rule
+    // matches and the textAlign global attr reads it back). Byte-stable second
+    // export closes the loop.
     const h = doc2.content[0];
     expect(h.type).toBe('heading');
     expect(h.attrs.level).toBe(2);
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-golden.test.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-golden.test.ts
index f8ba6b76..0a4b69c0 100644
--- a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-golden.test.ts
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/markdown-converter-golden.test.ts
@@ -129,20 +129,19 @@ describe('inline-mark matrix (underline/sub/sup/highlight±color/textStyle/comme
   });
 });
 
-describe('paragraph.textAlign -> <p style="text-align:...">', () => {
-  it('non-default alignment emits an HTML <p style="text-align:...">', () => {
-    // #7 fix: a non-default paragraph alignment now round-trips. It is exported
-    // as an HTML `<p style="text-align:center">` (the schema's paragraph
-    // parseHTML reads `style="text-align"` back onto `textAlign` on import), so
-    // the alignment survives instead of collapsing to bare text. (The old
-    // `<div align="center">` form was NOT re-parsed onto the paragraph and was
-    // therefore lossy.)
+describe('paragraph.textAlign -> attached <!--attrs--> comment (#293 #9)', () => {
+  it('non-default alignment emits a trailing <!--attrs {"textAlign":…}--> comment', () => {
+    // #293 canon #9: a non-default paragraph alignment now round-trips as an
+    // ATTACHED HTML comment at the END of the block line instead of the old
+    // `<p style="text-align:center">` wrapper (which the maintainer had to patch
+    // A14->A15->A16). The importer's applyAttachedComments step reads the comment
+    // back onto `textAlign` before the DOM stage drops it.
     expect(c({ type: 'paragraph', attrs: { textAlign: 'center' }, content: [text('x')] })).toBe(
-      '<p style="text-align:center">x</p>',
+      'x <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->',
     );
   });
 
-  it('textAlign "left" (the default) is NOT wrapped', () => {
+  it('textAlign "left" (the default) emits NO comment', () => {
     expect(c({ type: 'paragraph', attrs: { textAlign: 'left' }, content: [text('x')] })).toBe('x');
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/textalign.test.ts b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/textalign.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c8dcb89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/prosemirror-markdown/test/textalign.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+// Import DIRECTLY from src (NOT the docmost-client barrel, which pulls in
+// collaboration.ts and mutates global DOM at import time).
+import { convertProseMirrorToMarkdown } from '../src/lib/markdown-converter.js';
+import { markdownToProseMirror } from '../src/lib/markdown-to-prosemirror.js';
+import {
+  attachedCommentFor,
+  parseAttachedComment,
+} from '../src/lib/attached-comment.js';
+
+// #293 canon decision #9: paragraph/heading `textAlign` serializes as an
+// ATTACHED HTML comment at the END of the block line —
+//   `some text <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->`
+// — replacing the old `<div align>` / `<p style="text-align:…">` wrappers, which
+// did NOT round-trip cleanly (alignment was lost on the first stabilize pass).
+// These tests are non-vacuous: they assert the EXACT emitted markdown (so they
+// fail against any wrapper form) AND that the alignment survives a full
+// PM -> MD -> PM round trip (which the old `<div align>` never did).
+
+const doc = (...nodes: any[]) => ({ type: 'doc', content: nodes });
+const text = (t: string) => ({ type: 'text', text: t });
+const para = (align: string | null, ...inline: any[]) => ({
+  type: 'paragraph',
+  attrs: align === null ? {} : { textAlign: align },
+  content: inline,
+});
+const heading = (level: number, align: string | null, ...inline: any[]) => ({
+  type: 'heading',
+  attrs: align === null ? { level } : { level, textAlign: align },
+  content: inline,
+});
+
+// Find the first paragraph/heading node in a generated doc (skips the doc root).
+const firstBlock = (d: any) => d.content?.[0];
+
+describe('attached-comment primitives (reusable for #9/#4/#8)', () => {
+  it('attachedCommentFor emits a compact `<!--name {json}-->`', () => {
+    expect(attachedCommentFor('attrs', { textAlign: 'center' })).toBe(
+      '<!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('attachedCommentFor escapes a `--` pair so it cannot close the comment early', () => {
+    // A string value containing `--` would otherwise inject `-->`. Each hyphen of
+    // the pair is emitted as the JSON unicode escape -; JSON.parse restores
+    // the original hyphens on the reading side.
+    const s = attachedCommentFor('img', { alt: 'a--b' });
+    expect(s).toBe('<!--img {"alt":"a\\u002d\\u002db"}-->');
+    // No premature `--` inside the payload (between the `<!--` opener and the
+    // `-->` closer), so the comment cannot terminate early.
+    expect(s.slice(4, -3)).not.toContain('--');
+    // Round-trip through the parser primitive restores the exact value.
+    const inner = s.slice('<!--'.length, -'-->'.length);
+    expect(parseAttachedComment(inner)).toEqual({ name: 'img', attrs: { alt: 'a--b' } });
+  });
+
+  it('parseAttachedComment fails open on malformed JSON and non-objects', () => {
+    expect(parseAttachedComment('attrs {not json}')).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseAttachedComment('attrs [1,2]')).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseAttachedComment('   ')).toBeNull();
+    // Name-only comment is a valid marker with empty attrs.
+    expect(parseAttachedComment('attrs')).toEqual({ name: 'attrs', attrs: {} });
+  });
+});
+
+describe('paragraph.textAlign serialization (#293 #9)', () => {
+  for (const align of ['center', 'right', 'justify']) {
+    it(`paragraph textAlign "${align}" -> trailing <!--attrs--> comment`, () => {
+      expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(para(align, text('hello'))))).toBe(
+        `hello <!--attrs {"textAlign":"${align}"}-->`,
+      );
+    });
+  }
+
+  it('default textAlign (null) emits NO comment', () => {
+    expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(para(null, text('hello'))))).toBe('hello');
+  });
+
+  it('"left" (visual default) emits NO comment', () => {
+    expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(para('left', text('hello'))))).toBe('hello');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('heading.textAlign serialization (#293 #9)', () => {
+  it('heading keeps "## text" and attaches the alignment comment', () => {
+    expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(heading(2, 'center', text('Title'))))).toBe(
+      '## Title <!--attrs {"textAlign":"center"}-->',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('default heading emits the bare "## text" form', () => {
+    expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(heading(3, null, text('Plain'))))).toBe('### Plain');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('paragraph.textAlign round-trip PM -> MD -> PM (#293 #9)', () => {
+  for (const align of ['center', 'right', 'justify']) {
+    it(`preserves paragraph textAlign "${align}"`, async () => {
+      const md1 = convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(para(align, text('hello'))));
+      expect(md1).toBe(`hello <!--attrs {"textAlign":"${align}"}-->`);
+      const doc2 = await markdownToProseMirror(md1);
+      const block = firstBlock(doc2);
+      expect(block.type).toBe('paragraph');
+      expect(block.attrs.textAlign).toBe(align);
+      // Text is intact (the trailing space before the comment is trimmed).
+      expect(block.content?.[0]?.text).toBe('hello');
+      // Byte-stable second export closes the loop.
+      expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc2)).toBe(md1);
+    });
+  }
+
+  it('default paragraph re-imports with textAlign null (no comment survives)', async () => {
+    const md1 = convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(para(null, text('hello'))));
+    const doc2 = await markdownToProseMirror(md1);
+    const block = firstBlock(doc2);
+    expect(block.type).toBe('paragraph');
+    expect(block.attrs.textAlign ?? null).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('heading.textAlign round-trip PM -> MD -> PM (#293 #9)', () => {
+  for (const [level, align] of [
+    [2, 'center'],
+    [3, 'right'],
+    [1, 'justify'],
+  ] as [number, string][]) {
+    it(`preserves h${level} textAlign "${align}"`, async () => {
+      const md1 = convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc(heading(level, align, text('Head'))));
+      expect(md1).toBe(`${'#'.repeat(level)} Head <!--attrs {"textAlign":"${align}"}-->`);
+      const doc2 = await markdownToProseMirror(md1);
+      const block = firstBlock(doc2);
+      expect(block.type).toBe('heading');
+      expect(block.attrs.level).toBe(level);
+      expect(block.attrs.textAlign).toBe(align);
+      expect(convertProseMirrorToMarkdown(doc2)).toBe(md1);
+    });
+  }
+});
+
+describe('attached-comment fail-open in the import pipeline (#293 #9)', () => {
+  it('a malformed attrs comment is ignored (default attrs kept)', async () => {
+    const doc2 = await markdownToProseMirror('hello <!--attrs {bad json}-->');
+    const block = firstBlock(doc2);
+    expect(block.type).toBe('paragraph');
+    expect(block.attrs.textAlign ?? null).toBeNull();
+    expect(block.content?.[0]?.text).toBe('hello');
+  });
+
+  it('an unknown key in a valid attrs comment is ignored, no comment leaks', async () => {
+    const doc2 = await markdownToProseMirror('hello <!--attrs {"bogus":"x"}-->');
+    const block = firstBlock(doc2);
+    expect(block.type).toBe('paragraph');
+    expect(block.attrs.textAlign ?? null).toBeNull();
+    // The unknown key and the comment marker must not survive into the body.
+    expect(block.content?.[0]?.text).toBe('hello');
+    const serialized = JSON.stringify(doc2);
+    expect(serialized).not.toContain('bogus');
+    expect(serialized).not.toContain('<!--');
+  });
+});