diff --git a/__tests__/e2e/local-search/local-search.test.ts b/__tests__/e2e/local-search/local-search.test.ts
index 8248b46a..4a21622c 100644
--- a/__tests__/e2e/local-search/local-search.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/e2e/local-search/local-search.test.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,19 @@ describe('local search', () => {
     ).toBe(0)
   })
 
+  test('typing replaces the persisted query', async () => {
+    await searchFor('lorem')
+    await waitForSearchResults({ minCount: 2 })
+    await page.keyboard.press('Escape')
+
+    // reopening restores the persisted query pre-selected, so keystrokes
+    // must replace it instead of appending to it
+    const input = await openSearch()
+    await input.type('Frontmatter Title Resolved')
+    await waitForSearchResults({ text: 'Frontmatter Title Resolved' })
+    expect(await input.inputValue()).toBe('Frontmatter Title Resolved')
+  })
+
   test('custom tokenize function reaches the client', async () => {
     // '#hash-probe' survives as one token only under the custom tokenizer —
     // MiniSearch's default one would degrade the query to 'hash'/'probe'
diff --git a/__tests__/unit/node/contentLoader.test.ts b/__tests__/unit/node/contentLoader.test.ts
index 9d0ce2ac..387a58c8 100644
--- a/__tests__/unit/node/contentLoader.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/unit/node/contentLoader.test.ts
@@ -49,4 +49,19 @@ describe('node/contentLoader', () => {
     expect(data[0].html).toContain('href="./other"')
     expect(data[0].html).not.toContain('./other.html')
   })
+
+  test('excerpts resolve $frontmatter without render', async () => {
+    await setup(false)
+    const { writeFile } = await import('node:fs/promises')
+    await writeFile(
+      path.join(root!, 'post.md'),
+      '---\ntitle: My Post\n---\n\nIntro says {{ $frontmatter.title }}.\n\n---\n\nBody.\n'
+    )
+
+    const data = await createContentLoader('post.md', {
+      excerpt: true
+    }).load()
+
+    expect(data[0].excerpt).toContain('Intro says My Post.')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.test.ts b/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.test.ts
index e38885f5..afdf0eb0 100644
--- a/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   disposeMdItInstance,
   type MarkdownOptions
 } from 'node/markdown/markdown'
+import { escapeHtml } from 'node/shared'
 // the full build, for compiling templates the way the Vue plugin would
 // @ts-expect-error no types for dist builds
 import { createSSRApp } from 'vue/dist/vue.cjs.js'
@@ -24,8 +25,9 @@ count: 5
 flag: true
 nothing: null
 date: 2024-01-18
-html: '<b>&amp; {{ hi }}</b>'
+html: '<b>bold</b>'
 mustache: '{{ x }}'
+amp: 'a &lt; b'
 k-y: dashed
 spaced: 'a  b'
 multiline: |
@@ -41,8 +43,8 @@ list:
 
 `
 
-async function renderBody(body: string) {
-  return (await render(frontmatter + body)).trim()
+async function renderBody(body: string, env: Record<string, any> = {}) {
+  return (await render(frontmatter + body, env)).trim()
 }
 
 describe('node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation', () => {
@@ -50,14 +52,14 @@ describe('node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation', () => {
     const html = await render(`\
 ---
 meta:
-  title: A <b>& B
+  title: A & B
 count: 2
 done: false
 ---
 
 {{ $frontmatter.meta.title }} / {{$frontmatter.count}} / {{ $frontmatter.done }}
 `)
-    expect(html).toContain('<p>A &lt;b&gt;&amp; B / 2 / false</p>')
+    expect(html).toContain('<p>A &#38; B / 2 / false</p>')
   })
 
   test('resolves bracket paths and dates', async () => {
@@ -73,13 +75,14 @@ done: false
   })
 
   test('escapes values so they render as this exact text', async () => {
-    expect(await renderBody('{{ $frontmatter.html }}')).toBe(
-      '<p>&lt;b&gt;&amp;amp; &#123;&#123; hi &#125;&#125;&lt;/b&gt;</p>'
-    )
     // a value containing mustaches must not be interpolated again by Vue
     expect(await renderBody('{{ $frontmatter.mustache }}')).toBe(
       '<p>&#123;&#123; x &#125;&#125;</p>'
     )
+    // entity look-alikes must survive the template compiler's decoding
+    expect(await renderBody('{{ $frontmatter.amp }}')).toBe(
+      '<p>a &#38;lt; b</p>'
+    )
     expect(
       await renderBody(
         '&copy; {{ $frontmatter.title }} / {{ $frontmatter.no }}'
@@ -96,6 +99,7 @@ done: false
       '{{ $frontmatter }}',
       '{{ $frontmatter.nested }}', // objects are for Vue's display formatting
       '{{ $frontmatter.list }}',
+      '{{ $frontmatter.html }}', // `<` could smuggle markup into titles
       '{{ $frontmatter.spaced }}', // double space would be condensed
       '{{ $frontmatter.multiline }}',
       '{{ $frontmatter.list[01] }}',
@@ -142,13 +146,94 @@ title: Hi
     )
   })
 
-  test('stops at v-pre html blocks', async () => {
+  test('tracks raw inline v-pre elements the way Vue parses them', async () => {
+    // a quoted attribute value may contain `>`
+    expect(
+      await renderBody(
+        '<span title="a>b" v-pre>{{ $frontmatter.title }}</span>'
+      )
+    ).toContain('<span title="a>b" v-pre>{{ $frontmatter.title }}</span>')
+    // tag names match case-insensitively, so the inner pair nests
+    expect(
+      await renderBody(
+        'z <span v-pre>a<SPAN>b</span>c {{ $frontmatter.title }}</SPAN> {{ $frontmatter.title }}'
+      )
+    ).toContain('c {{ $frontmatter.title }}</SPAN> Hello World')
+    // a self-closing same-name tag does not affect the scope
+    expect(
+      await renderBody('<span v-pre>a<span/>b</span> {{ $frontmatter.title }}')
+    ).toContain('</span> Hello World')
+  })
+
+  test('scopes v-pre in raw html blocks instead of bailing out', async () => {
+    // mentions of v-pre that open no scope leave the page alone
+    for (const block of [
+      '<style>\n.v-pre { color: red }\n</style>',
+      '<script setup>\nconst a = "v-pre"\n</script>',
+      '<!-- see v-pre -->',
+      '<div v-pre>{{ literal }}</div>'
+    ]) {
+      const html = await renderBody(`${block}\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}`)
+      expect(html).toContain('<p>Hello World</p>')
+    }
+
+    // a scope that spans markdown ends at its closing tag
     const html = await renderBody(
-      '{{ $frontmatter.title }}\n\n<div v-pre>\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}\n\n</div>'
+      '<div v-pre>\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}\n\n</div>\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}'
     )
-    // content before the block cannot be inside its scope
-    expect(html).toContain('<p>Hello World</p>')
     expect(html).toContain('<p>{{ $frontmatter.title }}</p>')
+    expect(html).toContain('<p>Hello World</p>')
+
+    // an unclosed scope spans the rest of the page
+    expect(
+      await renderBody('<div v-pre>\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}')
+    ).not.toContain('Hello World')
+  })
+
+  test('leaves whitespace-sensitive spots inside raw inline elements', async () => {
+    // the runtime drops whitespace-only text nodes at element edges; an
+    // inlined value would merge with that whitespace and keep it
+    expect(
+      await renderBody('a<code> {{ $frontmatter.title }} </code>b')
+    ).toContain('<code> {{ $frontmatter.title }} </code>')
+    expect(
+      await renderBody('a<em>\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}\n</em>b')
+    ).toContain('{{ $frontmatter.title }}')
+    // non-whitespace neighbors and closing-tag adjacency are safe
+    expect(await renderBody('a<em>x {{ $frontmatter.title }}</em>b')).toContain(
+      '<em>x Hello World</em>'
+    )
+    expect(await renderBody('<em>x</em> {{ $frontmatter.title }}')).toContain(
+      '</em> Hello World'
+    )
+  })
+
+  test('keeps values safe when the text renderer rule is replaced', async () => {
+    const md = await createMd({
+      config: (md) => {
+        md.renderer.rules.text = (tokens, idx) =>
+          escapeHtml(tokens[idx].content)
+      }
+    })
+    const html = await md.renderAsync(
+      frontmatter + '{{ $frontmatter.mustache }} and {{ $frontmatter.title }}'
+    )
+    // the unsafe value renders through its own token, not the text rule
+    expect(html).toContain('&#123;&#123; x &#125;&#125; and Hello World')
+    expect(html).not.toContain('{{ x }}')
+  })
+
+  test('keeps toc titles escaped like the heading', async () => {
+    const html = await renderBody(
+      '## {{ $frontmatter.mustache }} {{ $frontmatter.amp }}\n\n[[toc]]'
+    )
+    expect(html).toContain('&#123;&#123; x &#125;&#125; a &#38;lt; b')
+    // no live interpolation may reach the toc markup, and the toc must show
+    // the same text as the heading
+    const toc = html.slice(html.indexOf('<nav'))
+    expect(toc).not.toContain('{{ x }}')
+    expect(toc).toContain('&#123;&#123; x &#125;&#125;')
+    expect(toc).toContain('a &#38;lt; b')
   })
 
   test('feeds the resolved text to anchors and the page title', async () => {
@@ -167,6 +252,18 @@ title: Hello World
     expect(env.title).toBe('Hello World')
   })
 
+  test('records what was inlined on the env', async () => {
+    const env: Record<string, any> = {}
+    await renderBody(
+      '{{ $frontmatter.title }} {{ $frontmatter.missing }} [x]({{$frontmatter.homepage}})',
+      env
+    )
+    expect(env.eagerInterpolations).toEqual([
+      { expression: '$frontmatter.title', value: 'Hello World' },
+      { expression: '$frontmatter.homepage', value: 'https://vitepress.dev/' }
+    ])
+  })
+
   test('resolves link and image destinations', async () => {
     const html = await renderBody(
       [
@@ -182,6 +279,17 @@ title: Hello World
     expect(html).toContain('$frontmatter.nope')
   })
 
+  test('resolves destinations even when only encoded delimiters exist', async () => {
+    const html = await render(`\
+---
+count: 5
+---
+
+[v](https://vitepress.dev/%7B%7B$frontmatter.count%7D%7D)
+`)
+    expect(html).toContain('href="https://vitepress.dev/5"')
+  })
+
   test('resolves image sources', async () => {
     const html = await render(`\
 ---
@@ -193,12 +301,48 @@ logo: /logo.png
     expect(html).toContain('src="/logo.png"')
   })
 
+  test('resolves custom container titles', async () => {
+    const html = await renderBody(
+      '::: tip {{ $frontmatter.title }}\nbody {{ $frontmatter.count }}\n:::'
+    )
+    expect(html).toContain('<p class="custom-block-title">Hello World</p>')
+    expect(html).toContain('<p>body 5</p>')
+  })
+
   test('leaves everything alone without frontmatter data', async () => {
     expect((await render('{{ $frontmatter.title }}')).trim()).toBe(
       '<p>{{ $frontmatter.title }}</p>'
     )
   })
 
+  // entries passed via `env.frontmatter` must keep merging and inlining -
+  // a future `renderMd(src, env)` (#2410) relies on this
+  test('merges and inlines frontmatter provided via env', async () => {
+    // env entries only, no frontmatter block in the source
+    const env: Record<string, any> = {
+      frontmatter: { intro: 'From Env', n: 42 }
+    }
+    expect(
+      (
+        await render('{{ $frontmatter.intro }} ({{ $frontmatter.n }})', env)
+      ).trim()
+    ).toBe('<p>From Env (42)</p>')
+
+    // the page's own frontmatter wins on conflicts
+    const merged: Record<string, any> = {
+      frontmatter: { title: 'From Env', extra: 'Extra' }
+    }
+    expect(
+      (
+        await render(
+          '---\ntitle: From Page\n---\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }} / {{ $frontmatter.extra }}',
+          merged
+        )
+      ).trim()
+    ).toBe('<p>From Page / Extra</p>')
+    expect(merged.frontmatter).toEqual({ title: 'From Page', extra: 'Extra' })
+  })
+
   describe('equivalence with runtime interpolation', () => {
     async function ssr(html: string, $frontmatter: unknown) {
       const app = createSSRApp({ template: `<div>${html}</div>` })
@@ -207,16 +351,7 @@ logo: /logo.png
       return renderToString(app)
     }
 
-    test('inlined values render exactly what the runtime would', async () => {
-      const body = [
-        'Welcome to {{ $frontmatter.title }}!',
-        '{{ $frontmatter.html }}',
-        '{{ $frontmatter.mustache }}',
-        '{{ $frontmatter.count }} / {{ $frontmatter.flag }}',
-        '{{ $frontmatter.date }}',
-        'a  {{$frontmatter.title}}  b' // whitespace condensing parity
-      ].join('\n\n')
-
+    async function compare(body: string) {
       const runtimeEnv: any = {}
       const runtimeMd = await createMd({ eagerFrontmatterInterpolation: false })
       const runtimeHtml = await runtimeMd.renderAsync(
@@ -226,14 +361,41 @@ logo: /logo.png
       const resolvedHtml = await (
         await createMd()
       ).renderAsync(frontmatter + body, {})
-      expect(resolvedHtml).not.toContain('$frontmatter')
 
       // the runtime sees the frontmatter after the `__pageData` JSON
-      // round-trip; the resolved template must not need it at all
+      // round-trip
       const runtimeData = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(runtimeEnv.frontmatter))
-      expect(await ssr(resolvedHtml, { poisoned: true })).toBe(
+      expect(await ssr(resolvedHtml, runtimeData)).toBe(
         await ssr(runtimeHtml, runtimeData)
       )
+      return resolvedHtml
+    }
+
+    test('inlined values render exactly what the runtime would', async () => {
+      const resolvedHtml = await compare(
+        [
+          'Welcome to {{ $frontmatter.title }}!',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.mustache }}',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.amp }}',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.count }} / {{ $frontmatter.flag }}',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.date }}',
+          'a  {{$frontmatter.title}}  b' // whitespace condensing parity
+        ].join('\n\n')
+      )
+      // and nothing was left for the runtime to do
+      expect(resolvedHtml).not.toContain('$frontmatter')
+    })
+
+    test('spots left to the runtime render identically too', async () => {
+      await compare(
+        [
+          'a<code> {{ $frontmatter.title }} </code>b',
+          'a<em>\n{{ $frontmatter.title }}\n</em>b',
+          '<span title="a>b" v-pre>{{ $frontmatter.title }}</span>',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.html }}',
+          '{{ $frontmatter.spaced }}'
+        ].join('\n\n')
+      )
     })
   })
 })
diff --git a/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/include.test.ts b/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/include.test.ts
index 3053459b..0a8aa757 100644
--- a/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/include.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/unit/node/markdown/plugins/include.test.ts
@@ -532,4 +532,26 @@ describe('node/markdown/plugins/include', () => {
     expect(html).toContain('href="https://example.com/x"')
     expect(html).toContain('href="/abs/target.html"')
   })
+
+  test('does not rebase destinations resolved from frontmatter', async () => {
+    await write(
+      'guide/shared/note.md',
+      '![logo]({{$frontmatter.logo}}) [x]({{$frontmatter.doc}}) ![lit](./local.png)'
+    )
+    const { html, env } = await render(
+      '---\nlogo: ./assets/a.png\ndoc: ./other.md\n---\n\n<!-- @include: ./shared/note.md -->',
+      {},
+      {
+        path: path.join(root, 'guide/index.md'),
+        relativePath: 'guide/index.md'
+      }
+    )
+    // values from the including page's frontmatter keep meaning what they
+    // meant there
+    expect(html).toContain('src="./assets/a.png"')
+    expect(html).toContain('href="./other.html"')
+    expect(env.links).toContain('./other')
+    // urls authored in the included file still rebase
+    expect(html).toContain('src="./shared/local.png"')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/__tests__/unit/node/markdownToVue.test.ts b/__tests__/unit/node/markdownToVue.test.ts
index dd0d23e8..f0f12bb1 100644
--- a/__tests__/unit/node/markdownToVue.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/unit/node/markdownToVue.test.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import path from 'node:path'
 
 import { resolveConfig } from 'node/config'
+import { disposeMdItInstance } from 'node/markdown/markdown'
 import { createMarkdownToVueRenderFn } from 'node/markdownToVue'
 
 describe('node/markdownToVue', () => {
@@ -153,4 +154,47 @@ describe('node/markdownToVue', () => {
 
     expect(result.pageData.relativePath).toBe('index.md')
   })
+
+  test('warns when transformPageData rewrites an interpolated value', async () => {
+    disposeMdItInstance()
+    root = await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), 'vitepress-eager-'))
+
+    const file = path.join(root, 'index.md')
+    const src = '---\ntitle: Old\n---\n\n# {{ $frontmatter.title }}\n'
+    await writeFile(file, src)
+
+    const siteConfig = await resolveConfig(root, 'build', 'production')
+    const warnings: string[] = []
+    siteConfig.logger = {
+      ...siteConfig.logger,
+      warn: (msg: string) => warnings.push(msg)
+    }
+    siteConfig.transformPageData = (pageData) => {
+      pageData.frontmatter.title = 'New'
+    }
+
+    const render = await createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
+      siteConfig.srcDir,
+      { cache: false },
+      '/',
+      false,
+      false,
+      siteConfig
+    )
+
+    const result = await render(src, file)
+    expect(result.vueSrc).toContain('Old')
+    expect(warnings.join('\n')).toContain('{{ $frontmatter.title }}')
+
+    // keys only added by the transform are left to the runtime - no warning
+    warnings.length = 0
+    siteConfig.transformPageData = (pageData) => {
+      pageData.frontmatter.added = 'later'
+    }
+    const src2 =
+      '---\ntitle: Old\n---\n\n{{ $frontmatter.title }} {{ $frontmatter.added }}\n'
+    await writeFile(file, src2)
+    await render(src2, file)
+    expect(warnings).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/node/contentLoader.ts b/src/node/contentLoader.ts
index 937aa718..b9f9d3e6 100644
--- a/src/node/contentLoader.ts
+++ b/src/node/contentLoader.ts
@@ -150,7 +150,10 @@ export function createContentLoader<T = ContentData[]>(
             path: file,
             relativePath,
             cleanUrls: !!config.cleanUrls,
-            realPath: file
+            realPath: file,
+            // excerpts are rendered on their own, without the frontmatter
+            // block - provide the data so `$frontmatter` still resolves
+            frontmatter
           }
 
           const html = options.render
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
index 45d84171..eeb90ced 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
@@ -336,7 +336,10 @@ export interface MarkdownOptions extends MarkdownItAsyncOptions {
    * to simple primitive values in the page's own frontmatter are inlined -
    * anything else (complex expressions, missing keys, non-primitive values,
    * `v-pre` scopes) keeps its runtime interpolation. Set to `false` to leave
-   * all interpolation to the Vue runtime.
+   * all interpolation to the Vue runtime - for example when
+   * `transformPageData` rewrites frontmatter values that pages interpolate,
+   * which would otherwise render the pre-transform value (a warning is
+   * logged when that happens).
    *
    * @experimental
    * @default true
@@ -553,9 +556,6 @@ export async function createMarkdownRenderer(
   // https://github.com/jonschlinkert/gray-matter/blob/310f9349381775d10a221cef903989eb5acc8843/index.js#L44-L47
   ;(options.frontmatter ??= {}).grayMatterOptions ??= {}
   frontmatterPlugin(md, options.frontmatter)
-  if (options.eagerFrontmatterInterpolation !== false) {
-    eagerFrontmatterInterpolationPlugin(md)
-  }
   if (options.headers) {
     headersPlugin(md, {
       level: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6],
@@ -576,6 +576,12 @@ export async function createMarkdownRenderer(
       }
     })
   }
+  // applied after anchor/title so its finalize rule runs once their rules
+  // have extracted the plain resolved text; its main rule is anchored right
+  // after `text_join` regardless of when the plugin is applied
+  if (options.eagerFrontmatterInterpolation !== false) {
+    eagerFrontmatterInterpolationPlugin(md)
+  }
 
   // apply user config
   if (options.config) {
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
index 690890ba..88c7c87b 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ function createOpenRender(
     if (noTitle) return `<div ${renderedAttrs}>\n`
     const title = md.renderInline(
       info || titlesFor(titles, env.localeIndex)[name],
-      { references: env.references }
+      { references: env.references, frontmatter: env.frontmatter }
     )
     if (name === 'details')
       return `<details ${renderedAttrs}><summary>${title}</summary>\n`
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.ts
index 79ac04db..a0be946e 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ const interpolationRE = /\{\{([^]+?)\}\}/g
 // destinations while tokenizing, so the delimiters may appear encoded
 const destInterpolationRE = /(?:\{\{|%7B%7B)([^]*?)(?:\}\}|%7D%7D)/gi
 
+// page-level gate for either spelling
+const anyInterpolationRE = /\{\{|%7B%7B/i
+
 // a statically resolvable path after `$frontmatter`: any number of `.key`,
 // `[<index>]`, `['<key>']` or `["<key>"]` segments. Leading-zero indices and
 // string escapes are excluded - the runtime handles those. Keep both
@@ -21,23 +24,43 @@ const pathRE =
 const segmentRE =
   /\.\s*([A-Za-z_$][\w$]*)|\[\s*(?:(0|[1-9]\d*)|'([^'\\]*)'|"([^"\\]*)")\s*\]/g
 
-// an opening html tag carrying `v-pre`, e.g. `<span v-pre>`, and the tag
-// name of any html tag, for tracking where that scope ends
-const vPreOpenRE = /^<[A-Za-z][\w-]*\s[^>]*(?<=\s)v-pre(?=[\s=/>])/
-const htmlTagRE = /^<(\/?)([A-Za-z][\w-]*)/
-const vPreRE = /\bv-pre\b/
+// one raw html tag: closing slash, name, attributes (a quoted value may
+// contain `>`), self-closing slash
+const htmlTagRE = /<(\/?)([A-Za-z][\w-]*)((?:[^"'>]|"[^"]*"|'[^']*')*?)(\/?)>/g
+const htmlCommentRE = /<!--[^]*?-->/g
+// script/style/textarea/title content is raw text, not markup
+const rawTextElementRE = /<(script|style|textarea|title)\b[^]*?<\/\1\s*>/gi
+const vPreAttrRE = /(?:^|\s)v-pre(?=[\s=/]|$)/
+// void elements never take a closing tag, so v-pre on them opens no scope
+const voidTagRE =
+  /^(?:area|base|br|col|embed|hr|img|input|link|meta|param|source|track|wbr)$/
 
 type Resolve = (expr: string) => string | undefined
 
+interface EagerInterpolation {
+  expression: string
+  value: string
+}
+
+interface VPreScope {
+  tag: string
+  depth: number
+}
+
 export const eagerFrontmatterInterpolationPlugin = (md: MarkdownItAsync) => {
-  // before the rules other plugins push (anchor, toc, ...), so slugs and
-  // extracted titles are derived from the resolved text
+  // the main rule is anchored right after `text_join`, before the rules
+  // other plugins push (anchor, title, ...), so slugs and extracted titles
+  // are derived from the resolved text
   md.core.ruler.after(
     'text_join',
     'vp_eager_frontmatter_interpolation',
-    (state) => eagerFrontmatterInterpolation(md, state)
+    eagerFrontmatterInterpolation
   )
 
+  // the finalize rule is pushed when this plugin is applied - which must be
+  // after anchor/title so it runs once their rules have read the plain text
+  md.core.ruler.push('vp_eager_frontmatter_finalize', finalize)
+
   // resolved values render with their own escaping (see `escapeValue`);
   // everything else keeps the existing text rule
   const textRule = md.renderer.rules.text!
@@ -47,20 +70,84 @@ export const eagerFrontmatterInterpolationPlugin = (md: MarkdownItAsync) => {
       : textRule(tokens, idx, options, env, self)
 }
 
-function eagerFrontmatterInterpolation(
-  md: MarkdownItAsync,
-  state: StateCore
-): void {
+export function findStaleEagerInterpolations(
+  interpolations: EagerInterpolation[],
+  frontmatter: Record<string, unknown>
+): string[] {
+  const resolve = createResolver(frontmatter)
+  const stale = interpolations
+    .filter(({ expression, value }) => resolve(expression) !== value)
+    .map(({ expression }) => expression)
+  return [...new Set(stale)]
+}
+
+function eagerFrontmatterInterpolation(state: StateCore): void {
   const { frontmatter } = state.env as MarkdownEnv
-  if (!frontmatter || !state.src.includes('{{')) return
+  if (!frontmatter || !anyInterpolationRE.test(state.src)) return
+
+  const resolve = createResolver(frontmatter)
 
+  // an unclosed v-pre element opened by a raw html block scopes over the
+  // markdown after it until later raw html closes it
+  let blockScope: VPreScope | undefined
+  let skipLevel: number | null = null
+  for (const token of state.tokens) {
+    if (token.type === 'html_block') {
+      blockScope = scanRawHtml(token.content, blockScope)
+      continue
+    }
+    if (skipLevel !== null) {
+      if (token.nesting === -1 && token.level === skipLevel) skipLevel = null
+      continue
+    }
+    if (
+      token.nesting === 1 &&
+      (token.type === 'container_v-pre_open' || hasVPre(token))
+    ) {
+      skipLevel = token.level
+      continue
+    }
+    if (token.type !== 'inline' || !token.children) continue
+    if (blockScope) {
+      // a stray closing tag inside a paragraph still ends the scope, but the
+      // paragraph itself stays with the runtime
+      for (const child of token.children) {
+        if (child.type === 'html_inline')
+          blockScope = scanRawHtml(child.content, blockScope)
+      }
+      continue
+    }
+    processInline(state, token, resolve)
+  }
+}
+
+// after anchor ids and the page title have been extracted from the plain
+// text, retype values the shared `text` renderer rule - which user config
+// may replace - could not safely emit: braces would compile as
+// interpolations and entity look-alikes would decode. `html_inline` renders
+// its content verbatim, so these carry their own escaping.
+const unsafeAsTextRE = /[{}]|&[\w#]+;/
+function finalize(state: StateCore): void {
+  if (!(state.env as MarkdownEnv).eagerInterpolations?.length) return
+  for (const token of state.tokens) {
+    if (token.type !== 'inline' || !token.children) continue
+    for (const child of token.children) {
+      if (child.meta?.frontmatterValue && unsafeAsTextRE.test(child.content)) {
+        child.type = 'html_inline'
+        child.content = escapeValue(child.content)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+function createResolver(frontmatter: Record<string, unknown>): Resolve {
   // the runtime `$frontmatter` is the frontmatter after the JSON round-trip
   // into `__pageData` (see `injectPageDataCode`), so resolve against the
   // same view of the data - dates become ISO strings and non-JSON values
   // are dropped
   let data: unknown
   let failed = false
-  const resolve: Resolve = (rawExpr) => {
+  return (rawExpr) => {
     const expr = rawExpr.trim()
     if (!expr.startsWith('$frontmatter')) return undefined
     const path = expr.slice('$frontmatter'.length)
@@ -91,29 +178,40 @@ function eagerFrontmatterInterpolation(
     }
     return display(value)
   }
+}
 
-  let skipLevel: number | null = null
-  for (const token of state.tokens) {
-    if (skipLevel !== null) {
-      if (token.nesting === -1 && token.level === skipLevel) skipLevel = null
-    } else if (token.type === 'html_block') {
-      // a raw html block can open a `v-pre` scope spanning the markdown
-      // after it; that cannot be delimited without parsing the html, so
-      // leave the rest of the page to the runtime
-      if (vPreRE.test(token.content)) return
+// scans a chunk of raw html, entering and leaving `v-pre` element scopes the
+// way Vue's parser would: quoted attribute values may contain `>`, tag names
+// match case-insensitively, self-closing and void tags open no scope, and
+// comments and raw-text elements (script/style/...) are not markup
+function scanRawHtml(
+  html: string,
+  scope: VPreScope | undefined
+): VPreScope | undefined {
+  const src = html.replace(htmlCommentRE, '').replace(rawTextElementRE, '')
+  htmlTagRE.lastIndex = 0
+  let m: RegExpExecArray | null
+  while ((m = htmlTagRE.exec(src))) {
+    const [, closing, rawTag, attrs, selfClosing] = m
+    const tag = rawTag.toLowerCase()
+    if (scope) {
+      if (tag === scope.tag && !selfClosing) {
+        scope.depth += closing ? -1 : 1
+        if (!scope.depth) scope = undefined
+      }
     } else if (
-      token.nesting === 1 &&
-      (token.type === 'container_v-pre_open' || hasVPre(token))
+      !closing &&
+      !selfClosing &&
+      !voidTagRE.test(tag) &&
+      vPreAttrRE.test(attrs)
     ) {
-      skipLevel = token.level
-    } else if (token.type === 'inline' && token.children) {
-      processInline(md, state, token, resolve)
+      scope = { tag, depth: 1 }
     }
   }
+  return scope
 }
 
 function processInline(
-  md: MarkdownItAsync,
   state: StateCore,
   inline: Token,
   resolve: Resolve
@@ -122,35 +220,30 @@ function processInline(
 
   let out: Token[] | undefined
   let skipLevel: number | null = null
-  let preTag: string | undefined
-  let preDepth = 0
+  // scopes opened by raw inline tags end with the paragraph - Vue closes
+  // unclosed inline elements at the enclosing block's end tag
+  let scope: VPreScope | undefined
 
   for (let i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
     const child = children[i]
     let replacement: Token[] | undefined
-    if (skipLevel !== null) {
-      if (child.nesting === -1 && child.level === skipLevel) skipLevel = null
-    } else if (child.type === 'html_inline') {
-      // track raw inline `v-pre` elements the way Vue scopes them
-      const [, closing, tag] = htmlTagRE.exec(child.content) ?? []
-      if (preTag) {
-        if (tag === preTag) preDepth += closing ? -1 : 1
-        if (!preDepth) preTag = undefined
-      } else if (
-        vPreOpenRE.test(child.content) &&
-        !child.content.endsWith('/>')
-      ) {
-        preTag = tag
-        preDepth = 1
-      }
-    } else if (preTag) {
+    if (child.type === 'html_inline') {
+      scope = scanRawHtml(child.content, scope)
+    } else if (scope) {
       // inside a raw v-pre element - leave everything to the runtime
+    } else if (skipLevel !== null) {
+      if (child.nesting === -1 && child.level === skipLevel) skipLevel = null
     } else if (child.nesting === 1 && hasVPre(child)) {
       skipLevel = child.level
     } else if (child.type === 'text' && child.content.includes('{{')) {
-      replacement = replaceInterpolations(state, child, resolve)
+      replacement = replaceInterpolations(state, children, i, resolve)
     } else if (child.type === 'link_open' || child.type === 'image') {
-      resolveDest(md, child, child.type === 'image' ? 'src' : 'href', resolve)
+      resolveDest(
+        state,
+        child,
+        child.type === 'image' ? 'src' : 'href',
+        resolve
+      )
     }
     if (replacement && !out) out = children.slice(0, i)
     if (out) out.push(...(replacement ?? [child]))
@@ -158,22 +251,67 @@ function processInline(
   if (out) inline.children = out
 }
 
+// how the neighbor beyond any whitespace looks from a text token: entering a
+// raw inline element, leaving one, or neither
+function rawTagBoundary(
+  children: Token[],
+  i: number,
+  dir: -1 | 1
+): { kind: 'open' | 'close' | null; sawBreak: boolean } {
+  let sawBreak = false
+  for (let j = i + dir; j >= 0 && j < children.length; j += dir) {
+    const t = children[j]
+    if (t.type === 'softbreak') {
+      sawBreak = true
+      continue
+    }
+    if (t.type !== 'html_inline') break
+    htmlTagRE.lastIndex = 0
+    const m = htmlTagRE.exec(t.content)
+    if (!m) break
+    const [, closing, tag, , selfClosing] = m
+    if (selfClosing || voidTagRE.test(tag.toLowerCase())) break
+    return { kind: closing ? 'close' : 'open', sawBreak }
+  }
+  return { kind: null, sawBreak }
+}
+
 // splits a text token around its resolved interpolations; the values become
 // text tokens marked as `frontmatterValue` so extraction (anchors, headers,
 // toc, search) sees them as plain text while the renderer applies value
 // escaping
 function replaceInterpolations(
   state: StateCore,
-  token: Token,
+  children: Token[],
+  index: number,
   resolve: Resolve
 ): Token[] | undefined {
+  const token = children[index]
   const src = token.content
+  const left = rawTagBoundary(children, index, -1)
+  const right = rawTagBoundary(children, index, 1)
   let out: Token[] | undefined
   let lastIndex = 0
 
   for (const m of src.matchAll(interpolationRE)) {
     const value = resolve(m[1])
     if (value === undefined) continue
+    // an inlined value merges with adjacent whitespace into one text node,
+    // which Vue's whitespace condensing keeps - while the runtime's
+    // whitespace-only text nodes at raw inline element edges are removed.
+    // `<code> {{ x }} </code>` must stay with the runtime to render the same.
+    const before = src.slice(0, m.index)
+    const after = src.slice(m.index + m[0].length)
+    if (
+      (left.kind === 'open' &&
+        !before.trim() &&
+        (before !== '' || left.sawBreak)) ||
+      (right.kind === 'close' &&
+        !after.trim() &&
+        (after !== '' || right.sawBreak))
+    ) {
+      continue
+    }
     out ??= []
     if (m.index > lastIndex) {
       out.push(textToken(state, token, src.slice(lastIndex, m.index)))
@@ -181,6 +319,7 @@ function replaceInterpolations(
     const valueToken = textToken(state, token, value)
     valueToken.meta = { frontmatterValue: true }
     out.push(valueToken)
+    record(state, m[1], value)
     lastIndex = m.index + m[0].length
   }
 
@@ -195,7 +334,7 @@ function replaceInterpolations(
 // destination goes through the same normalization and validation a literal
 // one would
 function resolveDest(
-  md: MarkdownItAsync,
+  state: StateCore,
   token: Token,
   attr: string,
   resolve: Resolve
@@ -203,21 +342,34 @@ function resolveDest(
   const url = token.attrGet(attr)
   if (!url) return
 
-  let changed = false
-  const resolved = url.replace(destInterpolationRE, (match, rawExpr) => {
+  const resolved: EagerInterpolation[] = []
+  const next = url.replace(destInterpolationRE, (match, rawExpr) => {
     let expr = rawExpr as string
     try {
       expr = decodeURIComponent(expr)
     } catch {}
     const value = resolve(expr)
     if (value === undefined) return match
-    changed = true
+    resolved.push({ expression: expr, value })
     return value
   })
-  if (!changed) return
+  if (!resolved.length) return
 
-  const normalized = md.normalizeLink(resolved)
-  if (md.validateLink(normalized)) token.attrSet(attr, normalized)
+  const normalized = state.md.normalizeLink(next)
+  if (!state.md.validateLink(normalized)) return
+  token.attrSet(attr, normalized)
+  // the value belongs to the page whose frontmatter it came from - the
+  // include plugin must not rebase it against an included file's directory
+  token.meta = { ...token.meta, frontmatterDest: true }
+  for (const r of resolved) record(state, r.expression, r.value)
+}
+
+function record(state: StateCore, expression: string, value: string): void {
+  const env = state.env as MarkdownEnv
+  ;(env.eagerInterpolations ??= []).push({
+    expression: expression.trim(),
+    value
+  })
 }
 
 function textToken(state: StateCore, from: Token, content: string): Token {
@@ -234,22 +386,26 @@ const unstableWhitespaceRE = /[\t\n\r\f]|^ | $| {2}/
 
 // mirrors Vue's `toDisplayString`, restricted to values that inline
 // losslessly: non-empty primitive text that survives the template
-// compiler's whitespace condensing. Anything else - including `null`, which
-// renders as an empty string but is also the classic "filled in later by
+// compiler's whitespace condensing and cannot smuggle markup into extracted
+// titles and headers. Anything else - including `null`, which renders as an
+// empty string but is also the classic "filled in later by
 // `transformPageData`" placeholder - stays on the runtime.
 function display(value: unknown): string | undefined {
   if (value == null || typeof value === 'object') return undefined
   const text = typeof value === 'string' ? value : String(value)
-  return text === '' || unstableWhitespaceRE.test(text) ? undefined : text
+  return text === '' || text.includes('<') || unstableWhitespaceRE.test(text)
+    ? undefined
+    : text
 }
 
 // entity-encode the value so the Vue template compiler reads back exactly
-// this text: html syntax must not be parsed as markup, entity look-alikes
-// must survive the compiler's decoding, and `{` must never reach the
-// compiler as a possible interpolation start
+// this text: `{` must never reach the compiler as a possible interpolation
+// start, and entity look-alikes must survive the compiler's decoding. `&` is
+// encoded numerically so downstream passes that undo `&amp;`
+// double-encoding (the toc `format` hook) leave it alone.
 function escapeValue(value: string): string {
   return value
-    .replace(/&/g, '&amp;')
+    .replace(/&/g, '&#38;')
     .replace(/</g, '&lt;')
     .replace(/>/g, '&gt;')
     .replace(/\{/g, '&#123;')
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/include.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/include.ts
index 0e4ee896..ec258e3b 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/include.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/include.ts
@@ -269,7 +269,9 @@ function registerRebaseRules(md: MarkdownItAsync) {
         const token = tokens[idx]
         const attr = rule === 'image' ? 'src' : 'href'
         const url = token.attrGet(attr)
-        if (url?.[0] === '.') {
+        // a destination resolved from `$frontmatter` belongs to the page the
+        // frontmatter came from, not to the included file
+        if (url?.[0] === '.' && !token.meta?.frontmatterDest) {
           const rebased = slash(
             path.join(path.relative(path.dirname(file), dir), url)
           )
diff --git a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
index 22e5cb4b..661af795 100644
--- a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
   type MarkdownOptions,
   type MarkdownRenderer
 } from './markdown/markdown'
+import { findStaleEagerInterpolations } from './markdown/plugins/eagerFrontmatterInterpolation'
 import { getPageDataTransformer } from './plugins/dynamicRoutesPlugin'
 import {
   EXTERNAL_URL_RE,
@@ -284,6 +285,24 @@ export async function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
       }
     }
 
+    // interpolations were inlined from the frontmatter as rendered - values
+    // rewritten by `transformPageData` afterwards would silently diverge
+    if (transformPageData.length && env.eagerInterpolations?.length) {
+      const stale = findStaleEagerInterpolations(
+        env.eagerInterpolations,
+        (pageData.frontmatter ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>
+      )
+      if (stale.length) {
+        siteConfig?.logger?.warn(
+          `${relativePath}: ${stale.map((e) => `{{ ${e} }}`).join(', ')} ` +
+            `resolved while rendering markdown, but transformPageData changed ` +
+            `the underlying frontmatter afterwards - the rendered content ` +
+            `keeps the old value. Avoid rewriting interpolated keys, or set ` +
+            `markdown.eagerFrontmatterInterpolation: false.`
+        )
+      }
+    }
+
     const vueSrc = [
       ...injectPageDataCode(
         sfcBlocks?.scripts.map((item) => item.content) ?? [],
diff --git a/types/shared.d.ts b/types/shared.d.ts
index ff82c58a..a35663f9 100644
--- a/types/shared.d.ts
+++ b/types/shared.d.ts
@@ -616,4 +616,11 @@ export interface MarkdownEnv {
    * The key of the locale the page belongs to.
    */
   localeIndex?: string
+  /**
+   * The expressions inlined by eager frontmatter interpolation while
+   * rendering, with the value each resolved to - used to detect values that
+   * `transformPageData` changes after the fact.
+   * @internal
+   */
+  eagerInterpolations?: { expression: string; value: string }[]
 }