diff --git a/docs/metadesk_reference.md b/docs/metadesk_reference.md
index c1014bb..b3ea46f 100644
--- a/docs/metadesk_reference.md
+++ b/docs/metadesk_reference.md
@@ -1136,6 +1136,13 @@ main:
     tag: *MD_Node,
 };
 
+@send(Nodes)
+@func MD_PushReference: {
+    list: *MD_Node,
+    target: *MD_Node,
+    return: *MD_Node,
+};
+
 ////////////////////////////////
 //~ Introspection Helpers
 
diff --git a/samples/node_errors/node_errors.c b/samples/node_errors/node_errors.c
index ec01de6..9e707f7 100644
--- a/samples/node_errors/node_errors.c
+++ b/samples/node_errors/node_errors.c
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 int main(int argument_count, char **arguments)
 {
+    // TODO(allen): use list system
+    
     // NOTE(rjf): Parse all the files passed in via command line.
     MD_Node *first = MD_NilNode();
     MD_Node *last = MD_NilNode();
diff --git a/samples/old_style_custom_layer.c b/samples/old_style_custom_layer.c
index 9dcee0b..26bfd8a 100644
--- a/samples/old_style_custom_layer.c
+++ b/samples/old_style_custom_layer.c
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ CleanUp(void)
 
 int main(int argument_count, char **arguments)
 {
+    // TODO(allen): use list system
+    
     // NOTE(rjf): Parse all the files passed in via command line.
     MD_Node *first = MD_NilNode();
     MD_Node *last = MD_NilNode();
diff --git a/samples/output_parse/output_parse.c b/samples/output_parse/output_parse.c
index 3138f18..1e294a6 100644
--- a/samples/output_parse/output_parse.c
+++ b/samples/output_parse/output_parse.c
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ static void PrintNode(MD_Node* node, FILE* file, int indent_count) {
 
 int main(int argument_count, char **arguments)
 {
+    // TODO(allen): use list system
+    
     // NOTE(pmh): Parse all the files passed in via command line.
     MD_Node *first = MD_NilNode();
     MD_Node *last = MD_NilNode();
diff --git a/samples/static_site_generator/static_site_generator.c b/samples/static_site_generator/static_site_generator.c
index 42d3455..bf14ce2 100644
--- a/samples/static_site_generator/static_site_generator.c
+++ b/samples/static_site_generator/static_site_generator.c
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ int main(int argument_count, char **arguments)
         site_info = ParseSiteInfo(site_info_file);
     }
     
+    // TODO(allen): use list system
+    
     //~ NOTE(rjf): Parse pages.
     MD_Node *first_root = MD_NilNode();
     MD_Node *last_root = MD_NilNode();
diff --git a/samples/toy_language/toy_language.c b/samples/toy_language/toy_language.c
index 38ae3fb..379cdb5 100644
--- a/samples/toy_language/toy_language.c
+++ b/samples/toy_language/toy_language.c
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@ int main(int argument_count, char **arguments)
     //- rjf: parse command line
     MD_CommandLine cmdln = MD_CommandLineFromOptions(MD_StringListFromArgCV(argument_count, arguments));
     
+    // TODO(allen): use list system
+    
     //- rjf: parse all input files
     MD_Node *first_file = MD_NilNode();
     MD_Node *last_file = MD_NilNode();
diff --git a/source/md.h b/source/md.h
index 85e2384..0d55b89 100644
--- a/source/md.h
+++ b/source/md.h
@@ -334,6 +334,8 @@ enum
     MD_NodeFlag_CharLiteral      = (1<<13),
 };
 
+#define MD_NodeFlag_AfterFromBefore(f) ((f) << 2)
+
 typedef struct MD_Node MD_Node;
 struct MD_Node
 {
@@ -708,12 +710,11 @@ MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *MD_NilNode(void);
 MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *MD_MakeNode(MD_NodeKind kind, MD_String8 string,
                                  MD_String8 whole_string, MD_String8 filename,
                                  MD_u8 *file_contents, MD_u8 *at);
-MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *MD_MakeNodeFromString(MD_NodeKind kind, MD_String8 filename, MD_u8 *file, MD_u8 *at, MD_String8 string);
-MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *MD_MakeNodeReference(MD_Node *target);
 MD_FUNCTION void     MD_PushSibling(MD_Node **first, MD_Node **last, MD_Node *new_sibling);
 MD_FUNCTION void     MD_PushChild(MD_Node *parent, MD_Node *new_child);
 MD_FUNCTION void     MD_PushTag(MD_Node *node, MD_Node *tag);
 MD_FUNCTION void     MD_InsertToNamespace(MD_Node *ns, MD_Node *node);
+MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *MD_PushReference(MD_Node *list, MD_Node *target);
 
 //~ Introspection Helpers
 MD_FUNCTION MD_Node *  MD_NodeFromString(MD_Node *first, MD_Node *last, MD_String8 string);
diff --git a/source/md_impl.c b/source/md_impl.c
index 5a0e0d5..af84d93 100644
--- a/source/md_impl.c
+++ b/source/md_impl.c
@@ -1667,37 +1667,56 @@ MD_Parse_RequireKind(MD_ParseCtx *ctx, MD_TokenKind kind, MD_Token *out_token)
 MD_FUNCTION_IMPL void
 MD_Parse_Set(MD_ParseCtx *ctx, MD_Node *parent, MD_ParseSetFlags flags)
 {
-    MD_b32 brace = 0;
-    MD_b32 paren = 0;
-    MD_b32 bracket = 0;
-    MD_b32 terminate_with_separator = (!!(flags & MD_ParseSetFlag_Implicit));
-    
     MD_Token initial_token = MD_Parse_PeekSkipSome(ctx, MD_TokenGroup_Comment|MD_TokenGroup_Whitespace);
     
+    // check for set opener
+    MD_u8 set_opener = 0;
     if((flags & MD_ParseSetFlag_Brace) &&
        MD_Parse_Require(ctx, MD_S8Lit("{"), MD_TokenKind_Symbol))
     {
-        parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BraceLeft;
-        brace = 1;
-        terminate_with_separator = 0;
+        set_opener = '{';
     }
     else if((flags & MD_ParseSetFlag_Paren) &&
             MD_Parse_Require(ctx, MD_S8Lit("("), MD_TokenKind_Symbol))
     {
-        parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_ParenLeft;
-        paren = 1;
-        terminate_with_separator = 0;
+        set_opener = '(';
     }
     else if((flags & MD_ParseSetFlag_Bracket) &&
             MD_Parse_Require(ctx, MD_S8Lit("["), MD_TokenKind_Symbol))
     {
-        parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BracketLeft;
-        bracket = 1;
-        terminate_with_separator = 0;
+        set_opener = '[';
+    }
+    
+    // something else
+    MD_b32 brace = 0;
+    MD_b32 paren = 0;
+    MD_b32 bracket = 0;
+    MD_b32 terminate_with_separator = 0;
+    switch (set_opener){
+        default:
+        {
+            terminate_with_separator = (!!(flags & MD_ParseSetFlag_Implicit));
+        }break;
+        
+        case '{':
+        {
+            parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BraceLeft;
+            brace = 1;
+        }break;
+        case '(':
+        {
+            parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_ParenLeft;
+            paren = 1;
+        }break;
+        case '[':
+        {
+            parent->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BracketLeft;
+            bracket = 1;
+        }break;
     }
     
     // NOTE(rjf): Parse children.
-    if(brace || paren || bracket || terminate_with_separator)
+    if((set_opener != 0) || terminate_with_separator)
     {
         MD_u8 *at_before_children = ctx->at;
         MD_NodeFlags next_child_flags = 0;
@@ -1738,30 +1757,35 @@ MD_Parse_Set(MD_ParseCtx *ctx, MD_Node *parent, MD_ParseSetFlags flags)
                 }
             }
             
+            // NOTE(allen): parse the next node
             MD_ParseResult parse = MD_ParseOneNodeFromCtx(ctx);
             MD_Node *child = parse.node;
-            child->flags |= next_child_flags;
-            next_child_flags = 0;
             if(MD_NodeIsNil(child))
             {
-                if(brace || paren || bracket)
+                if(set_opener != 0)
                 {
-                    char delimiter_char = 0;
-                    if(brace) delimiter_char = '{';
-                    else if(paren) delimiter_char = '(';
-                    else if(bracket) delimiter_char = '[';
                     MD_PushTokenErrorF(ctx, initial_token, MD_MessageKind_CatastrophicError,
-                                       "Unbalanced \"%c\"", delimiter_char);
+                                       "Unbalanced \"%c\"", set_opener);
                 }
                 goto end_parse;
             }
-            else
-            {
-                MD_PushSibling(&parent->first_child, &parent->last_child, child);
-                child->parent = parent;
-            }
+            
+            // connect node into graph
+            MD_PushChild(parent, child);
+            
+            // fill flags from surrounding context
+            child->flags |= next_child_flags;
+            
+            // TODO(allen): I find it kind of concerning that ParseWholeString and
+            // ParseOneNode are both doing this. I did some refactors in the
+            // ParseWholeString to break it down into flatter blocks, not realizing
+            // very similar logic happens here too.
+            //  I also see that these really are slightly different, but it seems
+            // like it should be possible to express the whole-string case as a
+            // special case of this and avoid the duplication.
             
             // NOTE(rjf): Separators.
+            next_child_flags = 0;
             {
                 MD_b32 result = 0;
                 if(terminate_with_separator)
@@ -2108,29 +2132,31 @@ MD_ParseWholeString(MD_String8 filename, MD_String8 contents)
             // NOTE(allen): parse the next node
             MD_ParseResult parse = MD_ParseOneNodeFromCtx(&ctx);
             MD_Node *child = parse.node;
-            child->flags |= next_child_flags;
-            next_child_flags = 0;
             if(MD_NodeIsNil(child))
             {
                 break;
             }
-            else
-            {
-                MD_PushSibling(&root->first_child, &root->last_child, child);
-                child->parent = root;
-                MD_InsertToNamespace(selected_namespace, child);
-            }
             
+            // connect node into graph
+            MD_PushChild(root, child);
+            MD_InsertToNamespace(selected_namespace, child);
+            
+            // check trailing symbol
+            MD_u32 symbol_flags = 0;
             if(MD_Parse_Require(&ctx, MD_S8Lit(","), MD_TokenKind_Symbol))
             {
-                child->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BeforeComma;
-                next_child_flags |= MD_NodeFlag_AfterComma;
+                symbol_flags = MD_NodeFlag_BeforeComma;
             }
             else if(MD_Parse_Require(&ctx, MD_S8Lit(";"), MD_TokenKind_Symbol))
             {
-                child->flags |= MD_NodeFlag_BeforeSemicolon;
-                next_child_flags |= MD_NodeFlag_AfterSemicolon;
+                symbol_flags = MD_NodeFlag_BeforeSemicolon;
             }
+            
+            // fill flags from surrounding context
+            child->flags |= next_child_flags|symbol_flags;
+            
+            // setup next_child_flags
+            next_child_flags = MD_NodeFlag_AfterFromBefore(symbol_flags);
         }
         result.namespaces = namespaces;
         result.bytes_parsed = (MD_u64)(ctx.at - contents.str);
@@ -2215,15 +2241,6 @@ MD_MakeNode(MD_NodeKind kind, MD_String8 string,
     return node;
 }
 
-MD_FUNCTION_IMPL MD_Node *
-MD_MakeNodeReference(MD_Node *target)
-{
-    MD_String8 string = MD_S8Lit("`reference node`");
-    MD_Node *n = MD_MakeNode(MD_NodeKind_Reference, string, string, string, 0, 0);
-    n->ref_target = target;
-    return n;
-}
-
 MD_FUNCTION_IMPL void
 MD_PushSibling(MD_Node **firstp, MD_Node **lastp, MD_Node *node)
 {
@@ -2272,6 +2289,16 @@ MD_InsertToNamespace(MD_Node *ns, MD_Node *node)
     MD_PushChild(ns, ref);
 }
 
+MD_FUNCTION_IMPL MD_Node*
+MD_PushReference(MD_Node *list, MD_Node *target)
+{
+    MD_String8 string = MD_S8Lit("`reference node`");
+    MD_Node *n = MD_MakeNode(MD_NodeKind_Reference, string, string, string, 0, 0);
+    n->ref_target = target;
+    MD_PushChild(list, n);
+    return(n);
+}
+
 //~ Introspection Helpers
 
 MD_FUNCTION_IMPL MD_Node *