diff --git a/shirelang/src/main/grammar/ShireLexer.flex b/shirelang/src/main/grammar/ShireLexer.flex
index ff7f6b25f..d6f8770d2 100644
--- a/shirelang/src/main/grammar/ShireLexer.flex
+++ b/shirelang/src/main/grammar/ShireLexer.flex
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ AFTER_STREAMING          =afterStreaming
     private boolean isInsideShireTemplate = false;
     private boolean isInsideFunctionBlock = false;
     private boolean isInsideFrontMatter = false;
+    private boolean hasFrontMatter = false;
     private boolean patternActionBraceStart = false;
     private int patternActionBraceLevel = 0;
 %}
@@ -217,7 +218,16 @@ AFTER_STREAMING          =afterStreaming
 
 %%
 <YYINITIAL> {
-  "---"                   { isInsideFrontMatter = true; yybegin(FRONT_MATTER_BLOCK); return FRONTMATTER_START; }
+  "---"  {
+          if (hasFrontMatter | isCodeStart) {
+              return CODE_CONTENT;
+          } else {
+              isInsideFrontMatter = true;
+              yybegin(FRONT_MATTER_BLOCK);
+              return FRONTMATTER_START;
+          }
+      }
+
   {CODE_CONTENT}          { return content(); }
   {NEWLINE}               { return NEWLINE;  }
   "["                     { yypushback(yylength()); yybegin(COMMENT_BLOCK);  }
@@ -242,7 +252,8 @@ AFTER_STREAMING          =afterStreaming
 
   {INDENT}                { yybegin(FRONT_MATTER_VAL_OBJECT); return INDENT; }
   {NEWLINE}               { return NEWLINE; }
-  "---"                   { isInsideFrontMatter = false; yybegin(YYINITIAL); return FRONTMATTER_END; }
+
+  "---"                   { isInsideFrontMatter = false; hasFrontMatter = true; yybegin(YYINITIAL); return FRONTMATTER_END; }
   [^]                     { yypushback(yylength()); yybegin(YYINITIAL); }
 }
 
diff --git a/shirelang/src/test/testData/parser/MarkdownCompatible.txt b/shirelang/src/test/testData/parser/MarkdownCompatible.txt
index b1c4e6f6d..9e30c031c 100644
--- a/shirelang/src/test/testData/parser/MarkdownCompatible.txt
+++ b/shirelang/src/test/testData/parser/MarkdownCompatible.txt
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ ShireFile
       PsiElement(ShireTokenType.NEWLINE)('\n')
       PsiElement(ShireTokenType.CODE_CONTENT)('onStreamingEnd: { parseCode | patch($codepath, $output) }')
       PsiElement(ShireTokenType.NEWLINE)('\n')
-  PsiErrorElement:<used>, ShireTokenType.#, ShireTokenType.CODE_BLOCK_END, ShireTokenType.CODE_BLOCK_START, ShireTokenType.CODE_CONTENT, ShireTokenType.COMMENTS, ShireTokenType.NEWLINE or ShireTokenType.TEXT_SEGMENT expected, got '---'
-    PsiElement(ShireTokenType.FRONTMATTER_START)('---')
-  PsiElement(ShireTokenType.NEWLINE)('\n')
-  PsiElement(ShireTokenType.CODE_BLOCK_END)('```')
\ No newline at end of file
+      PsiElement(ShireTokenType.CODE_CONTENT)('---')
+      PsiElement(ShireTokenType.NEWLINE)('\n')
+    PsiElement(ShireTokenType.CODE_BLOCK_END)('```')
\ No newline at end of file