Are external link cue and open in new tab supported for markdown links?

[ckamps]

Are the external link cue and open in new tab features supported for markdown native link references?

The source for this example:

[test](https://google.com)

{{< link fontawesome />}}

I'm able to get the external link cue and open in new tab to work for managed links when the link shortcode is used, but I've been unable to get the cue and open in new tab features to appear when using markdown link references.

[main]
    [main.externalLinks]
        cue = true
        tab = true

[markdumay]

Currently only managed links support this behavior. I'm not sure if Hugo provides a processing hook for markdown links. An alternative would be to use a client-side script.

[markdumay]

Hugo v0.123.0 mentions implementation of image and render hooks. This might be a good starting point to render the visual cue for regular markdown links.