diff --git a/src/components/Preview.js b/src/components/Preview.js
index d1ca09d..301f6a8 100644
--- a/src/components/Preview.js
+++ b/src/components/Preview.js
@@ -348,6 +348,11 @@ const Preview = styled.div`
     margin-right: 8px;
     transform: translateY(2px);
   }
+
+  figcaption {
+    text-align: center;
+    margin-top: 12px;
+  }
 `;
 Preview.defaultProps = { className: "myst-preview" };
 
diff --git a/src/hooks/markdownFigureMd.js b/src/hooks/markdownFigureMd.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eef730a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hooks/markdownFigureMd.js
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+// https://github.com/executablebooks/markdown-it-docutils/blob/main/src/directives/images.ts
+// figure-md seems to be a myst-parser (MyST+Sphinx) thing but the MyST project seems to be
+// evolving away from Sphinx towards mystmd, so slim chance of mainlining this
+import { directiveOptions, directivesDefault } from "markdown-it-docutils";
+
+const shared_option_spec = {
+  alt: directiveOptions.unchanged,
+  height: directiveOptions.length_or_unitless,
+  width: directiveOptions.length_or_percentage_or_unitless,
+  scale: directiveOptions.percentage,
+  target: directiveOptions.unchanged_required,
+  class: directiveOptions.class_option,
+  name: directiveOptions.unchanged,
+};
+
+export class FigureMd extends directivesDefault.image {
+  option_spec = {
+    ...shared_option_spec,
+    align: directiveOptions.create_choice(["left", "center", "right"]),
+    figwidth: directiveOptions.length_or_percentage_or_unitless_figure,
+    figclass: directiveOptions.class_option,
+  };
+  has_content = true;
+  required_arguments = 0;
+  optional_arguments = 1;
+  run(data) {
+    const openToken = this.createToken("figure_open", "figure", 1, {
+      map: data.map,
+      block: true,
+    });
+    if (data.options.figclass) {
+      openToken.attrJoin("class", data.options.figclass.join(" "));
+    }
+    if (data.options.align) {
+      openToken.attrJoin("class", `align-${data.options.align}`);
+    }
+    if (data.options.figwidth && data.options.figwidth !== "image") {
+      openToken.attrSet("width", data.options.figwidth);
+    }
+    let target;
+    if (data.args.length > 0) {
+      target = newTarget(this.state, openToken, "fig", data.args[0], data.body.trim());
+      openToken.attrJoin("class", "numbered");
+    }
+
+    let captionTokens = [];
+    let legendTokens = [];
+    let imageToken = null;
+    if (data.body) {
+      imageToken = this.state.md.parseInline(data.body.split("\n")[0], this.state.env)[0].children[0];
+      imageToken.map = data.map;
+      if (data.options.height) {
+        imageToken.attrSet("height", data.options.height);
+      }
+      if (data.options.width) {
+        imageToken.attrSet("width", data.options.width);
+      }
+      if (data.options.align) {
+        imageToken.attrJoin("class", `align-${data.options.align}`);
+      }
+      if (data.options.class) {
+        imageToken.attrJoin("class", data.options.class.join(" "));
+      }
+
+      const [caption, ...legendParts] = data.body.split("\n\n").slice(1);
+      const legend = legendParts.join("\n\n");
+      const captionMap = data.bodyMap[0] + 2;
+      const openCaption = this.createToken("figure_caption_open", "figcaption", 1, {
+        block: true,
+      });
+      if (target) {
+        openCaption.attrSet("number", `${target.number}`);
+      }
+      const captionBody = this.nestedParse(caption, captionMap);
+      const closeCaption = this.createToken("figure_caption_close", "figcaption", -1, {
+        block: true,
+      });
+      captionTokens = [openCaption, ...captionBody, closeCaption];
+      if (legend) {
+        const legendMap = captionMap + caption.split("\n").length + 1;
+        const openLegend = this.createToken("figure_legend_open", "", 1, {
+          block: true,
+        });
+        const legendBody = this.nestedParse(legend, legendMap);
+        const closeLegend = this.createToken("figure_legend_close", "", -1, {
+          block: true,
+        });
+        legendTokens = [openLegend, ...legendBody, closeLegend];
+      }
+    }
+    const closeToken = this.createToken("figure_close", "figure", -1, { block: true });
+    return [openToken, imageToken, ...captionTokens, ...legendTokens, closeToken];
+  }
+}
+
+function newTarget(state, token, kind, label, title, silent = false) {
+  const env = getDocState(state);
+  const number = nextNumber(state, kind);
+  const target = {
+    label,
+    kind,
+    number,
+    title,
+  };
+  if (!silent) {
+    const meta = getNamespacedMeta(token);
+    meta.target = target;
+    token.attrSet("id", label);
+    env.targets[label] = target;
+  }
+  return target;
+}
+
+function getDocState(state) {
+  const env = state.env?.docutils ?? {};
+  if (!env.targets) env.targets = {};
+  if (!env.references) env.references = [];
+  if (!env.numbering) env.numbering = {};
+  if (!state.env.docutils) state.env.docutils = env;
+  return env;
+}
+
+function nextNumber(state, kind) {
+  const env = getDocState(state);
+  if (env.numbering[kind] == null) {
+    env.numbering[kind] = 1;
+  } else {
+    env.numbering[kind] += 1;
+  }
+  return env.numbering[kind];
+}
+
+function getNamespacedMeta(token) {
+  const meta = token.meta?.docutils ?? {};
+  if (!token.meta) token.meta = {};
+  if (!token.meta.docutils) token.meta.docutils = meta;
+  return meta;
+}
diff --git a/src/hooks/useText.js b/src/hooks/useText.js
index 21c4d7c..8c7d1f6 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useText.js
+++ b/src/hooks/useText.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import markdownitDocutils from "markdown-it-docutils";
+import markdownitDocutils, { directivesDefault } from "markdown-it-docutils";
 import purify from "dompurify";
 import markdownIt from "markdown-it";
 import { markdownReplacer, useCustomRoles } from "./markdownReplacer";
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { useComputed } from "@preact/signals";
 import markdownCheckboxes from "markdown-it-checkbox";
 import { colonFencedBlocks } from "./markdownFence";
 import { markdownItMapUrls } from "./markdownUrlMapping";
+import { FigureMd } from "./markdownFigureMd";
 
 const countOccurences = (str, pattern) => (str?.match(pattern) || []).length;
 
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ export const useText = ({ preview }) => {
 
   const markdown = useComputed(() => {
     const md = markdownIt({ breaks: true, linkify: true })
-      .use(markdownitDocutils)
+      .use(markdownitDocutils, { directives: { ...directivesDefault, "figure-md": FigureMd } })
       .use(markdownReplacer(options.transforms.value, options.parent, cache.transform))
       .use(useCustomRoles(options.customRoles.value, options.parent, cache.transform))
       .use(markdownMermaid, { lineMap, parent: options.parent })