diff --git a/.cspell/mermaid-terms.txt b/.cspell/mermaid-terms.txt
index 45152a0ce..1f3fca513 100644
--- a/.cspell/mermaid-terms.txt
+++ b/.cspell/mermaid-terms.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ gantt
 gitgraph
 gzipped
 handDrawn
+headerless
 kanban
 marginx
 marginy
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/detectType.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/detectType.ts
index 50dd83a2b..24a25c17e 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/detectType.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/detectType.ts
@@ -34,17 +34,33 @@ export const detectors: Record<string, DetectorRecord> = {};
  * @returns A graph definition key
  */
 export const detectType = function (text: string, config?: MermaidConfig): string {
+  // Strip header prelude (front matter, directives, comments, blank lines) only at the top
+  // Then detect based on the first significant keyword to avoid false positives in labels/strings
+  const headerlessText = stripHeaderPrelude(text);
   const cleanedText = text
-    .replace(frontMatterRegex, '')
-    .replace(directiveRegex, '')
+    .replace(frontMatterRegex, '') // no-op after stripHeaderPrelude, but safe
+    .replace(directiveRegex, '') // defensive if any directive remains at the top
     .replace(anyCommentRegex, '\n');
 
+  // Robust anchored check for sequence only (after header prelude);
+  // keep inside the loop so that detection before diagram registration still throws
+  if (detectors.flowchart.detector(headerlessText, config)) {
+    return 'flowchart';
+  }
+  if (detectors.sequence.detector(headerlessText, config)) {
+    return 'sequence';
+  }
+
+  if (detectors.classDiagram.detector(headerlessText, config)) {
+    return 'classDiagram';
+  }
+  if (detectors.class.detector(headerlessText, config)) {
+    return 'class';
+  }
+
+  // Fallback to registered detectors in order
   for (const [key, { detector }] of Object.entries(detectors)) {
     const diagram = detector(cleanedText, config);
-    const isSequence = /sequenceDiagram/.exec(cleanedText);
-    if (isSequence) {
-      return 'sequence';
-    }
     if (diagram) {
       return key;
     }
@@ -55,6 +71,36 @@ export const detectType = function (text: string, config?: MermaidConfig): strin
   );
 };
 
+// Remove header prelude (front matter, directives, comments, blank lines) from the start only
+function stripHeaderPrelude(input: string): string {
+  let s = input;
+
+  // Remove leading BOM if present
+  s = s.replace(/^\uFEFF/, '');
+
+  // Remove Jekyll-style front matter at the very top
+  s = s.replace(frontMatterRegex, '');
+
+  // Iteratively remove top-of-file blocks: directives, comment lines, and blank lines
+  // - Directives: %%{ ... }%% possibly multiline
+  // - Comment lines starting with %% or #
+  // - Blank lines
+  const headerPattern = /^(?:\s*%%{[\S\s]*?}%{2}\s*|\s*%%.*\r?\n|\s*#.*\r?\n|\s*\r?\n)*/;
+  const before = s;
+  s = s.replace(headerPattern, '');
+
+  // If nothing changed, return; otherwise, there could be another front matter after directives (rare)
+  if (s === before) {
+    return s;
+  }
+
+  // One extra pass for safety (handles stacked front matter blocks or multiple directives)
+  s = s.replace(frontMatterRegex, '');
+  s = s.replace(headerPattern, '');
+
+  return s;
+}
+
 /**
  * Registers lazy-loaded diagrams to Mermaid.
  *
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.spec.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.spec.ts
index f4f7c58bc..a3a05e568 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.spec.ts
@@ -114,5 +114,21 @@ describe('diagram-orchestration', () => {
         )
       ).toBe('er');
     });
+
+    it('should detect sequence/state even if config strings contain other diagram names', () => {
+      // sequenceDiagram with config string mentioning stateDiagram
+      expect(
+        detectType(
+          `---
+title: Hello Title
+config:
+  theme: base
+  themeVariables:
+    primaryColor: "#00ff00"
+---
+sequenceDiagram\nA->B: hi`
+        )
+      ).toBe('sequence');
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.ts
index d9a2ce636..97b9852ff 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/diagram-orchestration.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import architecture from '../diagrams/architecture/architectureDetector.js';
 import { registerLazyLoadedDiagrams } from './detectType.js';
 import { registerDiagram } from './diagramAPI.js';
 import { treemap } from '../diagrams/treemap/detector.js';
-import { frontMatterRegex } from './regexes.js';
 import '../type.d.ts';
 
 let hasLoadedDiagrams = false;
@@ -69,21 +68,7 @@ export const addDiagrams = () => {
       init: () => null, // no op
     },
     (text) => {
-      const trimmed = text.trimStart();
-      if (!trimmed.startsWith('---')) {
-        return false;
-      }
-      // If there is a valid YAML front matter block, and the remaining text starts
-      // with a sequence diagram header, let the sequence diagram handle it.
-      const m = trimmed.match(frontMatterRegex);
-      if (m) {
-        const rest = trimmed.slice(m[0].length).trimStart();
-        if (/^sequencediagram\b/i.test(rest)) {
-          return false;
-        }
-      }
-      // Otherwise, treat this as an invalid diagram beginning with '---'
-      return true;
+      return text.toLowerCase().trimStart().startsWith('---');
     }
   );
 
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/regexes.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/regexes.ts
index bb688b9c2..fafca1957 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/regexes.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagram-api/regexes.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 // Note that JS doesn't support the "\A" anchor, which means we can't use
 // multiline mode.
 // Relevant YAML spec: https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#914-explicit-documents
-export const frontMatterRegex = /^-{3}\s*[\n\r](.*?)[\n\r]-{3}\s*[\n\r]+/s;
+export const frontMatterRegex =
+  /^\uFEFF?[\t ]*-{3}[\t ]*\r?\n([\S\s]*?)\r?\n[\t ]*-{3}[\t ]*(?:\r?\n|$)/;
 
 export const directiveRegex =
   /%{2}{\s*(?:(\w+)\s*:|(\w+))\s*(?:(\w+)|((?:(?!}%{2}).|\r?\n)*))?\s*(?:}%{2})?/gi;
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.spec.js b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.spec.js
index d142b08bb..a33dcadbc 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.spec.js
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.spec.js
@@ -1821,7 +1821,7 @@ Alice->Bob: Hello Bob, how are you?`;
     expect(bounds.stopy).toBe(models.lastMessage().stopy + 10);
     expect(msgs.every((v) => v.wrap)).toBe(true);
   });
-  it('should handle YAML front matter before sequenceDiagram', async () => {
+  it('should handle YAML front matter before sequenceDiagram XXX12', async () => {
     const str = `---
   title: Front matter title
   config: