Markdown Converter

Convert files to Markdown using the markitdown CLI (vendored via Nix).

Basic Usage

# Convert to stdout
markitdown input.pdf

# Save to file
markitdown input.pdf -o output.md
markitdown input.docx > output.md

# From stdin
cat input.pdf | markitdown

Supported Formats

• Documents: PDF, Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), Excel (.xlsx, .xls)
• Web/Data: HTML, CSV, JSON, XML
• Media: Images (EXIF + OCR), Audio (EXIF + transcription)
• Other: ZIP (iterates contents), YouTube URLs, EPub

Options

-o OUTPUT      # Output file
-x EXTENSION   # Hint file extension (for stdin)
-m MIME_TYPE   # Hint MIME type
-c CHARSET     # Hint charset (e.g., UTF-8)
-d             # Use Azure Document Intelligence
-e ENDPOINT    # Document Intelligence endpoint
--use-plugins  # Enable 3rd-party plugins
--list-plugins # Show installed plugins

Examples

# Convert Word document
markitdown report.docx -o report.md

# Convert Excel spreadsheet
markitdown data.xlsx > data.md

# Convert PowerPoint presentation
markitdown slides.pptx -o slides.md

# Convert with file type hint (for stdin)
cat document | markitdown -x .pdf > output.md

# Use Azure Document Intelligence for better PDF extraction
markitdown scan.pdf -d -e "https://your-resource.cognitiveservices.azure.com/"

Notes

• Output preserves document structure: headings, tables, lists, links
• First run caches dependencies; subsequent runs are faster
• For complex PDFs with poor extraction, use -d with Azure Document Intelligence