Markit Markdown Converter

by reason-machines2384a003145aNo license83 starsListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026Repository updated 3 months ago

Convert files, URLs, and media to markdown using the markit-ai CLI and SDK with pluggable converters and LLM support.

Instructions onlyDocuments & Office
AI-generated overview

Converts files, URLs, and media such as PDF, DOCX, images, and audio into markdown via the markit-ai CLI and TypeScript SDK.

What it does
This skill documents how to use the markit-ai command-line tool and TypeScript/Node.js library to turn many formats — PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, EPUB, notebooks, CSV, JSON, YAML, images, audio, ZIP archives, source code, and web URLs — into markdown. It covers installation, CLI flags for output files, raw or JSON output and stdin, LLM configuration for image description and audio transcription, SDK usage, and writing or installing pluggable converters and providers. It produces markdown text, optionally written to files or emitted as structured JSON.
When to use it
Use it when you need to convert documents, web pages, or media into markdown for reading, piping, or further processing. It also fits when configuring an LLM provider for image or audio conversion, or when extending markit with custom converter plugins.
Requirements
Requires Node.js and the markit-ai package (npm, bun, or pnpm); AI description and transcription need an API key such as OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, and URL conversion needs network access. It ships no scripts — instructions only.

markit-markdown-converter

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

markit converts almost anything to markdown: PDFs, Word docs, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, EPUB, Jupyter notebooks, RSS feeds, CSV, JSON, YAML, images (with EXIF + AI description), audio (with metadata + AI transcription), ZIP archives, URLs, Wikipedia pages, and source code files. It works as a CLI tool and as a TypeScript/Node.js library, supports pluggable converters, and integrates with OpenAI, Anthropic, and any OpenAI-compatible LLM API.


Installation

bash
# Global CLInpm install -g markit-ai
# Or as a project dependencynpm install markit-ai# bun add markit-ai# pnpm add markit-ai

CLI Quick Reference

bash
# Convert a filemarkit report.pdfmarkit document.docxmarkit slides.pptxmarkit data.xlsxmarkit notebook.ipynb
# Convert a URLmarkit https://example.com/articlemarkit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown
# Convert media (requires LLM API key for AI features)markit photo.jpgmarkit recording.mp3markit diagram.png -p "Describe the architecture and data flow"markit receipt.jpg -p "List all line items with prices as a table"
# Output optionsmarkit report.pdf -o report.md          # Write to filemarkit report.pdf -q                    # Raw markdown only (great for piping)markit report.pdf --json                # Structured JSON output
# Read from stdincat file.pdf | markit -
# Pipe outputmarkit report.pdf | pbcopymarkit data.xlsx -q | some-other-tool
# List supported formatsmarkit formats
# Configurationmarkit init                              # Create .markit/config.jsonmarkit config show                       # Show resolved configmarkit config get llm.modelmarkit config set llm.provider anthropicmarkit config set llm.model claude-haiku-4-5
# Pluginsmarkit plugin install npm:markit-plugin-dwgmarkit plugin install git:github.com/user/markit-plugin-ocrmarkit plugin install ./my-plugin.tsmarkit plugin listmarkit plugin remove dwg
# Agent integrationmarkit onboard                           # Adds usage instructions to CLAUDE.md

AI / LLM Configuration

Images and audio always get free metadata extraction. AI-powered description and transcription requires an API key.

bash
# OpenAI (default)export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...markit photo.jpg
# Anthropicexport ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...markit config set llm.provider anthropicmarkit photo.jpg
# OpenAI-compatible APIs (Ollama, Groq, Together, etc.)markit config set llm.apiBase http://localhost:11434/v1markit config set llm.model llama3.2-visionmarkit photo.jpg

.markit/config.json (created by markit init):

json
{  "llm": {    "provider": "openai",    "apiBase": "https://api.openai.com/v1",    "model": "gpt-4.1-nano",    "transcriptionModel": "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe"  }}

Environment variables always override config file values. Never store API keys in the config file — use env vars.

ProviderEnv VarsDefault Vision Model
openaiOPENAI_API_KEY, MARKIT_API_KEYgpt-4.1-nano
anthropicANTHROPIC_API_KEY, MARKIT_API_KEYclaude-haiku-4-5

SDK Usage

Basic File and URL Conversion

typescript
import { Markit } from "markit-ai";
const markit = new Markit();
// Convert a file by pathconst { markdown } = await markit.convertFile("report.pdf");console.log(markdown);
// Convert a URLconst { markdown: webMd } = await markit.convertUrl("https://example.com/article");
// Convert a Buffer with explicit type hintimport { readFileSync } from "fs";const buffer = readFileSync("document.docx");const { markdown: docMd } = await markit.convert(buffer, { extension: ".docx" });

With OpenAI for Vision + Transcription

typescript
import OpenAI from "openai";import { Markit } from "markit-ai";
const openai = new OpenAI(); // reads OPENAI_API_KEY from env
const markit = new Markit({  describe: async (image: Buffer, mime: string) => {    const res = await openai.chat.completions.create({      model: "gpt-4.1-nano",      messages: [        {          role: "user",          content: [            { type: "text", text: "Describe this image in detail." },            {              type: "image_url",              image_url: {                url: `data:${mime};base64,${image.toString("base64")}`,              },            },          ],        },      ],    });    return res.choices[0].message.content ?? "";  },
  transcribe: async (audio: Buffer, mime: string) => {    const res = await openai.audio.transcriptions.create({      model: "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe",      file: new File([audio], "audio.mp3", { type: mime }),    });    return res.text;  },});
const { markdown } = await markit.convertFile("photo.jpg");

With Anthropic for Vision

typescript
import Anthropic from "@anthropic-ai/sdk";import OpenAI from "openai";import { Markit } from "markit-ai";
const anthropic = new Anthropic(); // reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from envconst openai = new OpenAI();       // reads OPENAI_API_KEY from env
// Mix providers: Claude for images, OpenAI Whisper for audioconst markit = new Markit({  describe: async (image: Buffer, mime: string) => {    const res = await anthropic.messages.create({      model: "claude-haiku-4-5",      max_tokens: 1024,      messages: [        {          role: "user",          content: [            {              type: "image",              source: {                type: "base64",                media_type: mime as "image/jpeg" | "image/png" | "image/gif" | "image/webp",                data: image.toString("base64"),              },            },            { type: "text", text: "Describe this image." },          ],        },      ],    });    return (res.content[0] as { text: string }).text;  },
  transcribe: async (audio: Buffer, mime: string) => {    const res = await openai.audio.transcriptions.create({      model: "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe",      file: new File([audio], "audio.mp3", { type: mime }),    });    return res.text;  },});

Using Built-in Providers via Config

typescript
import { Markit, createLlmFunctions, loadConfig, loadAllPlugins } from "markit-ai";
// Reads .markit/config.json and env vars automaticallyconst config = loadConfig();
// Load any installed pluginsconst plugins = await loadAllPlugins();
// Create instance with built-in providers + pluginsconst markit = new Markit(createLlmFunctions(config), plugins);
const { markdown } = await markit.convertFile("report.pdf");

Writing a Plugin

Plugins let you add new formats or override built-in converters. Plugin converters run before built-ins.

Basic Converter Plugin

typescript
// my-plugin.tsimport type { MarkitPluginAPI } from "markit-ai";
export default function (api: MarkitPluginAPI) {  api.setName("my-format");  api.setVersion("1.0.0");
  api.registerConverter(    {      name: "myformat",      accepts: (info) => [".myf", ".myfmt"].includes(info.extension ?? ""),      convert: async (input: Buffer, info) => {        // info.extension, info.mimeType, info.fileName available        const text = input.toString("utf-8");        const markdown = `# Converted\n\n\`\`\`\n${text}\n\`\`\``;        return { markdown };      },    },    // Optional: declare so it appears in `markit formats`    { name: "My Format", extensions: [".myf", ".myfmt"] },  );}

Override a Built-in Converter

typescript
// better-pdf-plugin.tsimport type { MarkitPluginAPI } from "markit-ai";
export default function (api: MarkitPluginAPI) {  api.setName("better-pdf");  api.setVersion("1.0.0");
  // Runs before built-in PDF converter, effectively replacing it  api.registerConverter({    name: "pdf",    accepts: (info) => info.extension === ".pdf",    convert: async (input: Buffer, info) => {      // Custom PDF extraction logic      const markdown = `# PDF Content\n\n(extracted with custom logic)`;      return { markdown };    },  });}

Register a Custom LLM Provider

typescript
import type { MarkitPluginAPI } from "markit-ai";
export default function (api: MarkitPluginAPI) {  api.setName("gemini-provider");
  api.registerProvider({    name: "gemini",    envKeys: ["GOOGLE_API_KEY"],    defaultBase: "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",    defaultModel: "gemini-2.0-flash",    create: (config, prompt) => ({      describe: async (image: Buffer, mime: string) => {        // Call Gemini API here        return "Image description from Gemini";      },    }),  });}

Install and Use a Plugin

bash
# Install from filemarkit plugin install ./my-plugin.ts
# Install from npmmarkit plugin install npm:markit-plugin-dwg
# Install from gitmarkit plugin install git:github.com/user/markit-plugin-ocr
# Verifymarkit plugin list
# Removemarkit plugin remove my-format

Common Patterns

Batch Convert a Directory

typescript
import { Markit } from "markit-ai";import { readdirSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "fs";import { extname, basename, join } from "path";
const markit = new Markit();const inputDir = "./docs";const outputDir = "./docs-md";
const files = readdirSync(inputDir);for (const file of files) {  const ext = extname(file);  if (![".pdf", ".docx", ".html"].includes(ext)) continue;
  const buffer = readFileSync(join(inputDir, file));  const { markdown } = await markit.convert(buffer, { extension: ext });  const outName = basename(file, ext) + ".md";  writeFileSync(join(outputDir, outName), markdown);  console.log(`Converted: ${file} → ${outName}`);}

Convert URL List

typescript
import { Markit } from "markit-ai";
const markit = new Markit();const urls = [  "https://example.com/article-1",  "https://example.com/article-2",  "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TypeScript",];
const results = await Promise.all(  urls.map(async (url) => {    const { markdown } = await markit.convertUrl(url);    return { url, markdown };  }));
for (const { url, markdown } of results) {  console.log(`\n## ${url}\n\n${markdown.slice(0, 200)}...`);}

CLI in Agent/Automation Scripts

bash
# Structured JSON for programmatic parsingmarkit report.pdf --json
# Raw markdown for piping (no spinner, no extra output)markit report.pdf -q > report.md
# Pipe into another CLI toolmarkit https://example.com/article -q | wc -w
# Process multiple files in a shell loopfor f in docs/*.pdf; do  markit "$f" -o "out/$(basename "$f" .pdf).md"done

Supported Formats Reference

FormatExtensions
PDF.pdf
Word.docx
PowerPoint.pptx
Excel.xlsx
HTML.html, .htm
EPUB.epub
Jupyter.ipynb
RSS/Atom.rss, .atom, .xml
CSV/TSV.csv, .tsv
JSON.json
YAML.yaml, .yml
XML/SVG.xml, .svg
Images.jpg, .png, .gif, .webp
Audio.mp3, .wav, .m4a, .flac
ZIP.zip
Code.py, .ts, .go, .rs, and more
Plain text.txt, .md, .rst, .log
URLshttp://, https://

Run markit formats to see the full live list including any installed plugins.


Troubleshooting

AI description/transcription not working

  • Ensure the correct env var is set: OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
  • Run markit config show to verify the resolved provider and model
  • For custom API bases (Ollama, etc.), confirm the server is running and the model supports vision

Plugin not loading

  • Run markit plugin list to confirm it's installed
  • Check the plugin exports a default function matching (api: MarkitPluginAPI) => void
  • Try reinstalling: markit plugin remove <name> then markit plugin install <source>

PDF returns empty or garbled markdown

  • The built-in converter uses text extraction (not OCR). Scanned PDFs need an OCR plugin.
  • Try a custom plugin or pre-process with an OCR tool first.

Stdin (markit -) not working

  • Pipe content directly: cat file.pdf | markit -
  • Ensure the file type can be detected from content; use explicit hints if needed.

Config not being read

  • Config is loaded from .markit/config.json relative to the current working directory
  • Run markit init to create it, then markit config show to verify

Source and attribution

Source:reason-machines/trending-skillsinskills/markit-markdown-converterat commit2384a00

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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