Markdownify is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that converts various file types and web content into Markdown format. It provides a set of tools to convert content from PDFs, images, audio files, web pages, and more into easy-to-read and shareable Markdown text.

Project Overview

Markdownify MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server developed by Zach Caceres (GitHub: zcaceres) designed to convert various file types and web content into Markdown format.

• Main Purpose: To provide a unified Markdown conversion service for AI agents or desktop tools.
• Supported Environment: Based on TypeScript + Node.js, running in conjunction with Python tool components.

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Core Features / Characteristics

✅ Convert Various File Formats to Markdown

Type	Supported Tools
Documents	PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX to Markdown
Media	Images (with metadata), Audio (with transcribed text)
Web Content	Regular Webpages, YouTube Videos, Bing Search Results

The complete list of tools is as follows (labeled from README):

• pdf-to-markdown
• docx-to-markdown
• xlsx-to-markdown
• pptx-to-markdown
• image-to-markdown
• audio-to-markdown
• webpage-to-markdown
• youtube-to-markdown
• bing-search-to-markdown
• get-markdown-file: Allows retrieval of existing .md or .markdown files

🔧 Environment Configuration and Usage

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies: pnpm install (and will install uv/python dependencies)
3. Build: pnpm run build
4. Start the service: pnpm start

You can start the TS watch mode via pnpm run dev and modify src/server.ts or src/tools.ts to customize behavior. It can also be integrated into desktop clients (such as Cursor) by declaring the MCP service in the configuration JSON.

⚙️ Optional Configuration

• Supports restricting the directory allowed to read Markdown files via the environment variable MD_SHARE_DIR, improving access control ([github.com][1]).

Summary and Recommendations

• Advantages

  • Supports a wide range of file types, comprehensive functionality
  • Easy to integrate and deploy in combination
  • Active community, detailed documentation, easy to get started

• Disadvantages / Considerations

  • Currently has a medium security risk, it is recommended to use it only in a secure isolated environment, or wait for the official patch
  • Windows support needs to be strengthened (the project author hopes someone will assist in testing the Windows PR)

• Suitable Scenarios

  • When AI assistants or automated scripts require unified Markdown input and output
  • In scenarios such as content scraping, document archiving, and research material organization
  • Web or desktop projects that want to quickly integrate multi-format to Markdown services