| name | markitdown-cli |
| description | Use when converting local document files such as PDFs, Office documents, HTML, text, or other MarkItDown-supported inputs into Markdown. |
MarkItDown CLI
Use the installed markitdown command to convert readable local files into Markdown. Preserve source files and prefer the CLI over custom extraction code unless the user rejects it or a conversion fails for a clear reason.
Use for single-file or batch conversion, conversion checks or retries, stdin, and extensionless inputs. Do not use for summarizing without conversion, editing existing Markdown, dependency management, or standalone OCR/cloud extraction.
Workflow
- Locate inputs; inspect names, sizes, and planned output paths.
- Verify
command -v markitdown. If missing, report it, do not install without approval, and point to https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown#installation.
- Choose output paths. Do not overwrite existing
.md files unless replacement is explicit.
- Run one
markitdown invocation per input so failures are attributable. Quote paths and avoid unsafe glob assumptions.
- Use
--extension or --mime-type for stdin, extensionless files, or misleading filenames.
- Spot-check Markdown for empty output, truncation, encoding problems, or missing structure.
- Report converted files, skipped existing outputs, failures with exact CLI errors, and any follow-up dependency issue.
Commands
| Need | Pattern |
|---|
| Save converted output | markitdown input.docx -o output.md |
| Stream to stdout | markitdown input.pdf |
| Extensionless input | markitdown --extension pdf input -o output.md |
| Stdin type hint | markitdown --mime-type text/html -o output.md < input.html |
| Text encoding | markitdown input.txt --charset utf-8 -o output.md |
Use --use-docintel or --use-content-understanding only for MarkItDown Markdown conversion when the user explicitly asks for that route and the required endpoint is configured.
