markitdown

name	markitdown
description	Convert files or URLs to Markdown. Supports PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, Images, and YouTube URLs.

Markitdown

Convert a file or URL to Markdown using the markitdown CLI.

When to Use This Skill

• The user wants to convert a document (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, etc.) to Markdown
• The user wants to extract text content from a web page URL as Markdown
• The user wants to transcribe a YouTube video to Markdown
• The user needs to read or process a non-text file as Markdown for further use

Supported Formats

• PDF - text extraction via pdfminer/pdfplumber
• DOCX - Word documents via mammoth
• PPTX - PowerPoint presentations
• XLS/XLSX - Excel spreadsheets
• HTML - web pages (built-in)
• CSV, JSON, XML - structured data (built-in)
• YouTube URLs - video transcription via youtube-transcript-api
• Images (PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF, etc.) - via AI agent vision (see below)

Usage

Run the CLI wrapper:

# Output to stdout
core/bin/markitdown <input>

# Output to a file
core/bin/markitdown <input> -o <output.md>

Do not use any Python helper code to invoke the core/bin/markitdown command. Run as shell command with arguments directly.

Examples

# Convert a PDF to markdown
core/bin/markitdown report.pdf -o report.md

# Convert a DOCX file
core/bin/markitdown document.docx -o document.md

# Convert a spreadsheet
core/bin/markitdown data.xlsx -o data.md

# Convert a web page
core/bin/markitdown https://example.com/article.html -o article.md

# Transcribe a YouTube video
core/bin/markitdown "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -o transcript.md

# Output to stdout for inline use
core/bin/markitdown document.pdf

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
input	Yes	File path or URL to convert
-o	No	Output file path (defaults to stdout)

Image Handling

Do not use the CLI for images. Instead, use the AI agent's built-in vision capability:

1. Read the image file directly (the agent can view images natively).
2. Describe the image content in Markdown format, including:
   • Text and labels visible in the image (OCR)
   • Tables or structured data shown in the image
   • Diagrams, charts, or visual layouts
   • General description of the scene or content
3. Save the resulting Markdown to the output file if -o was specified, or return it directly.

Notes

• For large files, the conversion may take a moment depending on file size and format.
• When no -o flag is provided, the Markdown output is printed to stdout.
• Audio transcription is NOT installed. Only the extras docx,pdf,pptx,xls,xlsx,youtube-transcription are available.